BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Louisiana's mid-sized and rural communities are hopeful they'll see Uber and Lyft drivers on their streets now that lawmakers passed a measure creating statewide rules for the ride-hailing services.

  

Gov. John Bel Edwards signed the bill into law Tuesday at Nicholls State University. The Thibodaux campus is located in a region that has been seeking access to the transportation networks for years.

  

Uber and Lyft have only operated in a handful of markets in Louisiana, including Baton Rouge, Lafayette and the greater New Orleans area.

  

The companies refused to continue negotiating on a municipality-by-municipality basis. They pushed Louisiana to join the 44 other states with statewide rules.

  

After three years of legislative fighting, lawmakers passed the regulatory framework sponsored by Houma Republican Rep. Tanner Magee.