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Lyft wants a federal court to believe that “it is not in the transportation business.”

In a federal class-action lawsuit filed in Westchester County, New York, the company claims that it is merely a tech company and not subject to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Yes, the company that wants to be a kinder and better version of its archrival Uber is in court, trying to find ways to avoid making transportation more accessible for people living with disabilities.

According to Politico, the class-action lawsuit was filed against Lyft in August 2017 by White Plains resident Harriet Lowell and Westchester Disabled on the Move, for the company’s failure to provide accessible vehicles to equitably serve people living with disabilities who just want to take a Lyft. The suit comes in the wake of a settlement with New York City, where Lyft, Uber, and Via agreed to “service at least 80% of requests for wheelchair-accessible vehicles in under 10 minutes and 90% in under 15 minutes by mid-2021,” per Politico.

Considering that the New York City subway system is barely accessible, having ride shares as an option could be life-changing for people with disabilities, but there’s even more at stake, since the lawsuit could conceivably force the companies to make their systems more accessible nationwide.

For its part, Lyft disputes its obligations under the ADA on the grounds that it’s not a transport company but is instead in the app business. However, it’s facing at least one other class-action lawsuit, this one in the Bay Area, claiming that it discriminates against people with disabilities.

We’ve reached out to Lyft for comment.

This content was originally published here.

This content was originally published here.

• The Pool uses donated shares to fund projects and pay off overhead costs, but will also be used to provide nonprofit employees some of the benefits on par with those common in the tech industry.
• Charity: water is a global nonprofit that wants to end the water crisis by providing clean water to communities in need.
• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Ryan Graves was Uber’s first employee and stands to be worth over $1 billion after the company’s public offering on Friday at current prices. But the former CEO won’t be the only one seeing a payday as Uber stock starts trading.

Graves is one of the founding members of The Pool, a new initiative with charity: water that allows early tech employees to donate or pledge stock options in private companies before a major liquidity event. When the stock is cashed out through a public offering or acquisition, charity: water gets paid.

“These generous donors will provide an essential pipeline to our operations fund — which powers our 100% Model so that all public donations can go straight to clean water — while giving us a new way to reward our hard-working team and continue making charity: water the best possible workplace for those who choose to work in the service of others,” Lauren Letta, Chief Operating Officer of charity: water, told Business Insider. 

WeWork cofounder Miguel McKelvey and Casper cofounder Neil Parikh are also founding members of The Pool. WeWork parent The We Company confidentially filed to go public in late April.

Uber priced shares at $45 ahead of Friday’s public offering at an initial market cap of $75.5 billion. Charity: water could not confirm how many shares Graves pledged or how much it stands to receive from the donation, but members of The Pool are required to donate a minimum of 1% of their holdings. At a minimum, charity: water will see over $14 million from Graves’ donation at the set price.

Charity: water said it plans to use the funds to support operating costs like rent for its offices and employee salaries. Leftover funds will be used for annual bonus payments to eligible employees, a perk often reserved for corporate workforces.

Carta, the startup building a stock exchange for startups, says its own valuation increased nearly $1 billion in 5 months

Scott Harrison founded charity: water in 2006 to solve the global water crisis by providing clean water to communities in need. The nonprofit’s operations are currently funded by 133 individuals and families because it uses 100% of its public donations on projects in the field. Public donors can see exactly where their dollars are used with GPS coordinates and photos.

SEE ALSO: Uber and Lyft drivers protested low pay this week. Here are the cities where their earnings have fallen the most.

Join the conversation about this story »

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• “Wall Street investors are telling Uber and Lyft to cut down on driver income, stop incentives, and go faster to Driverless Cars,” Bhairavi Desai, executive director of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, said.

Drivers for ride-hailing companies including Uber, Lyft and others are planning coordinated strikes in at least 10 cities this week to call attention to low pay and other issues, according to the 10 groups organizing the demonstrations.

It’s far from the first time drivers have raised issue with how how little they are paid, or their status as independent contractors as opposed to full-fledged employees with benefits like paid time off or sick leave.

However, this strike seems to be attracting more attention than others thanks to its proximity to Lyft’s first ever earnings report as a publicly traded company on Tuesday, and before Uber’s debut on the New York Stock exchange on Friday.

Read more: More Uber and Lyft drivers are using the app to fit their schedules, but those who make it a full-time job are barely earning a livable wage

It all comes down to take rates

Paying drivers is one of the biggest expenses for ride-hailing companies. The fraction of total fares that Uber or Lyft skims from trips (and deliveries, in the case of Uber), is known as the take rate. 

Setting these rates is a delicate dance as the two companies — basically the only competitors in most of the country — fight to win over both drivers and riders. The higher the take rate, the more money Uber or Lyft can add to their coffers, and the better the numbers look to Wall Street investors.

The lower the rate, the more more money is kept by drivers. 

“We note that drivers are hired as independent contractors vs. full employees, meaning they are responsible for their own vehicle expenses (maintenance, gas, insurance, etc.) and it is difficult for them to increase the amount of earnings per hour beyond a certain level given the current dynamics of the industry with take rates the hot button issue,” Daniel Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, said in a note to clients on Monday.

Uber’s take rate increased to 21.7% in 2018 from 20.5% the prior year, the company disclosed in IPO filings. Lyft’s, by comparison, was 26% in 2018 (though the two companies calculate this number slightly differently, with Uber including tolls and surcharges in the calculation.)

Ives says he’s expecting a “minor increase in 2019 to 22.3% but overall expect limited upside to take rates,” at Uber. Any increase in that take rate, while beneficial for Uber’s bottom line, could be risky, Ives said. 

“We do see added risk from Uber aiming to take greater share of the fare from drivers and expect that the more Uber pushes here, the more drivers will fight back and protest, increasing the likelihood of regulations (particularly at the state level in the U.S. and in Europe) of minimum wage guarantees,” he writes.

“Drivers classified as employees would be a challenge to Uber’s operations in those markets where they are classified as such,” Ives continued.

Both Uber and Lyft have fought hard for years to ensure that drivers remain classified as contractors and not employees. In their prospectus filings for IPOs, both companies mentioned the employment status of drivers as a risk factor. Classifying workers as contractors can cut costs for platforms by 20 to 30%, industry experts estimate, hence why companies have fought so hard to keep the status unchanged.

“We continue to maintain that drivers on our platform are independent contractors in such legal and administrative proceedings, but our arguments may ultimately be unsuccessful,” Lyft said in its S-1. “A determination in, or settlement of, any legal proceeding, whether we are party to such legal proceeding or not, that classifies a driver of a ridesharing platform as an employee, could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.”

Uber’s warning used much of the same language:

“If, as a result of legislation or judicial decisions, we are required to classify Drivers as employees, we would incur significant additional expenses for compensating Drivers, potentially including expenses associated with the application of wage and hour laws (including minimum wage, overtime, and meal and rest period requirements), employee benefits, social security contributions, taxes, and penalties,” the company’s S-1 reads.

Self-driving cars could theoretically mitigate some of the money that Uber must pay to drivers, the company also said in its IPO filings. However, researching autonomy is an expensive bet, with Uber’s advanced technologies group comprising more than 1,000 employees at three offices in Pittsburgh, San Francisco, and Toronto.

Read more: Uber has raised $1 billion for its self-driving unit, which is now valued at more than $7 billion

So what do striking drivers want?

According to the groups organizing Wednesday’s strikes, drivers are demanding job security, livable incomes, and more regulations to help drivers stay afloat.

“Wall Street investors are telling Uber and Lyft to cut down on driver income, stop incentives, and go faster to Driverless Cars,” Bhairavi Desai, executive director of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, said in a press release. “Uber and Lyft wrote in their S1 filings that they think they pay drivers too much already. With the IPO, Uber’s corporate owners are set to make billions, all while drivers are left in poverty and go bankrupt. That’s why NYTWA members are joining the international strike to stand up to Uber greed.” 

Notably, New York is the nation’s largest ride-hailing market, and also one of the first cities worldwide to establish a minimum wage law for app-based drivers. Lyft and Juno sued the city to overturn the law, arguing that a key calculation for how drivers are paid unfairly favors Uber thanks to its larger size. A state judge last week rejected Lyft’s arguments and said that the law can stay in place as written.

Ahead of the demonstrations, both companies acknowledged that drivers are the most important element of their businesses. Here’s Uber’s statement:

“Drivers are at the heart of our service─we can’t succeed without them─and thousands of people come into work at Uber every day focused on how to make their experience better, on and off the road. Whether it’s more consistent earnings, stronger insurance protections or fully-funded four-year degrees for drivers or their families, we’ll continue working to improve the experience for and with drivers.”

And Lyft:

“Lyft drivers’ hourly earnings have increased over the last two years, and they have earned more than $10B on the Lyft platform. Over 75 percent drive less than 10 hours a week to supplement their existing jobs. On average, Lyft drivers earn over $20 per hour. We know that access to flexible, extra income makes a big difference for millions of people, and we’re constantly working to improve how we can best serve our driver community.”

SEE ALSO: Uber’s IPO is reportedly sold-out just three days into its investor road show

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In case you were starting to have doubts about exactly how horrible human beings can be to each other, here’s a refresher.

20-year-old college student and Reddit user was stranded on the side of the road in a rural area by her Uber driver because he found out (through inappropriately probing questions) that she was going to an abortion clinic.

In a post in titled “The worst, most backward day of my life,” she described the experience:

“I’m 20 years old and a sophomore in college. I didn’t get my period yet this month so over the weekend I decided to take a pregnancy test and it turns out I’m pregnant. I knew I was going to terminate the pregnancy immediately since I’m in no position to care for a child at this point in my life. I called my boyfriend, my parents, and my best friend, and they were all supportive of my decision.

“After crying and getting over the shittiness of the situation, I made an appointment for a non surgical (medical) abortion. The appointment was for today, so this morning I called an Uber (I don’t have a car on campus) and headed to the clinic which was an hour away.”

Things started to get creepy almost immediately after she got into the car.

“My Uber driver seemed immediately uncomfortable and asked if we were going to a planned parenthood. I said no (which was the truth), we were just going to a doctors appointment. Still, he seemed uncomfortable. ‘Is it an abortion clinic?’

“The color drained from my face; how could he know? I just put the address of the doctor in, and there was nothing in the name that would imply it was an abortion clinic.

“He stared at me, waiting for an answer, but I was too shocked to reply. I couldn’t believe this was happening, and now I was trapped in the car with this guy for the next hour.”

Those probing questions and awkwardness weren’t bad enough, though. He had to put in his two cents too.

“‘You know,’ he said, ‘you’re going to regret this decision for the rest of your life.’

“He started telling me about the procedure, what it was like, telling me how horrible it was. ‘There’s so much they don’t tell you. You’re making a mistake.’

“He brought up his wife, who was 5 months pregnant, but trailed off. I just sat there in silence. We were driving through rural land, miles from any kind of house or storefront. I prayed he wouldn’t hurt me.”

Not content to simply force his views and life story on to his passenger, the driver then decided to strand her in the middle of nowhere if she refused to give up on the appointment.

“We got about halfway there when he suddenly pulled over on the side of the road. ‘I’m sorry, I can’t take you any farther than this. You won’t find another Uber out here. I can take you back if you want.’”

Sensing it was beyond time to get the hell out of dodge, she decides to get out of the car while it was safe to do so.

“I politely declined and got out of the car. I immediately started calling local taxi companies and asked if they could pick me up. My phone gave me a rough location which I gave them as my pickup address.”

He didn’t immediately abandon her, likely hoping that she would change her mind rather than wait for another ride.

“My Uber driver waited around for about 15 minutes, assuming I’d change my mind. I insisted I was fine and that he should go back and he eventually left. After waiting about 25 minutes, the cab showed up and I got to my appointment (an hour late).”

The experience left her rattled.

“Even thinking about this experience brings tears to my eyes. I can’t believe someone would be this cruel. An abortion is already traumatic enough, and not at all a decision I take lightly. That an older man would corner me and confront me about decisions that are none of his business are astounding.”

She contacted Uber and reported the driver, and later posted in u/LegalAdvice to see if there was anything else she should do to prevent him from putting other women in the same position.

Even on a post tagged as seeking support, there were those who insisted that she deserved how he treated her.

In response to those people she said:

“For all the people who say I deserved this kind of treatment, I have nothing to say to you. I come from a politically conservative family, so I understand being pro life and disagreeing with my decision to terminate my pregnancy.

“However, the driver was aware of my decision to get an abortion within 10-15 minutes of picking me up from all his probing questions. If he wasn’t comfortable driving me to the clinic, why continue to drive me there until we were stranded?

“Was it an impulsive decision to leave me by the side of the road, or was it premeditated after he understood our destination? He easily could have left me in my small city and I would have been able to get a different Uber driver and avoided the whole fiasco that ensued.

“Or, as others have pointed out, he could have simply declined the ride if the destination (and my decision to exercise my rights) were that offensive to him.”

She goes on to make a powerful statement about people’s beliefs.

“I have no issue with him (or anyone else) having a different opinion or with him disagreeing with my choices. But your beliefs do not give you the right to make me feel uncomfortable when I’m completely vulnerable and am relying on you to perform a service I desperately need.”

Not all of the Redditors were as judgemental. Several had some questions about the driver’s thought processes.

“So a medical abortion performed by legitimate doctors is less safe than just dropping a woman off in an unknown area with no way of getting anywhere? Where are his priorities.” –SinfullySinless

“His priorities are being a self-righteous dipshit and making women uncomfortable.” –JediMasterVII

“He cares so much for unborn life that he decided to abandon her (and the embryo) in the middle of nowhere. What a class act (edit: /s).” –AxeMurderess

Several people were disgusted and alarmed by the driver’s actions.

“Ew. That is HORRIFYING. He purposely set you up to miss your appointment. He got you alone in an isolated place so that you were stuck.”-RunningTrisarahtop

One user pointed out that the driver probably convinced himself he was doing the “right thing.”

“He’ll tell himself he did the right thing because he offered to drive her back and waited 15 minutes for her to change her mind and let him drive her back before abandoning her.” –BadW0IfGirl

This particular driver has since been banned from using Uber, but the danger of others doing the same to other women remains.

Stranding a woman on the side of the road in a rural area isn’t a good way to get her to agree with you, and it certainly isn’t going to keep her or the fetus safe.

Abortion is a right, upheld by the Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade, in the United States. Someone else choosing to exercise their right to control over their own body doesn’t affect anyone but that person, and maybe their family/significant other.

It certainly isn’t the business of a random Uber driver to decide what a woman should or shouldn’t do for her own medical care.

The post Uber Driver Dumps Woman On The Side Of The Road In The Middle Of Nowhere After Figuring Out She Was Going To An Abortion Clinic appeared first on Percolately.

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January 22nd marked the 46th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision Roe. v. Wade, the ruling that legalized abortion across the United States, but as we come closer to a half-century of this court decision across the nation states are passing legislation to reverse the right. Ohio passed a “heartbeat” bill in April which bans abortion as early as six weeks into a pregnancy, becoming the third state to do so after Kentucky and Mississippi.

Abortion has become a controversial, partisan issue and while not all states will change their legislation that hasn’t stopped people from doing things on an individual level to show their position. A reddit user recently experienced just how far some people are willing to go to express their stance on the issue when she was abandoned on the side of the road by an Uber driver.

A Reddit user shared her traumatic ride to an abortion clinic where her driver left her stranded on the road

Image credits: Josie Desmarais (not the actual photo)

User a 20-year-old college student from upstate New York posted that she had found out she was pregnant but decided that she “was not in the position to take care of a child.” The only clinic that had open availability before next week was far from campus so she called an uber and set out on what would become a very traumatic trip.

For the destination, she had written the doctors name and his clinic, but for some reason the driver had suspicions. He asked if she was going to Planned Parenthood (which she was not) but he was not satisfied and pressed on.

He proceeded to tell her his own experience with his wife and how she would “regret the decision for the rest of your life.” She was stunned but kept her composure as the ride went on.

Suddenly the driver pulled over and said “I’m sorry but I can’t take you the rest of the way.” The student panicked as they were in the middle of nowhere farmland with no other Ubers for miles.

Eventually, she got ahold of her boyfriend who contacted the clinic to explain and picked her up.

After the incident, the Reddit user reached out to the company, who banned the driver, as well as a layer and legal aid societies. She asked other users if she had a case and what she should do next.

People in the comments were supportive and horrified the driver left her in that situation

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