This Week In Rideshare: Pay in cash, Uber threatens drivers, and Waymo opens up.
Drivers ask for cash, Uber threatens drivers and Waymo opens up. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
DRIVERS ASKING FOR CASH
Drivers have started asking passengers to pay in cash. Business Insider reported:
Some drivers for rideshare services like Uber and Lyft are offering passengers an alternative: Ditch the apps entirely, agree on a price, and pay them in cash or through an app like Venmo.
Drivers for the services told Business Insider that going around the apps has become attractive as many have noticed their earnings decreasing. In the past, some have said trips paid as little as $3. Striking a deal directly with their passenger offers a more lucrative fare — even if it carries risks for both sides.
Posts on Reddit and in Facebook groups include questions from drivers about whether it’s ever acceptable to ask riders to cancel the ride they requested through the Uber or Lyft app and pay them another way. Some posts from passengers describe the other side of the interaction.
Michael Moya, who drives for Uber in Boston, said he often hears drivers discussing whether to offer customers the option not to use the apps and pay using cash or a separate payment app like Venmo.
He said the option could backfire, including Uber and Lyft deactivating the drivers’ accounts.
UBER THREATENS DRIVERS
Uber is threatening to cut off drivers if pay increases. AMNY reported:
Uber says it may effectively lay off thousands of New York City drivers if the Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC) decides to raise minimum pay standards.
In a Monday evening blog post, the rideshare giant argued that the city’s first-in-the-nation minimum pay rules have made their service too expensive, leading to a decline in trip volume. Uber warned that further increases in pay would come at the cost of many drivers’ ability to use the app.
Uber doesn’t cite a specific number or percentage of its workforce that could be docked or a formula for how such mass layoffs would work, but a spokesperson for the company said that depending on the size of the increase, thousands of drivers could be permanently deactivated from the app.
WAYMO ROBOTAXIS EXPAND
Waymo opens up big in LA. AP News reported:
Waymo on Tuesday opened its robotaxi service to anyone who wants a ride around Los Angeles, marking another milestone in the evolution of self-driving car technology since the company began as a secret project at Google 15 years ago.
The expansion comes eight months after Waymo began offering rides in Los Angeles to a limited group of passengers chosen from a waiting list that had ballooned to more than 300,000 people. Now, anyone with the Waymo One smartphone app will be able to request a ride around an 80-square-mile (129-square-kilometer) territory spanning the second largest U.S. city.
After Waymo received approval from California regulators to charge for rides 15 months ago, the company initially chose to launch its operations in San Francisco before offering a limited service in Los Angeles.
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