Rides get more pets, drivers pay goes down and Waymo hits Austin. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
Better service for service animals, not better pay for Boston drivers, and Waymo is almost in Austin. It’s all here in This Week in Rideshare.
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UBER MAKES SERVICE ANIMAL RIDES EASIER
Uber is making it easier to ride with service animals. The Verge reported:
Uber introduced a new feature designed to make it easier for people with disabilities to ride with service animals.
For years, Uber’s policies toward service animals have been in accordance with state and federal law: they are allowed to ride at all times at no extra cost. But now the company is allowing customers to self-identify as owners of service animals in order to give drivers more visibility when to expect a furry companion. The new feature also includes a warning to drivers to avoid cancelling rides or discriminating against customers with service animals.
If a rider opts into notifying drivers and a driver requests to cancel their trip at pickup, the driver will receive a notification reminding them it’s against the law to refuse to transport someone because of their service animal and confirming that they wish to proceed with the cancellation. “Any driver who violates this policy may permanently lose access to the platform,” Yoon says.
DRIVER PAY HAS DECLINED SINCE MIN. WAGE
Driver pay has dropped since minimum wage was enacted. Boston Globe reported:
Contrary to the idea that the new minimum wage would increase pay, a number of veteran drivers interviewed by The Boston Globe said their overall earnings have taken a hit since Uber and Lyft’s new minimum hourly wage went into effect in Massachusetts. Intended to give them greater stability and, ostensibly, the ability to make more money, drivers said that instead the new earnings base seems to be functioning as a cap of sorts.
It’s not that these drivers are making below the new minimum, it’s that it has become much harder to make more, according to 10 local drivers who talked to the Globe, some of whom said that, previously, with a little effort, they could average $40 or even $50 an hour.
So far, data analysis of earnings before and after the new minimum wage is limited. But drivers point to several factors that could be contributing to the earnings pinch, including more low-paying rides and less surge pricing, which they say can boost earnings by up to 30 percent. Some report an increase in drivers, including from outside Massachusetts, possibly attracted by the promise of the new minimum wage, which would mean less need to use surge pricing toincentivize people to get on the road.
UBER OPENS ‘INTEREST LIST’ FOR WAYMO’S IN AUSTIN
Uber is getting ready for Waymos in Austin. CNBC reported:
Ride-hailing and food delivery app Uber is opening its “interest list” to users in Austin, Texas, who want to be first in line for Waymo robotaxis there.
The company said in a statement that users will “be able to travel across 37 square miles of Austin — from Hyde Park, to Downtown, to Montopolis” — when the Uber-Waymo service launches soon.
The list allows users to receive Uber updates and bolsters their odds of being matched with a Waymo autonomous vehicle upon launch.
The Waymo rides in Austin will only be available through the Uber app, unlike in San Francisco and Los Angeles, where riders hail them through the Waymo One app.
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