An open letter to Uber
Dear Uber,
You offer a service to the public in the form of transportation.
Your business model was designed and executed in the year of 2009; 18 years after the Americans with Disabilities Act was written into Federal Law.
I owe this bi-partisan landmark piece of legislation my entire life so, I guess you could say I’m a bit fond of it.
but I understand you’ve got a business to run so here’s a few passages that are most relevant to you:
Private entities that are primarily engaged in the business of transporting people and whose operations affect commerce shall not discriminate against any individual on the basis of disability in the full and equal enjoyment of specified transportation services. This obligation includes, with respect to the provision of transportation services, compliance with the requirements of the rules of the Department of Justice concerning eligibility criteria, making reasonable modifications, providing auxiliary aids and services, and removing barriers.
and in case you wanted to still maintain your claim that you are not a transportation company. Here’s this:
Private entities, whether or not they receive Federal financial assistance, are also subject to enforcement action as provided in the regulations of the Department of Justice implementing title III of the ADA.
Any private entity that is not primarily engaged in the business of transporting people but operates a demand responsive or fixed route system.
…a demand responsive system, when viewed in its entirety, shall be deemed to provide equivalent service if the service available to individuals with disabilities, including individuals who use wheelchairs, is provided in the most integrated setting appropriate to the needs of the individual and is equivalent to the service provided other individuals with respect to the following service characteristics:
(1) Response time;
(2) Fares;
(3) Geographic area of service;
(4) Hours and days of service;
(5) Restrictions or priorities based on trip purpose;
(6) Availability of information and reservations capability; and
(7) Any constraints on capacity or service availability
Let me break it down for you.
This is not cool, man:
Charging double for your ACCESS service? Also, not okay:
You’ve also misled your users because “access” (when available) is usually limited to uberASSIST which isn’t universal access. uberWAV, required for non-ambulatory passengers is only available in select cities:
I can only speak as a single member of the disabled community when I say that I believe in your goal of making communities better, just like you state on your website:
For the good of all
A city with Uber has more economic opportunities for residents, fewer drunk drivers on the streets, and better access to transportation for those without it.
It is difficult for me and I will admit I have drunkenly, on many occasions, ranted about how much I hate you to all my closest friends but I believe we can come together on this common goal in providing better solutions for alternative forms of transportation.
But first, you must face the reality that you have threaded discrimination into your business model without a concise plan to rectify the problem your industry has created for individuals with disabilities.
Yes, it’s going to be expensive.
An accessible vehicle conversion is around $12,500. If you converted 10% of your active 162,000 driver’s cars, it would cost you a little over 200 million dollars.
but listen…
That’s .5% of the overall worth of your 40 billion dollar company.
You wanna shake up an industry? Start by not taking us back 25 years ago to a time when people with disabilities were not integrated members of society and didn’t have equal access to basic rights like education, transportation, voting and employment.
Sincerely,
Your future customer (pending lawsuit)
PS: you’re moving right next door to me. Welcome to Oakland, neighbor.
