NewsWatch
Keeping a critical eye on Uber,
Lyft, Sidecar, et al
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Welcome to the latest edition of AFT NewsWatch, a weekly service of Advocates for Fairness in Transportation, an ad hoc group of regulated transportation service companies dedicated to informing and educating the public on threats to public safety from new so-called ride-sharing or ride-booking services such as Uber, Lyft and Sidecar. Visit the Archive to read previous editions.
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Click to Watch: Wild Uber Ride
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Uber driver arrested on suspicion of sexual battery of USC student
An Uber driver was arrested Saturday night after a female USC student said the driver groped her as she got out of the car. The incident happened around 9 p.m. The student said that as she exited the car near campus, on 30th Street, the driver grabbed her backside. The woman escaped the car and used an app called LiveSafe to notify campus security. A few minutes late, LAPD arrived and took the driver, who has not been identified, into custody.
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Widow sues Lyft after husband dies in car crash
A South Florida woman is taking legal action against the ride service Lyft after her husband died in a car accident. Loinier Perez was killed while riding his motorcycle when he was hit by the driver of a Lyft vehicle. The driver, Pirooz Pakdel, is accused of making an illegal left turn and crashing into Perez. "How is it this Lyft Driver failed to respect and see a stop sign this large?" said Ervin A. Gonzalez, the attorney for Perez's widow. "We are talking fundamental skills."
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Driver sues Uber over pay, tips
A former San Antonio-area driver for Uber has filed a class-action lawsuit against the ride-hailing company, alleging it pays drivers less than minimum wage, makes them eat expenses it should pay for and misleads users into thinking they do not have to tip drivers.
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Are Uber and Lyft putting San Francisco's health at risk?
When former Mayor Gavin Newsom required The City's taxi fleet to use fuel-efficient vehicles in 2008, it was national news. Cities around the country, once again, hailed San Francisco an environmental leader. In two years, the Green Taxi Ordinance reduced gas consumption by 2.9 million gallons per year, lowered greenhouse gas emissions by 35,000 tons annually, and saved drivers money in gas costs and brake repairs. But The City's innovative policy has been disrupted.
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Uber driver accidentally texts his passenger calling her a 'lazy b*tch'
An Uber driver who accidentally texted his passenger calling her a "lazy b*tch" has been brilliantly trolled by her on Twitter. The driver, only known as 'Andy', picked up his passenger and her 'heavy bags' and drove her 4 blocks away, just over 400 metres away. His customer, Briana, then exited the car but to her surprise, she received another text from Andy, which was clearly not for her. The text reads: "What a lazy b*tch. My ride was seriously like 4 blocks. But it was at 4x surge so it was $14."
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How Uber plays the tax shell game
The car-hailing phenom is viewed by many as the model for the 21st century corporation. You should see how state-of-the-art it is when it comes to minimizing its tax bill. The VCs were desperate to give him more money. It was the spring of 2013, and Uber CEO and co-founder Travis Kalanick was weeks away from negotiating a new round of venture capital financing that would multiply the valuation of his car-hailing startup by a factor of 10-from a mere $330 million to $3.5 billion.
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Uber will pay $1.8 million to settle lawsuit over airport fees
Ride-sharing giant Uber will reimburse $1.8 million in fees it collected in 2013 and 2014, under a settlement reached Friday. The settlement is a rare concession from a company that continues to fight hard in its most important legal battle: over how its workers should be classified. That case could head to a jury as soon as June of next year. Uber had been slapped with a class-action lawsuit over the "airport fee tolls," which ranged from $1.25 to $4.50 per trip for trips to various California airports, including San Francisco International and Los Angeles International.
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An Uber union? Seattle could clear way for ride-app drivers
Politicians, labor activists and business executives across the U.S. are watching Seattle as it wrestles over what role government should play in the country's growing gig economy, which includes app-based ride-dispatch companies like Uber. The first major city in the U.S. to set its minimum wage on a path to $15 an hour, Seattle may soon become the first to help Uber drivers unionize, as well.
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Uber, Lyft escape additional insurance requirements
The Portland City Council threw out a compromise that would have required Uber, Lyft, and other "transportation network companies" to provide insurance of at least $500,000 when their drivers are looking for clients. The deciding votes-Mayor Charlie Hales along with commissioners Dan Saltzman and Steve Novick-rejected the proposal, allowing the transport companies to work with minimal coverage and paving the way for the rise of Uber and Lyft as the dominant forces in the Portland taxi market.
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Uber removes Canadian driver from service following complaints
A Guelph Uber X driver has been "permanently removed" from Uber's platform after close to a dozen University of Guelph students spoke out about his inappropriate behavior, says the ride-sharing company. The former driver, who falsely lists himself on Facebook as a University of Guelph professor and claims to "teach sexology to virgin girls and pregnant women," allegedly harassed a number of students, particularly young women, while driving them to their destinations.
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| | Four things about Uber you wish you never knew |
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