Uber, Lyft could be on Nevada streets in a month

By Conor Shine

Friday, Aug. 14, 2015 | 3:26 p.m.

After nearly a year of waiting, Uber and Lyft are finally coming to Nevada.

The ride-hailing giants have both filed permit applications with the Nevada Transportation Authority and, if everything goes according to plan, they should be able to begin operating on Las Vegas streets by Sept. 14.

Uber submitted its application today; Lyft filed earlier this week.

The applications are a culmination of a hard-fought battle between Uber and Nevada’s taxi companies, which lobbied fiercely to keep the San Francisco-based company out of the state.

The Nevada Transportation Authority will have 30 days to approve or reject the applications under temporary regulations put in place earlier this summer.

A legislative panel signed off on a final version of the regulations, which lays out requirements for insurance, driver background checks and vehicle standards, earlier this week. The Nevada Transportation Authority will vote on the regulations at its Sept. 11 meeting.

Uber has spread to more than 100 cities across the country but has had trouble breaking into Nevada’s heavily-regulated market.

The company briefly launched in Nevada last October but was run off the road after a judge ruled it was violating state law. The Legislature passed new laws in May that cleared the way for Uber and similar transportation network companies to launch.

Taxi companies have decried the regulations for not doing enough to protect the safety of riders, criticizing what they see as lax standards for background checks and drug testing.