This Week: CDC Confirms Rideshare & Food Couriers Are Essential

Welcome Back To This Week In Rideshare News! Check out this past week’s headlines:

• Rideshare drivers declared essential workers
• The Driver’s Collective

Welcome back to this week in Rideshare News. My name is Cecily, and here are this week’s headlines. The CDC confirms that rideshare drivers will be among the first to get the vaccine.

I think one of the great thing about the Uber platform is that it can be used to encourage the widespread adoption of the COVID-19 vaccine. It’s something that we’ve been advocating for a while now, that driers and couriers who’ve been on the frontlines we wanted them to be able to receive some kind of priority so that they and their families can be protected, and we were pleased to see over the weekend that the CDC recommended that drivers and couriers be treated as essential workers and have access to the vaccine behind healthcare workers and elderly individuals.

The CDC says that there’s enough vaccines to inoculate the first two rounds, but aren’t nearly sure if they have enough vaccines that are targeted for the next two rounds. For more information about COVID-19 recommendations, or any other information, visit the link below.
A driver-owned platform hopes to attract new drivers from Lyft and Uber. The Drivers Collective is what it’s called, and they aim to end what they refer to as exploitive conditions and offer a coop model that will appeal to both drivers and riders. On their website they state that drivers will make eight to 10% more money on each trip, all profits will go back to drivers, and drivers have a democratic control over the decisions that affect their lives. The Drivers Collective is currently beta testing in the Bronx and will launch for all New Yorkers in 2021.
A new video surfaced basically explaining why rideshare drivers should ask for full coverage.

It was a trip to the airport. A hot ticket for rideshare driver Vic Vendegna, but he wound up for the bill for that November trip, a big one.
This part of the bumper had popped out.
The truck was unscathed, but his van had about $1,800 worth of damage, so he tried to get his insurance company to cover the damage. After all, he pays extra to Founders for rideshare coverage.
They said, “Oh wait, did you have a passenger?” I said, “Well, yes, I did,” and she said, “Well, you’re not covered if you have a passenger.” My rideshare insurance that I upgraded is basically just permission to use my vehicle that I own to go and drive for Lyft.
Attorney Bryant Greening of the Chicago-based firm Legal Rideshare says insurance is the most common topic in his cases. He says some policies only cover certain phases of the job, like when you’re looking for a passenger versus when you’re actually driving them.
To adequately protect yourself you need to go into your insurance company and say I want full coverage for rideshare work.
So, we reached out to Founders. They would not discuss his specific case, but then suddenly they called him and said they’d cover the damage and send a check.
Rideshare drivers are encouraged to ask for full rideshare coverage to make sure that you are covered if you damage someone’s person or property.

And now, for What Would You Do? I found this exchange between a driver and customer over a little ranch. The debate was simple. Some are saying it’s an altruistic move of course. You need your ranch, and whatever, I’ll get it for you, and others are saying that it’s completely motivated by money. What say you? I’m going to air on the side of it’s Christmas time, it’s the holidays, it’s crazy times in general, and this guy’s just being a cool guy, and knows how it feels to not have your condiments. Yeah, that’s how I feel about it.
I hope that you guys have a really awesome holiday. I’m wishing you all good health, and I look forward to seeing you again next week. If you are not subscribed please subscribe. If you need to contact me you can hit me up on Drive Girl Drive on YouTube, or on Facebook. I appreciate you guys. I’ll see you guys next Saturday. Bye.