This Week: New Safety Initiatives By Lyft and Uber

This week in rideshare news – Lyft launched their safety initiatives smart-trip check-in and Uber launches Ridecheck, a new feature that provides drivers with roadside assistance for emergency situations. While these features may sound “helpful” to both drivers and passengers, drivers are actually protesting the app changes in NYC.

 

 

Hey guys, what’s up, it’s and welcome back to this week in ride share news.

RideCheck: Connecting you with help when you need it

So last week Lyft launched their safety initiative, Smart Trip Check-In. This week Uber announces RideCheck, so I’m going to break down everything you need to know about RideCheck. Uber describes RideCheck as tools that riders and drivers may need to detect that something went wrong, such as a crash or if you stayed in a spot too long. So if the rider has an issue, you can interact on the app or you can press the 9-1-1 button or you can reach out to Uber’s safety line. A link to what RideCheck really is, is in the description. They just launched it this week. So of course it will evolve over time, but it’s great to see that both Uber and Lyft are thinking about safety for both the passenger and the driver.

168 Uber and Lyft drivers suspended for offenses, including felonies, that should have barred them from employment: Officials

So lots going on, lots going on. So the Portland Department of Transportation confirmed to ABC News this past week that over 168 ride share drivers were suspended from 2015 to now for having criminal histories. The PDT, as I’m going to refer to it, suspended or revoked permits for over 168 drivers, two of them being Lyft drivers, and one of them convicted of sexual assault and the other for assault with intent to murder. They did random background checks on drivers, and that is how they came to this result.

It stated that these criminal offenses should have barred these drivers from employment. Anyone with a felony should not have been on the platform. In addition to criminal history, they also checked for the sexual offender registry, as well, and both Uber and Lyft replied that safety is their number one concern. Both companies have stated that they also initiate their own random background checks and screening, and they are planning to do more in this area. This isn’t the first city that has done this. We covered a county a few months before that does the same thing, and I just think that the added security, the added checks, the constant monitoring to see if anyone has committed a crime recently is definitely necessary. Absolutely. The link for this article is in the description.

Why should the west coast drivers have all the funds? This past Tuesday, Uber and Lyft drivers brought traffic to a standstill in New York. The Independent Drivers Guild protested this past Tuesday against what they perceived to be changes in the app that they believe will result in lower pay and less favorable working conditions. Last week Uber said that they would begin to restrict how many drivers can go online at any one time, especially if there’s low demand, and Uber locked drivers out of the platform for times and locations where riders were requesting fewer trips. Very curious to see how their protests will affect what’s going on in New York. If you’re affiliated with this organization, please let us know. We would love to hear your perspective. If you’re curious about this article, the link is in the description.

So yesterday I was interviewed in regards to an article regarding women drivers safety. The interviewer were responded to an article. “There really isn’t anything that you can do to keep you safe.” Yeah, that’s the title of it. It was a collection of interviews with Uber and Lyft drivers in regards to safety. Now, I don’t want to rehash what’s in the article because if you drive, you know how vulnerable you can be as a driver, and you also know you put your life on the line every single time you accept a ride.

The reason I bring it up is because as much as I talk about safety for drivers, I was able to shed some light on that from our drivers perspective. The more that we talk about safety, the more we’ll be done to make this profession safer for both parties. So a link to that article is in the description, along with my interview. And mad props Harry for hooking me up on the interview, as well. Being an RSG contributor has been amazing, so I enjoy creating these videos for you guys and appreciate the opportunity to speak on your behalf.

Uber follows Lyft in limiting app

And for my favorite segment it’s called “What would you do?” This one isn’t so tragic like the others have been. This young lady writes, “What’s the best way to ask a customer on a long trip for a return fee? Do you keep the app running and wait for another trip, or ask for cash up front?” My assumption is that the rider mentioned returning back with this person, and they’re trying to figure out… They probably wrote that question in the middle of waiting to see what would happen next. And my response to that is if someone takes you for a long way and they want to reserve your time on the way back that you need to stay on the app. If they’re going inside to do something that’s going to take longer than a few minutes, then you definitely would need to close that.

This is why you would want to do that. If they go inside and say they’re like having dinner or they have to take care of something and it takes a while, they may decide that they’re not going to ride back with you or they’re going to take their time and you may decide that you don’t want to do the return trip. You don’t have to do the return trip. So ending the ride gives you the freedom to leave if you need to or that sort of thing.

And also if they decide to report you and say, “Well, you left the app running and I never intended to go with you,” then you could actually possibly lose the whole fare if they decided to lie. I never accept cash or alternate payment for rides. You are on the platform, you receive down the platform, you could get arrested for that. There’s things all the time for those kinds of things. So never accept that.

You can mention we have to do it on the platform, and you can add a tip if you’d like. If there’s a certain amount of money that you guys have agreed upon, then you can ask them to do that and then set aside some time to make sure that they tip you. And however you want to do that, it’s fine. At the end of the day people are going to do what they want to do. Yeah, that’s my answer. What is yours? Let me know in the comments.

And that’s it. Thank you so much for watching. My name is Cecily. This is the Rideshare Guy Channel. If you’re not subscribed, please subscribe to this channel, and if you’re curious about who I am and what I do, I’m a ride share blogger on my own channel called Drive Girl Drive, and it can be reached on YouTube or Facebook. If you have any questions, let me know. All right. That’s it. Have a good one. Bye.