This Week in Rideshare: Self-driving, minimum wage, and scooter debt.
Self-driving stalls, Seattle drivers win big and chargers get drained. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
Monday 9/28/20
Five years, half a mile and $2.5 billion. That’s what Uber has produced so far for its self-driving vehicles. The Information explains:
“The car doesn’t drive well” and “struggles with simple routes and simple maneuvers,” said a manager in the unit, in a 1,500-word email sent three weeks ago to Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, warning of the issues.
TUESDAY 9/29/20
Drivers score big on Tuesday as Seattle approves minimum wage for Uber and Lyft drivers. CNET explains:
The Seattle City Council unanimously approved a minimum pay standard for Uber and Lyft drivers on Tuesday, the second city in the US to do so. Under the new regulation going in to effect in January, the ride-hailing services will be required to pay their drivers at least $16.39 an hour.
WEDNESDAY 9/30/20
Bird offered chargers the deal of a lifetime: Run your own fleet! The bad news? It can go south fast. OneZero reported:
Since then, Charlie has let his two workers go and is dipping into his savings to pay his bills. He thought about going to Austin, where officials allow Bird and three other companies to operate a limited number of scooters, but the Bird contract prevents him from working with any competitors.
THURSDAY 10/1/20
It’s the “Dark Ages”! That’s what Uber is threatening if Prop 22 doesn’t pass. Bloomberg Government explains:
The threat of going without those conveniences is being sold to California voters as part of a record $185 million campaign financed by the gig-economy giants in support of a Nov. 3 general election ballot initiative (Proposition 22). It would preserve the contractor business model central to their success and exclude them from the state law known as Assembly Bill 5.
The companies’ pitch is “we’ll be back to the dark ages of having to call a cab” if the measure fails, said Thad Kousser, a politics professor at the University of California, San Diego.
FRIDAY 10/2/20
Lyft brings bikes! That’s the news in Santa Monica. Patch explains:
“The new ebikes will be docked at the existing Breeze stations, ensuring there is no gap in service once the current Breeze program ends in November,” Lyft said in a news release.
