NewsWatch
Keeping a critical eye on Uber,
Lyft and other transportation
network companies
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Man charged in Uber sex assault of teen
An Oshawa man has been arrested in connection with an alleged sexual assault by an Uber driver. According to Durham Regional Police, the male victim, who is younger than 16, was picked up by an Uber driver on Lakeview Park Ave. in Oshawa just after midnight on May 29. The driver is alleged to have "reached over and touched the victim's genital area" before stopping the car and sexually assaulting the teen, police said in a news release. Ahmad Sohail, 29, has been charged with sexual assault, sexual inference and invitation to sexual touching.
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How criminals can get around driver background checks for rideshare, taxi services
After a long, heated fight, in-demand rideshare companies like Uber and Lyft are now free to operate legally in Miami-Dade County. However, some critics are saying that required background checks on drivers aren't through enough and in some cases are allowing for criminals to slip through the cracks. This is because not every state, county or municipality posts their arrest records online -- making background checks a tricky task.
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What's in a fingerprint? The future of Uber in New Jersey
When Democratic New Jersey Assemblyman Joseph Lagana decided to regulate ride-sharing companies like Uber and Lyft in the state, his said his main priority was making sure the drivers were properly insured. Two years later, his measure includes a provision for fingerprint background checks, and that is the key sticking point in attempts to regulate the industry. It has led to a fierce public lobbying effort from Uber including help from the United States' former top prosecutor and a threat from Uber to leave the state.
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What Saudi Women really think about their country's investment in Uber
What is the role of major American companies when they expand their business into countries that have different values and attitudes? And does that change when one of those countries invests a significant chunk of money in an American firm? Those are a couple of the questions being raised about Uber, which took $3.5 billion from Saudi Arabia's public investment fund last week, and which has been operating in the country since early 2014. For some women in the region, where they are not allowed to drive, the deal was a bad omen.
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Uber, Lyft drivers face stricter rules after council committee vote
A Chicago City Council committee approved a ride-share ordinance that would increase regulations for Uber and Lyft drivers, but the proposal's sponsor, Ald. Anthony Beale, stressed that he remains open to negotiations on its details. The ordinance, promoted by the taxicab industry, subjects Uber and Lyft drivers to some of the same regulations as cabdrivers, including fingerprinting as part of a criminal background check. The joint committee on transportation and licensing approved the ordinance by a voice vote with no dissent.
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Examining what happens when Uber pulls out of a city
When Michael Leto heard the news last month that Uber and Lyft were pulling out of Austin, Texas, because of an ordinance regarding driver background checks, he hopped on the first flight there. As the CEO of a Phoenix-based ride-hailing company called Fare, Leto saw an opportunity too good to pass up. Leto arrived in Austin, met with the mayor and got approval to operate in the city. In Fare's first two weeks there, the company had already paid nearly 1,300 drivers for roughly 20,000 trips.
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Uber customers gripe to feds about spam
Dozens of people in Austin, Texas, complained to federal regulators in early May that Uber was spamming their phones with unwanted text messages as it sought passage of a ballot measure in the city. At least 35 people complained that the company was sending multiple texts to their phones, with some alleging that the company did not comply with their requests to stop, according to a batch of Federal Communications Commission complaints obtained by The Hill through a Freedom of Information Act request.
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Uber to raise up to $2 billion in leveraged-loan market
Uber Technologies Inc. is turning to the leveraged-loan market for the first time to raise as much as $2 billion, a sign of the popular ride-sharing network's hunger for cash as it expands around the world. Uber has hired Morgan Stanley, Barclays PLC, Citigroup Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to sell a leveraged loan of $1 billion to $2 billion to institutional investors, people familiar with the matter said. The company plans to issue the debt in coming weeks, some of the people said.
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Why Uber and Lyft will have a short lifespan
If you're a taxi driver, or if you own a taxi company, your business is now on the brink of extinction. In cities around the world, taxis are being supplanted by Uber, Lyft, and other ride sharing services. In New York City, the cost of a taxi medallion has plunged from $1 million to around $500,000 in the last two years or so, and many fleet operators and individual taxi owners now owe more than they are ever likely to recover. We could blame Uber or Lyft for this catastrophe, but that would be like blaming United Airlines for the demise of passenger railroads, or holding FedEx accountable for the decimation of the postal system.
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Uber rebuffs calls to release worker diversity numbers
In April, Uber unexpectedly raised the live-wire issue of race. Drivers were publicly demanding that the company change its smartphone app to let passengers tip them with credit cards, one skirmish in a running battle over pay and benefits. Uber refused to add the feature, making the provocative argument that its customers' unconscious racial biases would lead them to tip white drivers better than black drivers. But now, facing questions about race and diversity in its own corporate offices, Uber is tight-lipped.
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Drivers are breaking up with Uber to get back with Yellow
Brinto Rashed worked six days a week driving for the restaurant delivery business he started, saving up so he could do what he thought would really make him money: driving for Uber. But no sooner had he and his younger brother, Ali Eftear, bought Lexus and Acura sedans than the two scrapped their plan and started spending their days behind the wheel of a yellow cab. Now they're telling everyone in their extended family to do the same. "It's all about money," Rashed, 29, said. "Where you get more money, run there."
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