New Orleans Regulations For Uber, Lyft and Other Transportation Network Companies

Louisiana generally regulates Uber, Lyft and other transportation network companies statewide, with limited local exceptions. That framework took effect on July 1, 2019 under Act 286 of the 2019 Regular Session. If you were hurt in a rideshare crash, the rules that matter most to your claim are in state law.

State law governs, with narrow local exceptions

Before 2019, New Orleans regulated transportation network companies through its own City Code provisions, including company permits and local requirements for drivers and vehicles. Act 286 replaced that approach with a statewide framework in La. R.S. 48:2191 through 2205.

Under La. R.S. 48:2205(B), companies, drivers and vehicles are governed exclusively by state law except as that chapter itself provides. A parish or municipality may no longer require a transportation network company or its drivers to hold a local operating license or permit, and may not impose local entry, rate or operating requirements. La. R.S. 48:2205(C).

Three exceptions matter:

• A grandfathered per-trip fee. A local government that had a transportation network company ordinance with a per-trip fee in force before March 1, 2019, and had a company operating within its limits on that date, may continue to charge up to the fee that ordinance imposed. La. R.S. 48:2204(A).
• A one percent fee elsewhere. Any other local government may impose a fee of up to one percent of the gross trip fare on each intrastate prearranged ride, through an ordinance meeting the statute’s notice requirements. La. R.S. 48:2204(B) and (C).
• Airports and large events. Airports may charge pick-up fees, and law enforcement may contract with companies about large events on comparable terms. La. R.S. 48:2205(D).

For an injury claim, the practical effect is that local permitting questions rarely decide anything. The insurance required by state law usually does.

Coverage depends on what the driver’s app was doing

Louisiana does not set a single insurance minimum for rideshare drivers. It sets different minimums for different periods, and the period that counts is the one in effect at the moment of the crash. La. R.S. 45:201.6.

Note how the two working tiers are built differently. The lower tier is stated as separate per-person, per-incident and property-damage limits. The higher tier is a single combined figure. They are not directly comparable, but the applicable statutory minimum can change substantially depending on which period applies.

Both working periods also require uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage to the extent required by La. R.S. 22:1295. That requirement does not guarantee any particular injured person UM benefits, or UM coverage at the $1,000,000 level. Section 22:1295 addresses rejection of UM coverage and selection of lower limits, and for commercial policies a separate selection rule applies. What is actually available turns on the policy and the selection documents.

During the working periods a driver’s personal insurer may exclude coverage, and the required transportation network company coverage may be supplied by the driver, the company, or both. La. R.S. 45:201.6(D), 45:201.7.

You can require the company to disclose the driver’s log-on times

Apart from what the driver tells you, nothing at the scene of a crash shows which coverage period applied. That information sits in the company’s records, and Louisiana gives a route to it.

Within ten business days of a request for information, a transportation network company and any insurer potentially providing coverage must cooperate to exchange relevant information with directly involved parties. That includes the precise times the driver logged on and off the digital network in the twelve hours before and the twelve hours after the accident, along with a clear description of the coverage, exclusions and limits under any automobile insurance maintained. La. R.S. 45:201.8.

Those times are important evidence, though they do not by themselves establish when a particular ride was accepted. Alongside fault and injuries, establish the driver’s app and ride status promptly.

What the driver must tell you at the scene

The driver is a source too, and the law requires him to answer. A transportation network company driver must carry written or digital proof of the required coverage at all times while using a vehicle in connection with the company’s digital network. After an accident he must provide that coverage information to directly interested parties, to automobile insurers, and to the investigating police officers on request, and on the same request he must also disclose whether he was logged on to the digital network or on a prearranged ride at the time of the accident. La. R.S. 45:201.9.

Act 457 of the 2026 Regular Session, effective 1 August 2026, added a consequence for not answering: a driver who fails to comply is subject to the penalties of La. R.S. 32:863.1. The practical point is to ask at the scene and to get the answer into the police report, rather than leaving the coverage period to be reconstructed from the company’s records weeks later.

Who may be affected

The coverage periods describe the rideshare driver’s status, but the people affected are not only passengers.

• Passengers injured during a prearranged ride are within the period carrying the highest statutory minimum.
• Other motorists and their passengers hit by a rideshare driver are affected by whichever period applied to that driver at impact.
• Pedestrians and cyclists are in a similar position, though the person injured and the identity of the at-fault party affect which claims and policies may respond.
• Rideshare drivers themselves injured by someone else bring a claim against that driver, and uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage can matter a great deal if the at-fault driver carries little or none.

Where several people are hurt in one crash, they may be looking to the same policy. The statutory minimum sets required transportation network company coverage; it is not a complete inventory of the insurance that may respond in a particular case.

What to do after a rideshare crash

• Save your trip information. Take screenshots of your ride request, driver details, trip updates, messages and the receipt. These may help show whether the driver was waiting for a request, on the way to a pickup, or carrying a passenger when the crash happened. Those periods carry different insurance requirements. La. R.S. 45:201.4 through 201.6.
• Ask about the driver’s app status and insurance. A crash report may not answer those questions. The rideshare company and the insurers may hold the records that do, so it helps to ask promptly. Louisiana law requires them to share specified information with directly involved parties during a coverage investigation once a request is made. La. R.S. 45:201.8.
• Do not assume there is only one policy. Depending on the circumstances, coverage may come from the driver’s policy, the company’s policy, or both. A personal auto policy may also exclude coverage while the driver is using the app. La. R.S. 45:201.6 and 201.7.
• Keep the ordinary evidence too. Save photos, witness names, the crash report, medical records and insurance letters. Knowing what the app was doing helps answer an insurance question; it does not, by itself, show who caused the crash.
• Check the filing deadline without waiting. Do not wait for an insurer to finish reviewing the claim before finding out how long you have. The deadline should be checked against your own facts.

The filing deadline

For most Louisiana injury claims arising on or after July 1, 2024, suit must be filed within two years of the date injury or damage is sustained. La. C.C. art. 3493.1. That article applies prospectively, so accidents before that date may be governed by the former one-year period. Claims against public entities can carry different timing requirements.

Do not assume that reporting the crash through the app or opening a claim with an insurer pauses the filing deadline. Some acts can interrupt prescription, including an acknowledgment of the claimant’s right, La. C.C. art. 3464, but reporting a crash is not a substitute for filing on time.

Talk to us early

If you were hurt in a rideshare crash, contact Lavis Law Firm for a free case review. Bring any trip screenshots, the crash report and insurance messages you have. We can help review what information is still needed.