Cambridge, MA State Senator One of Two Who Voted Against Uber, Lyft

[From article]
State Sen. Salvatore DiDomenico told a group of rallying taxi drivers and medallion owners last week that he is behind them “1,000 percent,” pointing out that the support of the cabbies helped him win his special election in 2010. A day later, he was one of just two senators to vote against a ride-hailing bill seen as friendly to Uber and Lyft.
But what DiDomenico didn’t tell the crowd, or the chamber, is that he is so entrenched in the taxi industry that even one of his aides is a medallion owner.
In fact, James Henry — DiDomenico’s director of constituent services — owns two of them in Cambridge, according to state ethics disclosures.
“The passage of any legislation relative to ride sharing has the potential to impact the value of taxi cab medallions,” DiDomenico wrote in a filing dated March 14, 2016.
In a brief interview after his remarks, DiDomenico dismissed concerns about his decision to take such a prominent stance in the debate about regulations for Uber and Lyft.
“This is not something that I have just been talking about since I was a state legislator,” DiDomenico said Tuesday. “I’ve been working on this issue as a city councilor in my hometown of Everett — and I have been working hard. ... Even before I knew this person had any kind of stake in this, I was an advocate and an opponent of what’s happening today and a proponent for the taxi industry.”
DiDomenico also said Henry has not done any work on ride-hailing legislation.
Medallion values have plummeted in recent years as cabbies have continued to lose business to Uber, Lyft and other ride-sharing start-ups. Boston cab drivers have been kept afloat largely because of almost exclusive access to
Logan International Airport, but taxis in Cambridge have been hit particularly hard.
The Herald reported earlier this year nearly two dozen Cambridge medallion owners have returned their once-valuable investments to the city. The owners said at the time they couldn’t find drivers for the cabs, or couldn’t afford payments on the loans they took out to buy the medallion.
In many cases, it was both.
Henry was not on the list of owners who returned medallions.
“I have heard the personal stories of people in my district, I have heard the personal stories of a multitude of people who are really getting crushed by this,” DiDomenico said. “And the fact that I know someone — I know everybody who has a stake in
every issue, and we’re fighting for the people who need help the most.”
Still, there is no question the value of a taxi medallion is now closely tied to how restrictive the regulations are on Uber and Lyft, a question that likely will be answered by the end of the legislative session this month.

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/local_coverage/2016/07/pols_politics_didomenico_s_aide_owns_two_taxi_medallions

Pols & Politics: DiDomenico’s
aide owns two taxi medallions
One of two Mass. senators to vote against Uber, Lyft
Matt Stout

Sunday, July 03, 2016

Boston Herald

Daughter of US Congressman Uses Official License Plates For Lyft Ride Sharing

Representative Elijah Cummings' daughter Adia (pictured together at her graduation) used his car with Congressional plates while working for Lyft.

[From article]

Thousands of drivers work part-time for Lyft to make a little bit of extra money on the side, but not many of them are congressmen earning a $174,000 salary.
So it's no wonder eyebrows were raised when Democrat Elijah Cummings' Honda - complete with Congressional plates - was spotted picking up cab fares around Washington, DC.
The black car carrying a sticker for the car service app was spotted by eagle-eyed Lyft user Dustin Andres, who asked: 'So, which member of Congress drives Lyft in DC?'
The vehicle was carrying plates for Maryland's 7th Congressional District - which Cummings represents - as well as the pink Lyft logo.
However, it has since emerged that his daughter was the mystery taxi driver.
When questioned about the car, Cummings told the Washington Post that his daughter, Adia, was working part-time for Lyft to help pay her for college.
'In an effort to earn some extra money to pay her expenses at school, she signed up for a part-time position with one of the ride-sharing companies,' the congressman said.
'They, in turn, gave her a sticker to apply to the windshield of the car,' he added.
The plates allow drivers to park cars in designated areas near certain buildings in Washington, DC, including the Capitol.
Cummings says he has asked Adia to remove the plates but said she could continue to use the car, which he owns and is not taxpayer-funded.
Adia is looking for a job after graduating from Howard University in May.
'My daughter has now graduated from Howard and I could not be more proud of her,' Cummings told CNN.
'I have told her she can continue to use my car while she pursues full-time employment,' he added.
Lyft drivers do not have to own the car they use, but they must be insured.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3621092/So-member-Congress-drives-Lyft-DC-Democrat-Elijah-Cummings-daughter-uses-car-official-plates-ferry-passengers-Washington.html

Daughter of Democrat Congressman Elijah Cummings uses his car with official plates to ferry Lyft passengers around Washington
Democrat Elijah Cummings' Honda was spotted sporting a Lyft sticker
Representative's black Honda was also carrying Congressional plates
His daughter, Adia, had been working for Lyft to pay for college expenses
Congressman apologized and asked her to remove the license plates
By OLLIE GILLMAN FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 23:13 EST, 1 June 2016 | UPDATED: 00:14 EST, 2 June 2016

Confessions Of Uber Drivers

[From article]
Most Uber drivers are there to take you from A to B, but for some the job is a chance to get up to mischief, it seems.
Drivers at the transport company have been sharing revelations about their jobs on the anonymous confessions app Whisper - and the stories range from the comical to the sordid.
The workers reveal they've apparently driven while high, cheated on their wives with customers and told sneaky tales to get tips.
Elicit liaisons with customers is one of the common themes.
One contributor confessed: 'My friends make fun of me for taking a condom as a "just in case". I've actually used them three times now.'
Another added: 'I drive Uber to cheat on my wife with no questions asked about my whereabouts.'
Similarly one user admitted: 'As an Uber driver I'm just waiting for those hot drunk women to come onto me.'
One revealed in graphic detail the things that go through his mind when attractive customers step inside the car.
And an additional user said: 'Don't get me wrong, I value conversations I have with my guests. But I can't stop thinking about turning off the meter and taking one of these ladies for the ride of her life.'
Furthermore one more confessed: 'I drive for Uber on the weekends. I hate the drunks but I love all the hot women dressed to the nines.'
Meanwhile, another driver spilled the beans about a sneaky technique used to get tips.
He said: 'When riders ask about me I always tell them about my son with Autism in hopes they will tip. I feel guilty but therapy costs a lot.'
More shockingly, one even confessed to driving passengers while allegedly under the influence of drugs.
They said: 'I was always high while driving for Uber. I was the best.'
Some said they were picky about the clientèle they picked up, with one confessing: 'I don't accept requests from anyone at a strip club, they are the worst passengers.'
And another said: 'I hate driving rich snobs. You are NOT better than me just because I'm driving you around.'
Some confessed to eavesdropping and said they found it hard not to laugh at back-seat chatter.
One wrote: 'The hardest part is overhearing people's conversations and trying to keep a straight face like you heard nothing at all.'

[. . .]
MailOnline Travel has not been able to confirm if the confessions on Whisper are genuine and has asked Uber for a response to them but has yet to receive a reply.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-3606419/Picking-passengers-high-driver-cheat-wife-shocking-confessions-Uber-drivers.html

Confessions of Uber drivers: Hitting on hot women, driving while high... and using the job to cheat on oblivious wives
Uber drivers have revealed some 'truths' of their job on the Whisper app
Many have slept with customers they have picked up while doing a shift
One would tell customers about their Autistic son in the hopes of a big tip
By BECKY PEMBERTON FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 03:46 EST, 25 May 2016 | UPDATED: 08:55 EST, 25 May 2016

Driverless Uber Vehicles On Streets of Pittsburgh, PA

[From article]

If you're looking forward to the day when an Uber whisks you across town without anyone behind the wheel, then good news: the ride-sharing company has shown off its first autonomous vehicle.
The car -- a Ford Fusion Hybrid -- has been shown taking to the streets of Pittsburgh. It's equipped with sensors, radars, laser scanners and high-resolution cameras, and is designed to gather mapping data as well as test its self-driving capabilities, Uber writes on its blog.
"When it's in self-driving mode, a trained driver will be in the driver's seat monitoring operations," the company explains. "Real-world testing is critical to our efforts to develop self-driving technology. We believe this technology will mean less congestion, more affordable and accessible transportation, and far fewer lives lost in car accidents."



Uber says it's still in the very early days of testing, so don't expect a driverless car pulling up at your door anytime soon. Somehow, the company managed to get this prototype out the door just in time to lay claim to being the first ride-sharing company to dabble in autonomy. Within the next year, Lyft plans to roll out autonomous electric Chevrolet Bolts, in an expansion of the partnership between the two companies.
Roadshow's own Tim Stevens thinks that this field is going to get even thicker, thanks to Apple. By investing $1 billion into China's home-brew Uber competitor, Didi Chuxing, it's possible that Apple isn't interested in creating cars that compete with traditional automakers. Instead, its foray into the auto industry could come as a sort of ride-sharing or car-sharing service, meant to compete with Uber and Lyft.

http://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/ubers-first-self-driving-car-takes-to-the-streets-of-pittsburgh/

Uber's first self-driving car pulls out onto the streets of Pittsburgh
The ride-sharing company hopes its autonomous vehicles will help cut congestion in cities and reduce the number of traffic accidents.
May 19, 2016

Austin, Texas Votes To Require Fingerprinting of Uber, Lyft Drivers

[From article]
Ride-sharing services Uber and Lyft are set to quit the Texas city of Austin after voters said fingerprinting should be part of driver background checks, reports said.
The companies had poured $8.6 million into a campaign to keep fingerprinting, which can be expensive and time-consuming, out of driver checks.
Results from the vote on Proposition One -- the most expensive campaign in city history -- showed 56 percent in favor of fingerprint checks, compared 44 percent against, according to the Austin American-Statesman newspaper.



The vote came after the City Council passed an ordinance in December that, among other rules for ride-sharing companies, required their drivers to undergo fingerprint-based background checks by February 1, 2017.

Uber and Lyft announced after the results of Saturday's vote that they were set to suspend operations in Austin, the capital city of Texas, on Monday morning.
"Disappointment does not begin to describe how we feel about shutting down operations in Austin," Uber Austin general manager Chris Nakutis said in a statement.
"We hope the City Council will reconsider their ordinance so we can work together to make the streets of Austin a safer place for everyone."
Lyft added in its own statement: "We're very disappointed to leave the Lyft Austin community -- and we hope to come back soon. If you'd like to help make Austin rideshare-friendly again, reach out to your City Council member and tell them."
Currently, New York and Houston are the only US cities that require fingerprinting for ride-sharing drivers, media reports said.

Uber has threatened to pull out of Houston if fingerprinting rules aren't changed, saying they hamper driver recruitment.
Business is booming for ride-sharing companies but they face tricky regulatory issues in cities around the world.
They are up against stiff resistance from traditional taxi drivers, as well as bans in some places over safety concerns and questions over legal issues, including taxes.
On Wednesday, San Francisco-based Uber announced a policy board that includes a former European Commission vice president to help the company overcome regulatory and other hurdles.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/uber-lyft-set-leave-texas-city-over-fingerprinting-075141677.html?ref=gs

Uber, Lyft set to leave Texas city over fingerprinting rule
AFP
May 8, 2016

Chicago Assault Victim Ignored By Pedestrians, Hit By Taxi; Similar Earlier Event in Hartford, CT

Marques Gaines was killed Feb. 7, 2016, outside a 7-Eleven store in the 400 block of North State Street.
Photo: Ryan Cosens

[videos embedded]
[From article]
Surveillance video released Wednesday captures the last moments of a popular hotel cocktail server who was punched and knocked unconscious, landing in a Near North crosswalk. The footage also shows more than a dozen bystanders failing to come to his aid in the nearly two minutes before a cab accidentally drives over him.
[. . .]
"There's a clear photograph of the aggressor and a clear video of him attacking Marques Gaines. He hasn't been arrested, and we don't know why," Hurley added.
Gaines' cousin Drexina Nelson said she and her mother, Phyllis, watched the video of Gaines for the first time Wednesday evening and were shaken.
"It was gut-wrenching," Nelson said. "We had heard over the course of these past few three months what happened, but to actually see it with our own eyes was devastating."
Gaines' aunt Phyllis Nelson, who had been too upset during the news conference to speak, said afterward that she couldn't imagine strangers passing by an injured person in her native Georgia.
[. . .]
"I've never heard of anything like this where people just walk by a person lying in the street and nobody help," she said. "I just don't understand it."
Attorneys for the family released grainy footage from a Chicago police pod camera that captures Gaines falling to the ground after a heavier man wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt and sweatpants and white sneakers apparently knocked him out with a single right-handed punch. Gaines, who had just bought chips inside the 7-Eleven, could be seen running away from his pursuer before he was struck.
Especially troubling for Gaines' family was that bystanders didn't help as he lay in the crosswalk. At least one person believed to be a 7-Eleven employee called 911. Others walked past him without trying to pull him out of the street or block traffic.
Within seconds of the punch, a half-dozen people gathered around Gaines, including two men who appeared to have rifled his pockets. Gaines' family said his cellphone and debit card were stolen. After a minute, the group and his attacker left the scene and as seconds ticked away, individuals and groups of people walked by Gaines without trying to pull him out of the street.
[. . .]
That no one came to her cousin's aid or tried moving him to safety on the sidewalk was too much for Drexina Nelson. Nelson and her mother, who raised Gaines after his parents died, live in Georgia.
"We as people, as humans, we should care for one another," Drexina Nelson said as she sat with her mother and their attorneys at their Loop law offices Wednesday afternoon. "Who leaves a person in the street for that long? That's devastating to me — the fact that he could have been saved. He could still be here with us."
Last month, attorneys representing the Nelsons filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court against several entities, including Chicago Taxi and the driver who struck Gaines. But this week, a judge allowed the attorneys to amend the complaint to add 7-Eleven to the lawsuit as a defendant.
The Nelsons' attorneys also released footage outside the store that captures the confrontation between Gaines and the attacker, who is seen getting into the victim's face and pointing.
"Marques never would have been laying in the street if he hadn't been attacked by somebody who had just been in the 7-Eleven," Hurley said Wednesday. He put blame on a security guard and a store employee who he said stood by and watched but did nothing to get Gaines to safety.

http://my.chicagotribune.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-86683516/

Lawyer, family: 7-Eleven, bystanders failed assault victim before he died
William Lee
Chicago Tribune
5:05 pm, April 21, 2016

* * *

Angel Arce Torres, known to all as Ponce, was hit by a car that sped away.

Photo Credit: Hartford Police Department via Associated Press

[From article]

The video of a 78-year-old man being tossed in the air after being hit by a car and then left in the street like a discarded food wrapper would have been hideous whoever the victim.
But this was the victim: Angel Arce Torres, known to all as Ponce, the town in Puerto Rico he left in 1966 to come to the United States. Father of six daughters and one son, with a flock of grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Dominoes player extraordinaire. Fisherman and Yankees fan. The guy who bought his own garbage can and chained it up to keep the street clean in front of his beloved El Bohio Café, where he swept the sidewalk, the way others tend their rosebushes, with the broom he kept in the alley. A retired forklift operator who picked up cans to earn a few extra dollars for Carmen Rodriguez, who lives next to the cafe. The least anonymous man on Park Street, who, thanks to one sickening video, became an unlikely symbol of the scary anonymity of the modern street.
[. . .]
“I don’t want to get too political,” Mr. Myers said, “but I’d just say a lot of things go on in society on a daily basis that are definitely inhumane, and no one raises an eyebrow. But this, something that happened so fast, you were stunned by it, this is inhumane? We’re not human? We’re subhuman? What does that mean?”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/08/nyregion/08towns.html?_r=0

The Day the Traffic Did Not Stop in Hartford
By PETER APPLEBOME
JUNE 8, 2008

Cambridge, MA Taxi Driver Allegedly Punched Passenger

During this period of intense competition with online ride sharing companies taxi drivers should be more thoughtful about their actions. Previously a strong supporter of taxi industry, until one driver created a similar situation trying to provoke violence. They lost my support for evening the playing field due to poor behavior. The drivers might try respecting their clients or the industry will disappear.

http://cambridge.wickedlocal.com/article/20160113/NEWS/160118365

Cambridge police: Man jumps out of moving taxi after fighting with cabbie
Posted Jan. 13, 2016 at 10:33 AM
Updated at 10:34 AM

Cambridge Chronicle

With Rapes Increasing, New York City Police Commissioner Urges Women To Be Cautious

[From article]
Big Apple women should think twice before getting into a late-night taxi by themselves — as sexual assaults by drivers are on the rise, Police Commissioner Bill Bratton warned Tuesday.
“One of the areas of concern that we have is particularly young women coming out of clubs and bars, particularly in Manhattan and certain areas of Brooklyn,” the top cop said during an interview on WNYC Radio’s “Brian Lehrer Show.” “They’re by themselves and intoxicated getting into a cab . . . and we’ve seen an increase in assaults in those instances, so we’re encouraging women to adopt the buddy system.”


New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton

The number of reported rape cases climbed 6 percent last year, with stranger rapes rising 49 percent, from 110 in 2014 to 164 in 2015, officials have said. Of those stranger rapes, about 9 to 10 percent of them were attacks by cab drivers, a significant increase from years past, according to police.
While there have been two driver-related assaults since Jan. 1 alone, New York women weren’t so supportive of Bratton’s solution.

http://nypost.com/2016/01/06/bratton-puts-onus-on-women-to-avoid-late-night-sex-assaults/

Bratton puts onus on women to avoid late-night sex assaults
By Daniel Prendergast and Amber Sutherland
New York Post
January 6, 2016 | 2:54am

Ex-Cambridge, MA Mayor Laments "Unfair" Competition

Parking, standing and stopping laws apply to Uber and Lyft as well as other vehicles on the road, contrary to comment by ex-Mayor Galluccio. Is it legal for them to wait in taxi stands? State law limiting idling to five minutes applies to ride sharing vehicles too.

[From article]
Ride-sharing drivers can roam and troll and wait anywhere.
[. . .]
During peak travel hours, as many as four thousand Ubers sit idling, waiting for a Smartphone hit. Look around, they are everywhere: Burning gas, taking up precious parking spaces and blocking traffic while taxi drivers are parked in cab stands
If we don’t stand up for fairness now, we will be sorry later.

http://cambridge.wickedlocal.com/news/20151223/guest-column-uber-is-getting-free-ride

Guest column: Uber is getting a free ride
By Anthony D. Galluccio
Posted Dec. 23, 2015 at 2:24 PM
CAMBRIDGE Chronicle

Ex-Uber Driver Admits Raping Woman

ONE-WAY TICKET: Former Uber driver Alejandro Done, left, will spend at least 10 years in prison for kidnapping and raping a woman in December.
[From article]
A former Uber driver will spend at least 10 years in prison after he admitted he kidnapped and raped a woman he picked up as a passenger in Boston, authorities said.
Alejandro Done, 47, of Boston, pleaded guilty Friday to charges of aggravated rape, kidnapping and assault and battery, Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said.
Done lured the woman, who was waiting for an Uber ride, into his car last December. He told her he would need to be paid in cash, and then drove her to an ATM. Afterward, he drove to a location the district attorney said was believed to be in Cambridge or Somerville, where he climbed in the back seat, hit and strangled the woman, and sexually assaulted her.
“The defendant preyed upon a young woman who trusted that he was who he portrayed himself to be,” said Ryan. “I encourage the public to take precautions when using any ride-sharing service. While these apps are a modern convenience, they are not without their risks. Customers should make sure to verify license plates and car make and models before entering any vehicle, and remain active and aware of their surroundings.”
Uber has said Done passed a background check. The company said it helped authorities track him down.
http://www.bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2015/10/ex_uber_driver_headed_to_prison_for_raping_woman

Ex-Uber driver headed to prison for raping woman
Sunday, October 18, 2015
By: Jordan Graham
Boston Herald

Adapting To Uber App, New York And London

[From article]
When Uber arrived in London in March 2012, the city’s transportation market was already full of cars for hire,
[. . .]
“None of the laws were written for the modern mobile phone and app era,” said Sir Peter Hendy, the mayor’s transport commissioner. He declared Uber legal.
[. . .]


London mayor Boris Johnson has acknowledged the taxicab industry’s concerns, expressing his own fears about “brash American Internet companies and the way they think they can come over and disrupt the market in this country.”
[. . .]
Uber’s influence has already changed the market. Nearly 5,000 black cabs now offer low, fixed prices on off-peak journeys booked through a new app, Gett. The Licensed Taxi Drivers Association concedes that its app is a direct response to Uber. Without the backing of London’s mayor for an outright ban on Uber, the taxi industry has recognized that it must compete on quality and price.

[comment from Canadian]
letstalkcandidly October 01, 2015 at 10:43 AM
We are having the same fight by cabbies against Uber, here. There were two days recently when cabbies took over City Hall, stripping off their shirts, screaming, spitting, demanding Council shut down Uber. That is not going to happen. Our cab industry is awful. It has been treating customers like scabs, charging outrageous prices, driving away in the dead of winter if a customer wasn't a big fare, no cabs to take kids home from the bar at 2am, people having to wait hours in the cold, rude drivers who can't speak a word of English and growl when you talk to them; we even have the new phenomenon of cabbies refusing rides to Hasidic Jews and people with seeing-eye dogs. People here will NOT go back to that. Uber is doing a brisk business and we love it.

http://www.city-journal.org/2015/eon0930mh.html

Michael Hendrix
A Tale of Two Taxi Cities
London and New York struggle to get along with Uber.
September 30, 2015

Fake Uber Driver Tries To Take Boston Students For Ride

[From article]
At about 8:40 p.m., a Simmons student reported to the college that she was with another student on Brookline Avenue in front of Simmons Hall. One of the students had requested a ride through the ride-hailing service.
When the student approached what she thought was her ride on Brookline Avenue, the driver falsely identified himself as the Uber driver, the advisory said, and told the Simmons student get in. The student who filed the report urged the other student to check the license plate with her Uber app. At that point the vehicle sped off, the advisory said.
[. . .]



An Uber spokeswoman noted people booking rides receive the make, model and license plate number of the vehicle, as well as the first name and photo of the driver.
Rebecca Walls, a spokeswoman for “Who’s Driving You?” a campaign by the Taxicab, Limousine and Paratransit Association, which is pushing for strict regulation of ride-hailing services, said, “College women should be aware of this budding trend — individuals impersonating Uber drivers. For safety reasons, Uber shouldn’t be exempt from identifying its cars with obvious external markings.”

http://www.bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2015/09/college_fake_uber_driver_tried_to_lure_student

College: Fake Uber driver tried to ‘lure’ student
Monday, September 14, 2015
By: Marie Szaniszlo
Boston Herald

Uber Versus Taxis, Two Essays

Some of these arguments apply only to New York City.

[From article]
Uber and other ridesharing companies have been a boon to New York’s middle- and lower-income residents—expanding transit options and offering employment opportunities. Focusing his Uber attacks on Manhattan, de Blasio scants the needs of outer-borough residents, many of whom have limited transportation choices. The established taxi system does little to help; yellow cabs are so notorious for only cruising south of 96th Street that in 2013 the city instituted green taxis, which are allowed only to pick up rides north of Central Park and in the outer boroughs. This system is inefficient, though, because if a green taxi picks up a passenger who wants to go to midtown or downtown Manhattan, the cabbie has to drive an empty vehicle out of Manhattan. And yellow cab owners have fought to keep green cabs out of the busiest parts of the city. Uber has effectively expanded transportation access for all New Yorkers.
[. . .]
A report issued by Uber and Mothers Against Drunk Driving showed that people often use ridesharing services instead of trying to drive themselves home after a night out.
[. . .]
Taxi drivers’ occupational fatality rates are four times higher than the U.S. civilian average. Over three-quarters of these fatalities are homicides. In ridesharing, however, the identities of passengers and drivers are verified beforehand, and the cars’ locations are electronically tracked.
[. . .]
Threatened by this formidable new competitor, the city’s traditional taxi industry is fighting furiously to shut it down or at least slow its growth—and it expects help in this effort from de Blasio, to whom it donated more than $550,000 during the mayoral campaign. The taxi industry does have some grounds for concern. Drivers or fleet owners paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for the taxi medallions that permit them to accept street hails, and they’re seeing the return on this investment decline. Common-carrier regulation forces taxis to submit applications before they can increase their rates. Changing rates can take years, while Uber can adjust its rates to changes in demand.
[. . .]
Yellow cabs should also be able to charge pre-determined prices that depend on the time of day and amount of congestion. Anyone who has tried to hail a cab late at night or in the rain knows how hard they are to find. More cab drivers will work during these periods if they have a chance at higher pay. And in many cities, including New York, traditional taxis can already use the Uber platform to hail rides

http://www.city-journal.org/2015/eon0723jm.html

JARED MEYER
Let 100 Ubers Bloom
The rideshare company wins a temporary reprieve in New York City—but the battle is just beginning.
July 23, 2015

* * *

[From article]
California Labor Commission [. . .] ruled that Berwick, a transsexual who previously operated a phone sex business—Linda’s Lip Service—was a full-time-equivalent employee during four months of sporadic driving for Uber. (Berwick, now a financial consultant, expressed disappointment with the money an Uber driver makes.) The decision directly threatens Uber’s business model,
[. . .]
Last week, a U.S. district judge in San Francisco allowed a group of cab companies to proceed with a false-advertising lawsuit against Uber. The same judge also greenlit a suit against Uber claiming that it spammed potential drivers with recruitment text messages.
[. . .]
Interest groups can complain, but drivers and customers continue to vote for Uber with their time and money. In a free country or a sane state, a clear market decision in favor of a business would be the end of the discussion. But Uber is increasingly under pressure to furnish evidence that its model works in theory as well as in practice
[. . .]
The median wait time for an UberX ride in L.A. neighborhoods was five minutes and 52 seconds; for a taxi ride, it was 14 minutes and 33 seconds. The maximum recorded wait time for UberX was 20 minutes; for a cab, 57 minutes. Despite Uber’s widely maligned practice of “surge pricing”—a concession to the law of supply and demand that is for some reason considered outrageous—UberX also soundly beat traditional cabs on price, with a median cost per ride of $6.28, versus $15 for taxis. Surge pricing didn’t even produce a higher maximum price. UberX’s max cost per ride was $11.68, against $22 for cabs.

http://www.city-journal.org/2015/cjc0723tc.html

TIM CAVANAUGH
California’s Uber Hunt
Golden State regulators and taxi companies want to bury the ridesharing company in paper.
July 23, 2015

New York City Taxi Driver Gets $226 Rent Controlled Apartment Using Obscure Law

[From article]
Two cabbies used an obscure law to score sweet apartments near the High Line for as little as $226 a month — even though similar-sized digs in the neighborhood go for around $3,200.
Hamidou Guira spent just one night in his new home in the Chelsea Highline ­Hotel before he was able to game the system with the help of fellow hack Joe ­Stevens and score himself a lifelong lease, according to sources.
Guira did it by submitting a written request to become a permanent tenant under a little-known section of the Rent Stabilization and New York City ­Administrative codes.
Because the hotel at 184 11th Ave. is a former SRO, “an occupant who requests a lease of six months or more . . . shall be a permanent tenant,” the law says.
The owner must accept the lease at the regulated rate — $226 — and it can be renewed indefinitely.
In Guira’s case, the hotel manager tried “forcefully preventing” him from entering his room on July 31 after learning of his plan.
But the cabby went to Manhattan Housing Court and, acting as his own lawyer, won the case when Justice Sabrina Kraus ruled he was “unlawfully evicted” from his dirt-cheap digs.

http://nypost.com/2015/08/12/cabbie-lands-chelsea-pad-for-226-using-little-known-law/

Cabbie lands Chelsea pad for $226 using little-known law
By Julia Marsh and Jennifer Bain
New York Post
August 12, 2015 | 10:39pm

Cambridge MA Taxi Drivers Stage One Day Strike Over Unregulated Car Sharing Companies

A taxi driver on strike in Harvard Square Monday. 

(Photo credit: Carl Stevens-WBZ NewsRadio 1030)



[From article]
"They allow people to take their private car, all day, all night and we, (with our) legitimate vehicle, we can’t find no work,” one driver told WBZ NewsRadio 1030.
“The amount of money I take home to my family has been eliminated,” another driver told WBZ-TV.
The drivers want Cambridge lawmakers to level the playing field so they can make a living.

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2015/08/03/cambridge-taxi-drivers-on-strike-to-protest-uber-lyft/

Cambridge Taxi Drivers On Strike To Protest Uber, Lyft
August 3, 2015 12:20 PM
CBS News Boston MA

* * *

http://cambridge.wickedlocal.com/article/20150803/NEWS/150809348

Social media reacts to Cambridge taxi strike
Cambridge taxi drivers staged a 1-day strike today, protesting app-based ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft, which they think need more regulation. People reacted on social media.
Cambridge Chronicle Staff report
August 3, 2015

Uber Drivers Ruled Employees In California

[From article]
The June 3 ruling, which applies only in California, came to light on Tuesday after Uber appealed it in a filing in state court in San Francisco, where both the company and the driver in the case are based.
Classifying Uber drivers as employees could mean considerably higher costs for the company, including Social Security, workers’ compensation and unemployment insurance.
That in turn could affect its valuation, currently above $40 billion, and the valuation of other companies that rely on large networks of individuals to provide rides, clean houses and other services.

http://news.yahoo.com/uber-drivers-employees-not-contractors-california-labor-commission-144227418--sector.html

California pokes big hole in Uber's business model
By Sarah McBride and Dan Levine
June 17, 2015

Updated: Uber Exec Suggests Oppo Research On Journalists, Spins Privacy Concerns

Posted November 18, 2014 9:31 PM ET; Last updated November 19, 2014 4:29 PM ET




[From article]
remarks by Uber Senior Vice President Emil Michael on Friday night as he spoke of his desire to spend $1 million to dig up information on “your personal lives, your families,” referring to journalists who write critically about the company, according to a report published Monday night by Buzzfeed. The same story said a different Uber executive once had examined the private travel records of a Buzzfeed reporter during an e-mail exchange about an article without seeking permission to access the data.
That combination of vindictiveness and willingness to tap into user information provoked outrage Tuesday on social-media sites, spawning the hashtag “#ubergate” on Twitter. Critics recounted a series of Uber privacy missteps, including a 2012 blog post in which a company official analyzed anonymous ridership data in Washington and several other cities in an attempt to determine the frequency of overnight sexual liaisons by customers — which Uber dubbed “Rides of Glory.”
[. . .]
Christopher Soghoian, principal technologist for the American Civil Liberties Union said that while he was a graduate student — and before he worked for the ACLU — an official with a major technology company once threatened him while he was working to publicize a privacy problem with its service, which collected extensive personal information on users. “If you keep doing this stuff,” the official said, according to Soghoian, “they will dig up stuff on you and try to destroy you.”
[. . .]
Ron Linton, chairman of the D.C. Taxicab Commission, which has battled with Uber over a range of issues, says the company uses data to gain a competitive advantage over traditional cab drivers. “The greater part of their business plan is that they’re going to amass the greatest database of consumer habits that the world has ever seen,” he said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/uber-executive-stirs-up-privacy-controversy/2014/11/18/d0607836-6f61-11e4-ad12-3734c461eab6_story.html

Uber executive stirs up privacy controversy
By Craig Timberg, Nancy Scola and Andrea Peterson
November 18, 2014 at 9:20 PM

* * *

[From article]
A senior executive at Uber suggested that the company should consider hiring a team of opposition researchers to dig up dirt on its critics in the media — and specifically to spread details of the personal life of a female journalist who has criticized the company.
The executive, Emil Michael, made the comments in a conversation he later said he believed was off the record. In a statement through Uber Monday evening, he said he regretted them and that they didn’t reflect his or the company’s views.
[. . .]
Over dinner, he outlined the notion of spending “a million dollars” to hire four top opposition researchers and four journalists. That team could, he said, help Uber fight back against the press — they’d look into “your personal lives, your families,” and give the media a taste of its own medicine.
[. . .]
Then he returned to the opposition research plan. Uber’s dirt-diggers, Michael said, could expose Lacy. They could, in particular, prove a particular and very specific claim about her personal life.
Michael at no point suggested that Uber has actually hired opposition researchers, or that it plans to. He cast it as something that would make sense, that the company would be justified in doing.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/bensmith/uber-executive-suggests-digging-up-dirt-on-journalists

Uber Executive Suggests Digging Up Dirt On Journalists
Senior vice president Emil Michael floated making critics’ personal lives fair game. Michael apologized Monday for the remarks.
posted on Nov. 17, 2014, at 8:57 p.m.
Ben Smith

Uber Driver Charged With Hammer Attack on Passenger

[From article]
Karajah allegedly picked up the victim and his two friends from a bar at about 2 a.m. Tuesday. While driving the two men and one woman to their destination, he got into a dispute with the victim over the route he was taking, according to court documents.
Karajah, who was driving for the basic UberX service, stopped near the intersection of Ellsworth Street and Alemany Boulevard and forced the victim and his friends to get out, according to documents.
Once the victim was out of the vehicle, Karajah struck him on the side of his head with a hammer, and then drove away, authorities said.
When police arrived, they reportedly found the victim slipping in and out of consciousness on the sidewalk, suffering from severe fractures and trauma to the head. Karajah was later arrested at his home in Pacifica.

http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Uber-driver-accused-of-hammer-attack-on-San-5783495.php

Uber driver accused of hammer attack on S.F. rider
By Vivian Ho
Updated 8:58 am, Saturday, September 27, 2014

Uber Driver Charged With Groping, Says It Was Because Woman Was Asking For It

Ramy Botros, a driver for the Uber ride-sharing service in Orlando, was arrested Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2014, on battery charges after police say he inappropriately touched a female passenger. (PHOTO/Orlando Police)

[From article]
A driver for the Uber ride-sharing service in Orlando has been arrested after police said he inappropriately touched a woman he picked up while on the job.
Orlando police said the victim's boyfriend requested an Uber driver to pick up his girlfriend last Friday, Sept. 19, and meet him at an agreed location.
Investigators said the driver, identified by police as Ramy Botros, picked up the woman and then rode around aimlessly, making comments about how attractive and pretty the passenger was.
Police said Botros then stopped the vehicle and placed his hand inside the victim's blouse. The woman told the driver several times not to touch her and to take her to her destination, where her boyfriend was waiting for her.
The victim told police she didn't want to upset the driver, so she pretended as though everything was fine after the incident, and even requested a business card from him when they arrived at her destination.
The woman then notified police, giving detectives the driver's business card and a recording she took during the incident, saying she had read several things about Uber drivers allegedly sexually battering women.
Police interviewed Botros on Wednesday. During the interview, detectives said Botros described how the victim was dressed, and said in his home country of Egypt, if a woman dresses a certain way, "she [is] asking for that."

http://mynews13.com/content/news/cfnews13/news/article.html/content/news/articles/cfn/2014/9/25/uber_driver_arrest.html

Uber driver in Orlando arrested for groping passenger
By Mike Westfall, Senior Web Content Editor
Last Updated: Thursday, September 25, 2014, 5:03 PM

Uber Refuses Disabled Passengers, Lawsuit

The Uber app is shown in this Feb. 14, 2013, file photo in Washington, D.C. 

Photo: AFP
[From article]
An advocacy group for the blind is suing the app-based ride-sharing service Uber, alleging the company discriminates against passengers with service dogs.
The federal civil rights suit filed Tuesday by the California chapter of the National Federation of the Blind cites instances in California and elsewhere when blind Uber customers summoned a car only to be refused a ride once the driver saw them with a service dog. In some cases, drivers allegedly abandoned blind travelers in extreme weather and charged cancellation fees after denying them rides, the complaint said.

[. . .]

On another occasion a passenger was trying to explain that his dog was not a pet but a service animal when the driver allegedly cursed at him and accelerated abruptly, nearly injuring the dog and striking the passenger’s friend, who is also blind, with an open car door.
The group said it’s aware of more than 30 times blind customers were denied rides in violation of the American with Disabilities Act and California state law.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/09/10/uber-sued-for-allegedly-refusing-rides-to-the-blind-and-putting-a-dog-in-the-trunk/

Uber sued for allegedly refusing rides to the blind and putting a dog in the trunk

By Gail Sullivan

September 10 at 5:06 AM