The City of Columbia Public Works department and Columbia Police are coming together to revise the city’s taxi/rideshare program.
Columbia Acting Parking Manager Vineet Kapila says the proposal is designed to address pedestrian safety.
“It’s intended to reduce traffic congestion, illegal stopping, doubling parking, and kind of increase overall pedestrian safety,” Kapila said.
The new program would increase the amount of taxi/rideshare stands from 34 spaces to 66 parking spaces. The program currently begins at 11:00 p.m., but if passed the start time would be moved to 9:00 p.m. It would also impose a 15-minute loading/unloading limit for those impacted.
The new program also is based on data about high-traffic times, or “heat data” provided by Rideshare companies.
“The locations where these are, are all based upon rideshare data that was provided by Uber and Lyft, that provided the heat data to the Columbia Police Department,” Kapila said.
The Columbia Police Department ran pilot programs last year testing designated pickup and drop off zones as part of the potential new Rideshare plan. These tests took place at two Mizzou football game weekends last year, to try and maximize the potential the proposal would have.
Columbia Police say they've seen a shift in behavior over the past 10 years, with more people using taxis and rideshares as transport to and from downtown bars.
Owner of 5 Star Taxi and JJ’S Taxi, Gamal Dirar, thinks revising the program will help with the problems of parking vehicles downtown along with helping the community.
“We try doing whatever we can to help students and get them home safely,” he said.
