Justice Department Sues Uber for Denying Rides to Passengers with Service Dogs, Wheelchairs

Comments

• ayyy@sh.itjust.works ⁨4⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  This is an obvious shakedown because they haven’t given trump a golden trophy yet.

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• njordomir@lemmy.world ⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  To me this sounds like a fundamental problem with their business model. Private vehicles used for public transportation by people who aren’t well-trained commercial drivers.

  I have always thought it was sketchy that we let random people in the US be commercial drivers for Uber without forcing them to get a new type of license or earn some kind of state certificate because most people are absolutely shit drivers and beyond that, there are rules for dealing with people (in this case disability stuff) that you should know if you drive the public.

  Would you get in a car with that dude “Chad” who hangs out behind the bowling ally, or that chick “Tammy” who learned to drive from her highschool boyfriend who was a year or two older than her and basically got a rubber-stamped license because the US doesn’t actually take driver safety seriously?

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  • Psythik@lemmy.world ⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    See this is why I prefer robotaxis. At least I know I’ll get a consistent experience every time. They all drive exactly the same way and always arrive exactly at my set pickup spot. They never cancel rides because they don’t get too lazy lazy to find the pickup spot I set. And the best part: No tipping.

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    • DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works ⁨13⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Lemmy has a AI-Hate boner, so everytime someone talks about automation, their brains have an automatic response compelling them to downvote, not realizing that the correct reaction is not “oh no, robots are replaving us”, rather, it’s “Okay, now tax the rich and give evryone UBI”.

      Jobs should be automated whenever possible, provided that it can meet safety requirements, but the profits from automation should belong to the people. In fact, people should outright (collectively) own that auto-taxi service.

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    • spacesatan@leminal.space ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      There is a subset of people on lemmy who embody the npc :| >:| meme specifically for anything tangentially related to elon musk. Elon likes the idea of self driving cars so it’s better if 10 people are killed by human drivers than 1 person is killed by a self driving car.

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• hector@lemmy.today ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  Looks like uber did not pay dear leader his protection money.

  Not joking.

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• daq@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨13⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  Is this for people that are able to transfer themselves? Because Uber WAV works just fine. Used it several times without any issues other than extended wait times due to small number of appropriate cars.

  Also, I’m willing to bet real money this issue is caused by assholes claiming their chihuahuas are service animals and not by Uber drivers rejecting to drive blind people or people in wheelchairs.

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• electric@lemmy.world ⁨20⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  Wow, I’ve only been using Lyft for a good while now and I just assumed Uber took disabled riders as serious as they do.

  I’m not disabled or have a service animal, but Lyft makes it very visible on the app that if you are one/have one, the drivers MUST be accommodating. They make it easy to report as well if they are not.

  At least one company seems to care (I hope).

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  • Fredselfish@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    How that work if you have a car that won’t fit a wheelchair? Or do they make sure to only send drivers who have appropriate vehicles?

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• cupcakezealot@piefed.blahaj.zone ⁨23⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  so what's the real reason they're suing uber? because it sure as fuck ain't because they care about accessibility.

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• ivanafterall@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  Not 100% relevant, but I recently opted into Uber Pet rides and they’re always the highlight of my day. I’ve already had a repeat rider, Chomp the lab. Just wanted to brag, I guess.

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  • Holytimes@sh.itjust.works ⁨5⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Give chomp a pat for me please he sounds like a certified good boi

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    • ivanafterall@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      The last dog I had was a ~30 minute ride. The owner fell asleep and the dog stood on the middle console and leaned against me for pets. Admittedly not the safest, but what was I to do.

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• halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  So this is obviously complicated, but I don’t see Uber being at any sort of fault here unless their policy is no animals, which it obviously isn’t because Uber Pet exists. Only possibly by not routing service animal rides through Uber Pet exclusively since those drivers are already expecting animals.

  Do we really want to say that in order to participate in rideshare driving at all that you must allow animals in your private vehicle?

  Uber drivers use their own vehicles, they are not Uber’s property or responsibility. If an owner doesn’t want animals in their vehicle, they cannot and should not be forced to. A lot of people don’t want animals in their vehicles, trained or not. They may be worried about damage from things like claws to the fabrics, etc. and don’t want to deal with that possibility, whereas the Uber Pet drivers are prepared for that.

  And this doesn’t even get into the bastards that lie about their pets and “emotional support” animals being service animals causing problems for those that actually do need the assistance. There’s no penalty for lying about it, and no verification system to filter those out.

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  • cupcakezealot@piefed.blahaj.zone ⁨23⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    because uber needs to comply with the ada act just like any company.

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    • halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world ⁨20⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Is Uber saying no? Or are drivers cancelling rides when they realize there’s an animal that wasn’t disclosed previously, and they aren’t part of Uber Pets?

      Because there’s a distinct difference there.

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  • devfuuu@lemmy.world [bot] ⁨21⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    I’ve had my fair share of seeing uber drivers starting conflict when I accompany a blind person with their dog. They deserve it.

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  • Zwuzelmaus@feddit.org ⁨23⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    but I don’t see Uber being at any sort of fault here unless their policy is no animals

    If it is about a neccessary service dog, then it’s not up to them (or their policy) to decide. At least, it shouldn’t be.

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    • halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world ⁨20⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      But it’s up to the driver whether to allow an animal in their personal vehicle.

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  • shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip ⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    I see both sides of this. As a blind person myself, I frequently interact with people who have service dogs and such. Hell, at one point in my life, I had a girlfriend who had a service dog because she was deafblind and I have seen her be denied rides in person.

    Every driver who signs up for Uber in the Terms of Service has a thing about having to accept service animals, no matter whether it’s a pet ride or not. It’s just in the account Terms of Service when you create your driver account. If you read them, you will find it.

    So if you absolutely unequivocally do not want service animals in your car, you cannot drive for either of these services.

    I guess you could do like the restaurant deliveries or whatever, but to take passengers, you couldn’t do it.

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  • black_flag@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    Yeah, I don’t think that’s crazy for proper service animals, they’re very well trained.

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    • halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      It’s not about training. People lie, and there is no way to verify service animals. Lying about pets and claiming they are service animals is already an issue for places like restaurants and hotels.

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  • mitram@sopuli.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    I’m assuming you are describing the driver’s pov from the context of the USA.

    Do the drivers really use their own cars? Where I’m from drivers usually rent the cars or have a profit sharing agreement with a fleet management company.

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    • TheMinions@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨22⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Yes,I use my own car for Uber.

      Lemme know if you have any other questions!

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    • halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      That does happen, usually that’s more how traditional cabs operate, and even then in many places they own the cab and contract to a company for fares.

      The vast majority of rideshare drivers in the US use their own vehicle.

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    • black_flag@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      Yeah, that was the big change uber brought. Traditional cabs were leased, and a lot of people do lease they’re cars for uber (though by the year instead of the day) but that’s nothing to do with uber and there’s no fleet.

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• Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works ⁨21⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  As a family who uses a non-stowable wheelchair this is why we use taxis instead, on the few occasions we can’t use our own minivan. I’m not sure how Uber could comply, but how about offering a bonus to drivers when they accept these rides? Rider could enter a code confirming the dog or wheelchair or whatever, driver gets extra 10%

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  • electric@lemmy.world ⁨20⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    If a wheelchair is non-stowable (I assume it means not able to fold?), then why is a taxi different? Or are you referring to the large taxi cabs?

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    • Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      In our city the taxi companies are required to have a certain percentage of accessible cabs to meet the ADA. It’s led to them having even more, as they realized how good they are for carrying luggage as well. I’m talking minivans with ramps, lowered floors, and tiedowns, so the person can ride in their wheelchair. Some don’t kneel, so the ramp is steep from the ground, but they’re fine at curbs. We’re fortunate enough to have a nice one of our own, but for a trip to the airport, or in case of a breakdown, or going somewhere with terrible parking they’re good.

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    • PriorityMotif@lemmy.world ⁨20⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Accommodation requests have to be reasonable. If the wheelchair won’t physically fit in the car then you can’t force the driver to drive an accessible vehicle at all times. That would be unreadonable. Though they can’t deny rides to people if the wheelchair could fit in the trunk or whatever.

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