Equal Rights Center Sues Uber For Denying Equal Access To People Who Use Wheelchairs (techcrunch.com)

The Equal Rights Center is suing Uber, alleging that the company has chosen not to include wheelchair-accessible cars as an option in its standard UberX fleet of vehicles, and excludes people who use wheelchairs in Washington, D.C. According to the lawsuit, Uber is in violation of Title 3 of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the D.C. Human Rights Act. TechCrunch reports: After conducting its own investigation of Uber's services for people in wheelchairs, the ERC found that passengers had to wait an average of eight times longer for an accessible car to arrive. They also had to pay twice as much in fares, according to the ERC's study. Ultimately, the ERC wants Uber to integrate wheelchair accessible cars into its UberX fleet so that people who use wheelchairs don't have to wait longer and pay more to use the car service. Uber said in a statement provided to TechCrunch: "We take this issue seriously and are committed to continued work with the District, our partners, and stakeholders toward expanding transportation options and freedom of movement for all residents throughout the region."

Comments

Re:I'm in a wheelchair too

[cayenne8]

Geez.....

So, we now have to ruin it for the majority, just because a small minority can't use "X" service?

Please get real, there are alternatives, PLENTY of public transportation that we've all already paid out taxes for.....

Man, I'm all for helping people, but it's getting fucking ridiculous....what's next, suing magazines for not being in braille too for blind folks? Suing Apple for iPods that deaf people can't use?

Re:I'm in a wheelchair too

[Anonymous Coward]

Please get real, there are alternatives, PLENTY of public transportation that we've all already paid out taxes for.....

We're also paying taxes to fund the Courts, as well as other agencies of government that are charged with enforcing conditions so that businesses can operate in the first place.

Let's put aside whether or not it is "fair" for Uber to have to provide (more) accessible services. Do other similar businesses have to conform to those standards? (In other words, are there regulations in effect that say that they have to do this, and are those regulations enforced?)

I ask this because if there ARE regulations that say Uber needs to be doing this (or more of this), and they're not, then that's unfair to the businesses that are actually trying to meet those regulations. In which case, yes, Uber deserves to be slapped for Ubering regulations.

What can Uber do?

[GlennC]

Uber is dependent on people using their own cars. Most people don't have wheelchair accessible cars, and those who do aren't likely to be willing to use that vehicle to drive some random stranger around.

If the Equal Rights Center is that upset, perhaps they can provide vehicles and drivers and create their own service instead of pointing fingers and filing lawsuits.

Re:I'm in a wheelchair too

[FatdogHaiku]

While the DOJ does have a mediation program to informally resolve ADA complaints, the normal course of action is to sue in order to force compliance...
otherwise law makers would have had to create the disability police.
A group of lawyers passed a law the requires lawyers to enforce it!
What are the odds?

Someone has to pay for it

[OrangeTide]

A van with a wheel chair lift and suitable harness is about $50k ($35k van + $15k conversion). And it gets terrible gas mileage. So if I were to use my sister's wheelchair-accessible van for Uber, I would realistically have to charge significantly more before I could even break even. Since Uber sets the prices and drivers voluntarily accept the price, there is nothing I can do. And since Uber would get their pants sued off them if they charged 2x for a wheelchair van, there is not much Uber can do either.

If on the other hand the government or charities were willing to compensate wheelchair accessible van drivers on top of what Uber already pays, that would be something very interesting. Of course ADA only provides a way to sue businesses who do not comply with draconian rules, the Act does not offer any solutions to the problems that handicapped people face.

Re:Someone has to pay for it

[Swave An deBwoner]

Other taxi services have the same cost issues you describe and yet they somehow manage to deal with them lawfully.

Uber could just raise all their rates a wee bit to cover this; they managed to raise prices for "surges", didn't they?

It's another symptom

[rsilvergun]

of Uber being an illegal taxi company. You don't get to say "We're an app!" and get out of complying with laws. If you did we'd be a lawless society.

hidden, unfair taxation

[ooloorie]

I think it's perfectly fine for society to decide to pay for special services for the handicapped. But politicians are cowards, so instead of paying for the cost of providing these services out of the general fund and raising taxes on everybody, they impose regulations; it seems so harmless: just tell people to run their business a bit differently and be nice to those poor suffering people with disabilities.

But here is absolutely no logical reason why transportation companies should bear the full cost of making provisions to transport people in wheelchairs. The decision to provide these services to people with disabilities is something the entire nation has made, so the entire nation should pay for it, out of taxes.

But, of course, it's not just politicians that like to hide taxes via regulations, many of the companies being regulated like it too: they pass on the costs to their customers (as a consumption tax, mostly hurting lower income people), while at the same time creating massive barriers to entry for competitors. And that's what you're seeing with this attack on Uber: once you start down the path of illogical and unfair regulations, they take on a life of their own and spiral out of control.

Re: I'm in a wheelchair too

[h33t l4x0r]

Corporations are people too. They need some walking around money.

Re:Repeal the ADA

[OYAHHH]

Obviously you haven't benefitted from the law. As someone who has you have no idea what you are talking about.

Re:I still think we need more handicapped spaces

[Gavagai80]

one would tend to think that the actual number of handicapped stalls in use in a lot at any given time is going to be similarly roughly proportional to the total number of cars in the lot, that is, the more other cars there are in the lot, the more handicapped stalls will tend to be used as well.

Why would you think that? The times normal parking spots are full are based on people's work schedules. The handicapped are much more likely to be unemployed or self-employed... and moreover, crowds are particularly difficult if you're a slow mover so you're going to purposely avoid going to stores at the times they're most busy. It makes perfect sense that the disabled spots are all empty at a time when it would be very difficult for a disabled person to safely shop.

Simple: See Taxis

[s.petry]

Taxi services are not required to provide wheel chair accessibility in their cars, nor are limousine services. It is an unnecessary regulatory burden on those services to create such a regulation. This is yet another example of shit lawyers attempting to steal money. California has some very despicable lawyers who make their living by putting people out of business with bogus ADA lawsuits. http://www.adaabuse.com/

Re:I've got good friends who are wheelchair bound

[Gavagai80]

You're making the argument from personal ignorance and not reading the summary. This complaint isn't about people's cars they use for Uber. It's about Uber's own owned car fleet that they rent to drivers. While I tend to think the ADA is too much of a burden, lying about the issue at hand doesn't help.

Re:I'm in a wheelchair too

[Crashmarik]

Please get real, there are alternatives, PLENTY of public transportation that we've all already paid out taxes for.....

I don't like paying taxes, so making it easier for the disabled to switch from public transportation to Uber sounds like a very good idea to me!

You must have just fallen off the turnip truck, if you think reducing the need for government will actually reduce your taxes.

Re:Simple: See Taxis

[Anonymous Coward]

are you sure? In Orlando,Fl taxi companies are required to have a certain % of their fleet wheelchair accessible. London it's 100%.

Outsource

[Chrisq]

Our local taxi companies "outsource" requests for a wheel-chair accessible vehicle by putting the booking through to single a company which has wheelchair-accessible vehicles. This is evidently good enough to comply with the UK disability legislation. I guess (but don't know) that they have to charge the customer the same rate that they would have been charged by the original company, so maybe the local companies have to pay something to the company with wheelchair accessible vehicles, who will often have to travel further to pick up the customer, will have higher vehicle overheads, etc.

Re:I'm in a wheelchair too

[I'm New Around Here]

Are you kidding? Fuck those in wheelchairs amiright? They can pay more than the rest of us and wait a lot longer.

The reason these laws exist is to allow them the simple dignity the rest of you take for granted.

The simple dignity of having someone else cart their asses around town for money?

Re:I'm in a wheelchair too

[cayenne8]

So, by that logic, a restaurant shouldn't have to have accessible facilities because there's plenty of McDonald's out there?

Well, I think it *should* be up to the restaurant owner....if he wants the business, then he'll make the place accessible.

But a thing like this can kill a small business like a restaurant starting out.

They may be starting the place in a building that wasn't originally built for a kitchen and access....maybe a private home at one time.

Doing all the stuff to put in ramps and legal sign offs for it, could be the $$$ difference between being able to afford to open or not.

So, no, I don't think it should be forced upon private businesses.....any govt facility, yes, but not private businesses.

Re:I'm in a wheelchair too

[liquid_schwartz]

The reason these laws exist is to allow them the simple dignity the rest of you take for granted.

The problem is deciding where to draw the line. Based on your tone it sounds like you're in the camp of no cost is too high. Not unlike advocates for having the mentally retarded have a full time aid in school leaving the normal and gifted kids, who will fund the disabled kid for life, with *far* fewer resources.

Re:I'm in a wheelchair too

[david_thornley]

Uber is not just a middleman. Uber runs the system. Uber tries to pass itself off as something other than a transportation company, while running a transportation company.