Lyft Under Disabled Users Attack

News and Announcements Lyft
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#1

It seems that Lyft is not impervious to criticism and even direct attack, just like Uber, some groups consider Lyft to be unconscientious.

This is the case of Lyft in California, where Berkeley-based non-profit Disability Rights Advocates [DRA] are suing Lyft for not integrating wheelchair accessible vehicles on the roads. The suit is identical to the one the DRA has made against Uber.

The suit against Lyft states "Lyft has carefully crafted an image as a conscientious company with strong progressive values, in contrast to its main rival Uber. […] However, Lyft has excluded people who need WAVs [wheelchair accessible vans] from being able to use its service. […] In 2016 Lyft began working with health care providers, health insurers, hospital systems, and medical transport systems to provide transportation to and from medical appointments. Lyft views its transportation service as having big implications for the future of transportation, with the power to solve problems like urban congestion and climate change and bring greater prosperity to all. It has done nothing to include people with mobility disabilities in this vision of the future."

This is a very big statement and something that Lyft will have to prove to the courts that is totally untrue.

Uber has an advantage over Lyft in this issue, since they have a specific category in their app that includes WAV's (Wheelchair Accessible Vehicles), according to the suit against Uber, that is not enough. With Lyft the issue is harsher since 7% of all Lyft passengers are documented as being disabled, and they have no specific category that provides WAV.

Lyft spokesperson Scott Corriel stated that "We currently have partnerships and programs in place to provide enhanced WAV access in various parts of the country and are actively exploring ways to expand them nationwide."

#2

They might be right, they might be wrong, but a little marketing goes a long way and this is the best way the disabled community can market their needs. It seems that courts are a tool in PR campaigns.

#3

Uber has such a service. Al Lyft needs to do is add this category and presto, they too have this service. As for the saturation of vehicles, well let me ask, when was the last time the disabled sued a taxi rank? I think that disabled cannot sue Uber or Lyft, not that I don’t agree with them. Its just that Uber and Lyft provide a service as a private company. They are not public and they are not forced by any regulation to cater to any specific niche markets. The disabled could have done a better PR job by going to one of them, such as Uber and requesting a more saturated market of vehicles, as well as endorsing Uber. By endorsing Uber and suggesting that they would help market Ubers wheel chair access cars, the disabled community would have bought Uber’s cooperation and would have led the competition, where Lyft would then vie for such a collaboration too. Sometimes going to court can produce the same result longer and at a higher cost with a bitter taste. As the saying goes, it is better to kill flies with honey.