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The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission voted 4-1 Thursday to issue Lyft an experimental license to operate in Pennsylvania, except Philadelphia, for two years.
(Christian Alexandersen)
Ride-sharing service Lyft will soon be available throughout Pennsylvania, except Philadelphia, for the next two years as part of an experiment license that was granted Thursday.
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission voted 4-1 to issue Lyft an experimental license once the company complies with a list of conditions. The conditions, according to the commission, are designed to ensure driver integrity, vehicle safety and insurance protections.
Lyft is a ride-share service that use a downloaded app and smartphone GPS to match passengers with nearby drivers. Thursday's decision comes more than a month after the commission chose to give an experimental license to UberX, which provides a similar service.
Commissioner Gladys M. Brown said in a prepared statement that she believes ride-share services can be beneficial to the public, especially in underserved neighborhoods throughout the state.
In the lone dissenting opinion, Commissioner John F. Coleman Jr. said he was concerned that the safety of drivers, passengers and other members of the public will be unnecessarily compromised under Lyft's current business model
"While I believe that the proposed service may benefit the public, I find that [Lyft] did not meet the burden of proof in showing that it was fit to provide the service at this point in time," Coleman wrote in his opinion.
The conditions that must be met by Lyft in order to officially receive the experimental license is available on the