Uber is trying to claim (poorly) that it has data to show it serves “underserved” areas in Chicago. That is a sneaky use of a phrase to try to trick people into thinking they mean “underprivileged.” They are not the same.
Chicago considers the city’s convention center “underserved.” That’s not the same thing as not serving low-income residential neighborhoods.
Uber is desperate to show it isn’t discriminatory. But it is. Since Uber drivers can pick and choose their trips, they have no incentive to serve anything but the most affluent areas. The taxi industry, by comparison, is required to serve all areas of a city, 24/7. Couple this with Uber’s passenger rating system, and you can see why it’s very business model is designed to discriminate against low-paying customers. If you don’t tip, you might not get a car next time around.
Uber also discriminates against the 45% of Americans who don’t own a smart phone and the 25% of Americans who don’t own a credit card. Those groups tend to be America’s poor and/or elderly.
It also discriminates against people with disabilities: Not a single vehicle in its fleet is wheelchair-accessible. By comparison, taxi fleets in most major cities are required to have wheelchair-accessible vehicles.
It’s doubtful that Uber is eager to share that information with the public in a nice little graph. Nice try Uber, but no one is buying your spin.
Chicago considers the city’s convention center “underserved.” That’s not the same thing as not serving low-income residential neighborhoods.
Uber is desperate to show it isn’t discriminatory. But it is. Since Uber drivers can pick and choose their trips, they have no incentive to serve anything but the most affluent areas. The taxi industry, by comparison, is required to serve all areas of a city, 24/7. Couple this with Uber’s passenger rating system, and you can see why it’s very business model is designed to discriminate against low-paying customers. If you don’t tip, you might not get a car next time around.
Uber also discriminates against the 45% of Americans who don’t own a smart phone and the 25% of Americans who don’t own a credit card. Those groups tend to be America’s poor and/or elderly.
It also discriminates against people with disabilities: Not a single vehicle in its fleet is wheelchair-accessible. By comparison, taxi fleets in most major cities are required to have wheelchair-accessible vehicles.
It’s doubtful that Uber is eager to share that information with the public in a nice little graph. Nice try Uber, but no one is buying your spin.