This Week in Rideshare: Unions, Routes and Funds.
A setback in NY, riders call the shots and we launch a safety Fund. LegalRideshare breaks it down:
MONDAY 6/7/21
With COVID-19 on the decline, UK’s ridership is way up. The Financial Times reported:
Across Europe for the week commencing May 17, Uber’s total gross bookings recovered to more than 80 per cent of the level reported in the same period in 2019. The figures mark a striking recovery after the company reported a 38 per cent year-on-year drop in mobility revenues globally for the first three months of 2021.
TUESDAY 6/8/21
It looks like NY’s plan to unionize drivers just fell flat. Bloomberg reported:
Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc.’s efforts to reach a compromise with lawmakers in New York suffered a setback this week. A state senator scrapped closely watched plans to introduce a gig work bill this year that would have offered workers union representation without making them employees.
“We could never get everybody together,” said Democrat Diane Savino, a former union official who had been aiming to introduce a bill with both labor and industry support in time to pass before this year’s legislative session ends this week. “It’s a complicated problem, but the only way we’re going to get to a solution is people are going to have to put aside their own agendas and figure out, How do we solve it?”
WEDNESDAY 6/9/21
Riders and drivers now have more control over routes and pickup locations. The Points Guy explains:
The first is what Uber’s calling “Side of Street,” and it functions exactly as the name implies. Rather than seeing a random pick-up pin location, drivers will be able to see exactly which side of the street their rider is standing on, potentially trimming off several minutes of searching or “looping around” on busy streets.
Perhaps even more exciting, once you’re actually in the car, drivers will now have a choice of three routes they can use to get you to your destination. The driver app will also “predict traffic congestion” when identifying ideal routes. Hopefully, that’ll help minimize the risk of getting stuck in unnecessary traffic if you end up with a driver who insists on following Uber’s built-in navigation.
THURSDAY 6/10/21
A new lawsuit aimed at Lyft has a very specific goal: equality. KQED reported:
The Berkeley and New York-based Disability Rights Advocates group filed the class-action complaint in US Northern District Court against Lyft in 2019, alleging it ran afoul of the ADA by failing to ensure service for those who require special wheelchair accessible vehicles (WAVs) to get around.
The suit didn’t aim to pinch Lyft’s purse — instead, disability community advocates wished to push the ride-hail giant to provide wheelchair-accessible service in the Bay Area that’s “full and equal” to the service it provides the rest of the public.
FRIDAY 6/11/21
After countless deadly carjackings in Chicago, LegalRideshare has decided to step in and help. Announced Friday, The “Driver Safety Fund” is designed to give up to $10,000 of free dash cams to drivers and up to $40,000 to help catch the criminals.
“We refuse to sit by idly as the rideshare and gig companies fail to protect their workers,” Greening said. “If the billion dollar corporations won’t step up, we gladly will.”
“Dash cameras are the single most important safety tool a rideshare driver can install in her vehicle,” Greening said. “It’s mere presence makes a criminal think twice.”
To request a dash camera, Chicago-based drivers must send an email to help@LegalRideshare.com with their full name, current residence address, and a screenshot of their app-based driver profile (from Uber, Lyft, Postmates, etc.).
