Significant Changes from the Pressure of Women Speaking Up.
We’ve come so far, especially in just a few years. If you were hurt in 2019, for instance, neither company would have been able to provide you with the name of your driver. Now you know the name and face and car model/color/ license before s/he pulls up to the curb.
Finally, in March 2021, Uber and Lyft announced they would share the names of drivers deactivated over the most severe safety incidents, including sexual assaults. This is momentous because in too many instances predatory drivers have skipped from one platform to another. Or they got a pass and kept driving for the same platform.
In 2017, Uber agreed to release comprehensive safety reports every two years; it has now published two and the next one is due in 2024. Lyft at last agreed to release its long-awaited first report on October 22, 2022. Advocates and industry analysts say these biennial stat reports are more critical than any other tool for successfully combating the situation. Except, nobody knows how many events go unreported.
Uber’s evolving in-app safety features have also been impressive since 2019, not just with driver details before you get in but after you’re inside the vehicle, including capability to videotape the entire trip, 9-11 panic button, ability to contact a live ADT security agent if you sense something is off, and Rapid SOS (remote route tracking sensors).
Lyft has added an emergency button that connects you to a live ADT agent who can then call 9-11 if necessary. You must double-tap Safety Tools and turn on Location Sharing to allow friends and family to track your location.
Uber and Lyft both began doing continuous background screening for drivers in 2019, but the process has become more resolute. Uber’s hiring protocol was recently compared to a no-fly zone with executives claiming 500,000 prospective drivers had failed to pass the screening process in 2019-2020 and more than 80,000 had since been removed from the app based on information in criminal background checks.
Women drivers (repeat) are also at risk. Former Lyft driver Cherri Murphy, a spokesperson for the advocacy group Gig Workers Rising, questioned whether driving for Uber was safe (New York Times, June 30, 2022).
Uber responded by saying the pandemic delayed its data gathering, but asserted that drivers were accused of assault in 56 percent of cases and riders in 43 percent. Drivers were the victims in 39 percent and riders in 61 percent, per The New York Times.