[mcotton]

As an Austin resident I think the real lesson to learn is how poor of a job Uber did of gaining supporters. I went from being a vocal supporter to an almost hostile opponent based on their behavior.

They spent a reported $8 million in very confusing ads. They sent text messages and push notifications to customers. All of this felt very disingenuous and deceptive. I will be sad to see them go but they are their own worst enemy right now.

[cobralibre]

I agree that many Austinites were turned off by the sheer amount of spam sent by the Uber/Lyft-backed campaign. Others, I believe, were simply angry about the cost of a single-issue special election. [1]

Yet others, I believe, were furious that those two generously funded companies were attempting to insert themselves into local politics and override a regulatory scheme enacted by the local elected government. And if Uber and Lyft could buy this election, what next? It's been said that Uber and Lyft needed to make an example out of Austin, but the reverse is true, too: Austin needed to make an example out of Uber and Lyft.

[1] - $500,000. Source: https://www.texastribune.org/2016/05/07/early-voting-austin-...

[natrius]

It was a very bad campaign, which makes me suspect that they did it on purpose. If they won this campaign, they'd have to win again in every other city that tries this. If they lose, pull out of Austin for a while, and make sure it's national news, other cities might think twice.

But it could just be incompetence.

[csbrooks]

They basically turned it into "here's the legislation we wrote, if you don't pass it, we're leaving immediately", and then spammed everyone with text messages, INCREDIBLE amounts of junk mail, and door-to-door canvasing. They turned a lot of people off, big time. (Where's the story about that?)

I'm really hopeful some competitor can show up and eat their lunch, before they come slinking back. The way they behaved turned me from a fan into someone who actively distrusts them.