Bloomberg: Congress Advocates Use of Uber and Lyft for Federal Employees

Two bills recently introduced in the House would make it easier for federal employees to use rideshare companies such as Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. At least one of the bills is a direct response to Metrorail’s SafeTrack program, which requires lengthy shutdowns of parts of the Washington, D.C., commuter rail system to fix safety problems.

In a news release, the sponsors of H.R. 5647, North Carolina Republican Mark Meadows and Virginia Democrat Gerry Connolly, said: “Many of the frequent, random delays on the Metro have caused some federal workers to arrive late, miss meetings, or lose out on valuable work time. This bill will allow federal workers to expand their commuting options.” Their measure would allow federal employees who receive transit benefits to apply them to rideshare services.

The second bill — H.R. 5625, the Modernizing Government Travel Act, sponsored by Massachusetts Democrat Seth Moulton and Republicans Will Hurd of Texas and Darrell Issa of California — would allow for reimbursement to federal employees for the use of “modern travel services.”

Article here.