A partial inventory of (some of) Uber’s offenses against civil society
Note: Merely rotating into Lyft and continuing the habit of taking a private, chauffeured car everywhere you go is an improvement, but it’s not really good for the community. Those cars are burning fuel, creating pollution, endangering cyclists and pedestrians (and other drivers), and pulling riders off the most efficient means of getting around: mass transit. And if you can walk and don’t, then it’s also making you fat. PS: If you take a car service to yoga class, reconsider your strategy.
All things considered, though, on 1/29/2017 Lyft handed $1M to the ACLU and condemned Trump’s immigration action, while Uber concentrated on busting a strike by NYC taxi drivers protesting that same immigration action at JFK. So it’s not hard for me to choose between these two alternatives on the rare occasions that a private car service is my best option.
The list:
- Android app requires access to camera, microphone, contacts, calendar, phone, wifi info, media files ← Deleted app from my phone
- Creating fake Lyft accounts to order fake rides, then cancel them (Operation SLOG)
- Price fixing with drivers
- Massive unilateral pay cuts to drivers
- Disavowing responsibility for rapes allegedly committed by drivers because the drivers are “independent contractors”
- Operating illegal self-driving cars on San Francisco streets that ran a red light, and (separately) lurched into an intersection on the first day they were deployed
- Software designed to make illegal right turns across bike lanes, a maneuver that can kill cyclists
- Uber CEO becomes trump’s “business advisor”
- Uber CEO tells employees “We must work with Trump” ← Deleted my account
