NewsWatch
Keeping a critical eye on Uber,
Lyft and other transportation
network companies
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This is 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 and fair commerce from so-called ride-sharing or ride-booking services such as Uber and Lyft. Visit the Archive to read previous editions. Click here to join our mailing list.
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Internal data offers glimpse at Uber sex assault complaints
According to data provided by Uber to BuzzFeed News, the company received five claims of rape, and "fewer than" 170 claims of sexual assault directly related to an Uber ride as inbound tickets to its customer service database between December 2012 and August 2015. Uber provided these numbers as a rebuttal to screenshots obtained by BuzzFeed News. The images which were provided by a former Uber customer service representative to BuzzFeed News, and subsequently confirmed by multiple other parties, show search queries conducted on Uber's Zendesk customer support platform from December 2012 through August 2015. Several individual tickets shown in the screenshots have also been confirmed.
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Uber fights back against reports of thousands of sexual assault complaints
Leaked screenshots of Uber's customer support platform obtained by BuzzFeed News show that 6,160 support tickets over a 33-month period appear to contain the phrase "sexual assault." There were 5,827 for "rape." The data only searches through key data about complaints, such as subject line and driver/passenger name, and not the complaint itself. Uber defended itself from the leaked data by saying that only five reports of rape and no more than 170 claims of sexual assault from the batch were valid. That covers the period from December 2012 through August 2015.
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Fake vomit scandals are happening in Uber rides across America
It's disgusting, it's duplicitous, and apparently, it's being done in Uber cars across the United States. A number of reports have surfaced claiming that Uber drivers are planting fake vomit in their cars to collect cleaning fees from unsuspecting customers. The latest alleged victim of such a scandal is Manhattan-based art director Meredith Mandel, who says that her Uber driver placed yellow vomit around his car's dashboard and floor mats and said that it was Mandel's doing. This resulted in a $200 cleaning charge, one that Mandel denies she's responsible for.
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Uber driver arrested after car, party bus collide in Gaslamp Quarter
An Uber driver was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence after colliding with a party bus in the Gaslamp Quarter, San Diego Police said. The crash occurred just before midnight on F Street between 6th and 7th avenues amongst restaurants and nightclubs. The Uber driver ran a red light and crashed into the back of the charter bus, police said. Only the driver was on board the bus at the time of the crash.
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Uber driver sentenced over road rage incident
A British judge called the behavior of an Uber driver "horrible" during a sentencing hearing for the man, who reportedly shouted "kill all the Jews" during a road rage incident, Britain's ITV reported. According to British media reports on the court proceedings, the driver, Rashal Miah, after getting stuck in traffic in 2014 shouted anti-Semitic slurs at an Orthodox Jewish man driving a school bus full of children. The Hackney Gazette reported that Miah had emerged from his vehicle and called bus driver "Yehudi," which means Jew in Arabic and in Hebrew.
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Farrah Abraham claims Uber driver tried to assault her: 'It was very scary'
Teen Mom OG star Farrah Abraham claimed during a recent episode of her podcast that an Uber driver tried to assault her during an altercation in Long Island, New York, in January 2015. "My non-boyfriend threw him in the window and almost broke his car window," she said of her on-again, off-again boyfriend Simon Saran during her Farrah & Friends podcast. "The Persian dude ran after me. The cops were like, 'You're harassing her,' and I was like, 'See, I told you!' and then I went to bed."
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Uber accused of impeding NLRB probe into labor practices
Federal officials have accused Uber in new court filings of failing to cooperate with an investigation into whether its drivers are employees or independent contractors. Over the past few months the National Labor Relations Board has asked the ride-hailing giant to hand over a wide range of documents about the company's employment practices after receiving several closely related complaints from drivers last year.
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Uber's employment fight just got more complicated
Whether drivers are contractors or employees is a huge issue for the ride hailing app. Uber's fight against having to classify its drivers as employees instead of independent contractors just became a little more complicated. A former Uber driver in the San Diego, Calif. area has successfully applied for unemployment benefits, according to SF Weekly. Patrick Ely, the driver, was part of a group of drivers who filed a complaint against Uber last month claiming the ride-hailing company had violated the California Labor Act when it cut its prices in January.
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Uber racked up big international losses during 2014 expansion
The international business of Uber, the U.S.-based ride-hailing service, lost $237 million in 2014, a big increase on a deficit of $31.9 million the previous year, as the company expanded around the globe. The figures, the latest available, were disclosed in an official filing lodged with the Dutch Chamber of Commerce last month. Uber's international headquarters are in Amsterdam.
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Many Uber, Lyft drivers are underinsured, survey finds
The rideshare industry has expanded at a fast pace since its debut in 2012. Last year, Uber executives estimated their drivers were providing 2 million rides a day worldwide. In the U.S., the growth has been so rapid that, when it comes to insurance, the nation's regulators, insurers and drivers are all struggling to catch up. A new survey found that many rideshare drivers may not have enough auto insurance coverage to fully protect themselves, and that they also don't understand the risks involved.
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Private investigators catch ride-hailing drivers accepting illegal rides for cash
At least 10 drivers for Uber or Lyft were caught on video agreeing to illegal passenger pickups at the Las Vegas Convention Center during the recent MAGIC show. Video footage of the illegal trips, recorded by a private investigator, is expected to be presented at the Nevada Transportation Authority's March 24 meeting, authority attorney James Day said. Agreeing to take a customer on the spot, rather than booking through an app, is called an off-platform transaction.
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