This Week In Rideshare: Screens, Teens, and Pay.

Questions on how Uber screens drivers, teens get access in Atlanta and gig companies complain about pay. LegalRideshare breaks it down.

MONDAY 6/19/23

A lawsuit in Florida raises questions on how Uber screens its drivers. ABC Action News reported:

FL passengers accuse Uber of letting criminals behind the wheel.

“Incomprehensible, really, that something like this could occur,” said Damian Josefsberg, a South Florida businessman who claims his identity was stolen by an Uber driver.

Grace and Josefsberg are now suing Uber, blaming the ride-sharing giant of failing to properly screen its drivers to allow criminals behind the wheel.

According to the lawsuit, Oliveras Rivera’s history includes serious run-ins with the law that date back more than twenty years. Those incidents include multiple arrests and a 2002 felony conviction for drug possession and first-degree robbery with a firearm in New York.

TUESDAY 6/20/23

Uber for teens launches in Atlanta. But is that a good thing? WSB-TV reported:

Uber for teens allows parents to arrange a ride for teens ages 13–17.

Safety features include PIN verification, GPS tracking, and expanded communication for parents and the teens.

“Do Uber and Lyft have sufficient precautions in place, sufficient training, sufficient technology, sufficient sophistication to identify whether or not that child who enters the vehicle may be in trouble?” are some of the questions U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff wants to be answered.

One of his concerns is human trafficking, and whether predators might be arranging a ride for a teenager they meet through apps or online.

WEDNESDAY 6/21/23

The family of an Uber driver who was shot seeks justice. KFOX14 reported:

The family of an El Paso Uber driver who was shot in the head said they’ll soon have to decide if they should take him off life support.

Daniel Piedra Garcia, 52, was shot by his passenger, 48-year-old Phoebe Copas of Tompkinsville, Kentucky, on U.S. 54 near Loop 375, police said.

Copas told police she shot Piedra because she thought he was kidnapping her when she saw an exit sign for Juarez, Mexico, court documents stated.

Lopez believed that stereotypes about the border may have led to her uncle being shot.

“They make assumptions, they see stuff maybe on the news, maybe on social media, and stuff that’s not necessarily true and when they come here they come without really knowing,” Lopez said.

THURSDAY 6/22/23

Bolt will now be delivering food to your door via a robot. CNBC reported:

Estonian ride-hailing firm Bolt says it will begin delivering food to people’s doors from a fleet of self-driving robots through a partnership with robotics firm Starship Technologies.

Just like ordering food online from apps in the typical way, Bolt’s Starship partnership will allow users to get their food delivered from robots at the tap of a button.

Once the robot arrives at your door, you’ll be able to press a button that opens it up and receive your meals or groceries.

FRIDAY 6/23/23

Gig companies say they can’t pay workers more. But is it the truth? Slate reported:

Last week, New York City finalized a rule setting a minimum pay standard of $17.96 per hour for delivery workers for gig companies like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Postmates. The new rule resulted from an extended campaign by Los Deliveristas Unidos, a fierce organization of delivery workers who brave traffic, snow, floods, heat, smoke, and COVID to bring New Yorkers our dinner.

Gig companies often offer grim prophesies that don’t come true when jurisdictions try to regulate them. And New York City’s economic experts identified various ways the companies can adjust to the new status quo without excessively increasing customer prices. The new pay rule will ensure that delivery workers are treated more justly as they serve New York diners, who are highly unlikely to stop ordering in.

When the government moves to regulate gig companies in any way, these corporations routinely forecast catastrophe; Uber even threatened to leave California, Seattle, and Minnesota if they didn’t get their way on certain issues. But in the end, when Uber and friends have been regulated, the sky didn’t fall. New York City in 2019 created what was effectively a minimum wage for Uber and Lyft drivers, and companies predicted significantly increased prices; Lyft even filed an unsuccessful lawsuit. Happily, though, the pay floor worked: A 2020 report found that in the first year, “driver pay increased by about nine percent, passenger fares rose slightly but not much more than in Chicago without a pay standard, passenger wait times declined significantly, and some of the pay increase was absorbed by the app-dispatch companies through lower effective commission rates.”

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