Yes, the company that keeps insisting it conducts responsible background checks is now suddenly telling us it needs MORE money to conduct BETTER background checks. So it is leveling a $1 “safe rides fee” on its uberX passengers, as well as, in many cities, reverting to taking 20 percent of the fare from its drivers as opposed to its previous 5 percent.
Memo to Uber: Didn’t you claim to have better background checks than anyone else all along? At least that’s what your propaganda told us. Now it sounds like SOMEONE is waking up to the fact that it actually costs money to run a responsible taxi company…
Of course, the sad thing is that no amount of money can fix the gaping hole in uberX’s background checks. That’s because only a licensed and regulated transportation company has the proper agreements in place with government and law enforcement officials to run drivers through police and/or FBI databases. Since uberX operates completely outside of regulations in the vast majority of cities, it can’t even access these records in the first place.
So for now, what’s that $1 extra fee going to? Some background check service you found on the Internet? Good luck with that.