Rideshare Rodeo Podcast #15 | Lyft Driver Attacked then Arrested, Wearing Masks, & Interview with Rideshare Movie

Uber Lyft Drivers & Gig worker news:

Uber Lyft Drivers & Gig workers weekly news:  This week we talk about Uber and Lyft Drivers Win Ruling on Unemployment Benefits, Uber Deducts Millions from Drivers’ Wages for Airport Tickets They Can’t Appeal, Ride Hail a Drone? Uber Elevate Moves Forward with Hidden Level Collaboration, California’s Air Pollution Cops Are Eyeing Uber and Lyft, COVID-19 death renews questions of responsibility of Uber and Lyft to drivers, Lyft drivers accuse company of not providing free or even cost effective protective gear, are drivers and passengers wearing masks like Uber and Lyft require, Lyft Driver Says He Was Attacked then Arrested After Refusing Rider Without Mask, is there a PUA benefit extension coming, & I talk with the writer and director of The Rideshare Movie (Tremain Hayhoe): WATCH THE RIDESHARE MOVIE ON YouTube FREE.

News links from this weeks podcast:

• New York Department of Labor has seven days to convene and train a “work group” of several dozen staff members who will identify backlogged claims by drivers who have sought “reconsideration” after being told that they were ineligible, and take the necessary steps to pay them promptly. The state has 45 days to resolve this backlog… [read full article]
• On March 3, 2018, Tedros, a rideshare driver in Sacramento, received an email from Uber notifying him that the rideshare giant would deduct $100 from his next paycheck. Five months prior, the police at San Francisco’s International Airport wrote him up for a permit violation while he was waiting to pick up a passenger. But rather than serving Tedros the ticket, as a police officer normally would, the airport issued the citation directly to Uber without Tedros’ knowledge… [read full article]
• “Uber Elevate is Uber’s initiative to promote safe, reliable, clean, and affordable air mobility services through networks of electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles (eVTOL). Through this partnership, Hidden Level and Uber Elevate have agreed to share expertise in designing and deploying scalable airspace operations based on data generated from Hidden Level’s custom-built sensors, which are strategically installed in dense urban environments,” says a Hidden Level press release… [read full article]
• SINCE UBER AND Lyft burst onto the scene a decade ago, the companies have established a reputation for dodging government regulations. Now, California is working on first-of-their-kind rules to limit emissions from ride-hail vehicles, which could force the companies to get about one-third of their drivers into electric vehicles by the end of 2030. To which the ride-hail companies say (with some qualifications): Bring it on… [read full article]
• The pandemic has dramatically raised the stakes in the years-long fight over what protections Lyft, Uber and other gig-economy companies should be required to provide workers. Adding to longstanding wage and benefit gripes, Matchke’s fate is now the nightmare scenario facing rideshare drivers everywhere. Some have recently gone beyond just wearing masks and wiping down door handles to also installing makeshift partitions in their vehicles to shield themselves from potentially infected customers… [read full article]
• A group of California Lyft drivers is accusing the company of forcing them to buy their own personal protective equipment to avoid catching Covid-19 at work instead of providing them with enough to do their jobs safely. It’s the latest conflict in an ongoing labor rights dispute between rideshare workers and so-called gig app companies, including Uber, Doordash, GrubHub, Instacart and Postmates, who classify their drivers, shoppers and couriers as independent contractors rather than employees… [read full article]
• Riders are allowed to rate drivers and drivers are forced to rate riders at the end of each trip — before they can accept any new trip requests. If your driver believes in wearing masks and you show up without one, even if you agree to put one on after he requests it, it may annoy him so much that you showed up without one that he’ll give you a lower rating when the trip is over. And low passenger ratings can result in longer wait times to get connected to a driver who accepts your trip request and longer pick-up times… [read full article]
• A driver who told a woman that he would not give her a ride if she wasn’t wearing a mask tells NBC New York that he was spit on and attacked by her — but he was the one later arrested. The driver, who only wanted to be identified as Juan, said he was picking up a passenger at the TWA Hotel at Kennedy Airport Wednesday when the incident occurred. It was after Juan asked her if she has a mask that things got heated quickly… [read full article]
• As part of the CARES Act, a coronavirus stimulus bill passed by Congress in March, federal unemployment benefits were increased by $600 a week. At the time, lawmakers thought it was a necessary move as millions lost their jobs amid lockdowns to prevent the spread of the virus. However, those benefits are set to expire this weekend. And with the unemployment rate still in double digits and the virus spreading at its highest levels yet… [read full article]
• I had the pleasure to talk with Tremain Hayhoe, writer and director of “The Rideshare Movie”, available to watch FREE on YouTube in 4K [WATCH MOVIE]

Questions, Comments, Concerns? *please post in comments section below* Team UberLyftDrivers.com & RideshareRodeo.com