PPA Sting Operation Nets One Lyft Impoundment

The new service is legal everywhere in Pennsylvania — except Philadelphia.

On Friday night, the new Lyft “ridesharing” service hit the streets of Philadelphia. And so did undercover agents from the Philadelphia Parking Authority’s Taxi & Limousine Division.

As they’ve done in the past with UberX, PPA employees conducted sting operations trying to catch Lyft drivers picking up fares in the city. And on Friday night, their sting yielded one impounded Toyota Camry, seen here. (We’ve blurred the license plate.)

A second Lyft driver was also caught in the sting, but that vehicle was actually a perfectly legal certificated Uber Black car operating under Lyft for the night. That driver was issued a citation, but the car was not impounded.

The PPA insists it will continue to enforce the law in Philadelphia, which says that both UberX and Lyft are illegal. The services are legal everywhere else in Pennsylvania, and Philadelphia’s City Council last week called on Harrisburg legislators to step in and legalize both services here.

Meanwhile, UberX and Lyft have made it pretty clear that they’ll continue to thumb their noses at the PPA.

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