Uber, Lyft oppose some payments that purpose to stop assaults throughout rides – Hartford Courant

By Madyson Fitzgerald, Stateline.org

Whereas on her method house from a co-working area in Denver final 12 months, Colorado state Rep. Jenny Willford says she was sexually assaulted by her Lyft driver.

In her lawsuit filed towards Lyft in January, Willford alleges she was “subjected to unwelcome, nonconsensual sexual contact, touching” and lewd feedback in the course of the experience.

Willford was picked up by a special driver than the particular person recognized within the Lyft app, based on the swimsuit.

Her expertise — and those who different survivors shared along with her after listening to her story — prompted Willford, a Democrat, to introduce laws this 12 months that aimed to require security measures for each riders and drivers utilizing ridesharing apps.

“In my thoughts, all of these items are very fundamental with regards to security,” Willford stated. “They’re simply so widespread sense that it’s been actually disheartening and irritating to me that Uber … threatened to depart the state if the invoice turns into legislation.”

Her invoice would have required rideshare firms to conduct extra common background checks for drivers, to create a program for passengers or drivers who wish to audio or video file their rides and to develop different security insurance policies.

However following Uber’s threats to depart the state if the measure handed, Colorado Democratic Gov. Jared Polis vetoed it in late Could. The invoice would jeopardize rideshare providers in Colorado “to an untenable diploma, and will very nicely result in firms that Coloradans depend on exiting the market, elevating costs, or lowering the variety of drivers,” his veto letter stated.

Colorado isn’t alone. State and metropolis leaders throughout the nation are in search of methods to make rideshares safer. However lobbying campaigns from Uber and Lyft in lots of circumstances are blocking laws meant to strengthen protections for each drivers and passengers.

Uber and Lyft, the 2 firms that dominate the U.S. rideshare trade, argue they’ve adequate security options inside their apps.

“At Uber, we put security on the coronary heart of our operations, utilizing expertise, transparency, and accountability to assist shield riders, drivers, and the broader group, with strong background checks and security options like Audio and Video Recording, the Emergency Button, PIN verification, and RideCheck,” Uber wrote in a press release to Stateline.

“We stay dedicated to this work, and to dialogue with invoice sponsors on wise insurance policies that hold folks protected whereas defending privateness and entry.”

However there’s nonetheless a niche in laws for rideshare firms due to their evolving applied sciences, stated Lorena Roque, the interim director of schooling, labor and employee justice at The Middle for Legislation and Social Coverage, a left-leaning anti-poverty advocacy group.

“Engaged on an app-based platform — like with supply staff and rideshare staff — that form of work is comparatively new, so there’s not a transparent commonplace,” Roque stated.

Uber and Lyft are using lobbyists on the state and native ranges. In Rhode Island, one other state the place legislators are pushing rideshare security payments that the businesses have objected to, Uber is on tempo to spend $50,000 this 12 months on lobbyists, based on the state’s lobbying database. Lyft has been spending $5,000 month-to-month on lobbyists in Rhode Island.

Throughout the nation, Uber and Lyft have testified towards measures in state legislative hearings and metropolis council conferences. In Colorado’s case, quite a lot of officers representing Uber spoke out towards Willford’s laws at committee hearings, whereas Lyft despatched a letter to Polis urging him to veto it. Jerry Golden, Lyft’s chief coverage officer, wrote within the letter that the laws’s necessities “ignore and in the end won’t enhance situations for riders and drivers.”

Uber informed the state Senate it could be “inconceivable” for rideshare firms to adjust to the invoice’s necessities instantly upon approval and that the audio and video requirement is “not attainable to implement.”

“The intention of my laws was by no means to drive out Uber or Lyft,” Willford stated. “The intention was at all times to require the next stage of accountability and security from them. However we will’t try this in the event that they’re going to throw tantrums and choose up their toys and go house each time anyone asks them to do higher.”

Security for passengers

As part of Lyft’s security measures, drivers should full annual background checks and necessary driver security schooling. The app can also be programmed to verify in with riders when drivers take lengthy stops or deviate from the route they have been assigned.

Uber conducts periodic felony screenings for all energetic drivers and requires drivers to commonly confirm their id by sharing a selfie with Uber utilizing the app. Each firms provide reside emergency help to riders.

Between 2020 and 2022, Lyft reported 23 deadly bodily assaults of individuals utilizing the Lyft platform and a couple of,651 cases of the 5 most critical classes of sexual assault, based on its 2024 Security Transparency Report. Whereas incidents of sexual assault had decreased 21% for the reason that final report, which lined 2017-19, deadly bodily assaults jumped by 185%.

Uber noticed 36 bodily assault fatalities in 2021 and 2022 and a couple of,717 incidents of probably the most critical classes of sexual assault, based on the corporate’s most up-to-date security report. Regardless of a 22% decline in sexual assault and misconduct, there was a rise in deadly bodily assaults since its 2019-20 report.

State lawmakers in a number of states have tried to deal with rideshare security considerations with various levels of success.

Pending laws in New Jersey and Massachusetts goals to stop sexual assault and misconduct towards passengers.