From our archives, 100 years ago Spokane’s streetcar companies were in a slump, partly because of the steep rise in auto ownership, and partly because of competition from the jitneys, which were like the Uber cars of the time.

LONDON – Britain’s High Court ruled Friday that the Uber app to hail minicabs is lawful – a blow to London’s famous black cab drivers, who argued that it violated city regulations. The court’s decision came after London’s transport authority sought clarification as to whether the San Francisco-based company’s app worked in the same way as meters used by the strictly regulated black cabs.

When Chris Wetherell gets off shift as a firefighter at Spokane International Airport early in the morning, he takes a long drive to his home in Spokane Valley. On his way, he opens up a Lyft app on his phone, throws a pink moustache on his car and picks up someone in the city looking for a ride. Wetherell has been a Lyft driver since May and was one of the first five drivers to operate in the city. Lyft and its competitor Uber are ride-share companies that use phone apps to arrange transactions to transport passengers. But since Lyft and Uber arrived in Spokane, taxi companies have questioned their legality.