State agency rolls back rule that kept ride-hailing safety data secret

The California Public Utilities Commission, the body that regulates ride-hailing, has unanimously voted to reverse a policy that allowed safety reports filed by Uber and Lyft to be kept hidden from the public. The commission receives these reports, but due to an obscure footnote inserted into its rules in 2013, does not release them to the public or to local government agencies. Seth Rosenfeld, whose reporting brought this policy into the spotlight, explains what the vote does and doesn't mean for data transparency.