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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."
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.
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.
Go on, citizen, stamp the vote card. R or D, your choice.
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.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
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.
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.
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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/
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.
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.
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are you sure? In Orlando,Fl taxi companies are required to have a certain % of their fleet wheelchair accessible. London it's 100%.