Just outside the chambers of the Austin City Council Meeting at City Hall on Thursday, an emotional moment passes as Chris Nielsen and Kris Bailey exchange a brotherly hug.

After nearly 4 years, over 300 tickets, 3 arrests, and thousands of dollars in litigation, the long battle with the city seems to finally be over for their company, Electric Cab of Austin. Austin will now officially be piloting low speed electric vehicles (LSEVs) as a viable option for alternative ground transportation in the city as one of the first in the nation to use LSEVs in this manner.

Dr. Ray Mundy, the director of the Center for Transportation Studies at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, was appointed by city staff to evaluate the taxi industry here in Austin extensively in a recent study that cost taxpayers $50,000. Dr. Mundy has a long history of controversy with other cities due to his pro regulation stance with the taxi industry despite his Republican alignments. His 113 page report touched subjects such as cabbies not taking on call fares, company technology issues and pedicab vehicle safety. One of the bigger taxi cab controversies is that the report asked for an additional 100 taxi permits for peak demand, stating “A major problem consistently observed through interviews, Secret Shopper’s reports, hotel and restaurant surveys, and discussions with city employees was the lack of taxi services on weekend evenings and during special events. Those periods of peak demand are generally Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights or during special events hosted by the City of Austin or University of Texas.” This is the time when Electric Cab has asked to be permitted to operate downtown and at special events. When asked if the LSEVs would help alleviate that need downtown, he was hopeful, yet unsure due to lack of data.

Richard MacKinnon of the Urban Transportation Commission asked Dr. Mundy if he had any suggestions to help promote green transportation such as the replacement of regular taxis with Prius taxis. Dr. Mundy seemed completely blindsided by these types of questions. It was clear that under the current system of regulation, Austin does not have any incentives to promote green taxis. (Note: Right now, there are only two Prius taxis in the Austin. Green innovation seems an unchartered phenomenon to Dr. Mundy’s studies. His recommendations to new innovations are to move slowly due to the lack of statistics and basis to gain observations to recommend appropriate regulation.)

Although Dr. Mundy had reservations about adding the LSEVs to the ground transportation portfolio, he recommended that the LSEVs be implemented through a very restrictive pilot program with limited hours and operations. He said that, “LSEVs are politically and socially desirable.” Also, in the “Meet and Greet” at City Hall, Dr. Mundy went so far as to recommend that if LSEVs do well in the downtown routes, the city should add an expanded route to West Campus to help eliminate the lack of cabs willing to drive students and pedicabs unable to accommodate due to distance in what Heart of Texas Pedicab owner, Stephen Smajstrla, jokingly referred to as the “Trail of Tears.” City Staff argued that there shouldn’t be a transportation problem due to the extended hours of Bus 481 that runs the Night Owl Route until 3 a.m. that runs through campus.

However, the ground transportation to and from downtown to areas such as West Campus seem to be a continuing and vital problem about to really explode in Austin due to the revaluation of the University Neighborhood Overlay District. The UNO District was implemented in UT West Campus to add affordable housing for students with the plan to make a pedestrian based area where cars are unneeded and parking spaces are limited. If UNO is to succeed, more viable options are needed in alternative transportation. This is of course a problem on top of the already horrific traffic problems Austin faces as being ranked third in the nation for traffic congestion.

In the week following the Urban Transportation Commission’s special session, Council Member Chris Riley proposed a Pilot Program with a jitney style route system downtown through 2012 for the LSEVs to be added to the Oct. 6th City Council Agenda. Council Members Mike Martinez and Kathie Tovo Co-Sponsored the agenda items. When asked about finally getting the LSEVs on the City Council Agenda, Bailey said, “I have been consistently impressed with Council Member Chris Riley’s dedication and passion to making transportation in Austin move more efficiently by being open to non-traditional green ideas.”

A day after getting more tickets dismissed in Court, Nielsen and Bailey headed to City Hall to see if the Council would pass agenda items 56/58. Both spoke to the Council on behalf of the agenda items. Bailey joked about his picture being in Busted Magazine after being arrested for operating one of the electric cabs “without a permit” on August 28 saying, “I’m kind of famous now!” Roy Waley representing the Sierra Club offered his support as well. Council Member Martinez added that he would like to see flexibility in the ordinance to have LSEV routes to the east of I-35 as well as in the downtown area to connect the train stop and east entertainment district. He questioned city staff about the safety requirements being attainable and requested that the wording be revisited to offer alternatives that were reasonable and the time frame of when this could be implemented.

Both agenda items pertaining to the LSEVs passed unanimously offering a year pilot program. Chris Nielson said, “Today was one the best days of my life. I watched a 7-0 vote that I have been waiting for four years! Happiest man alive tonight!”