How Uber and Lyft Drivers Handle the Risk of Coronavirus Infections (thehustle.co) 32
"Thousands of full-time rideshare drivers are still out on the streets trying to carve out a living," notes The Hustle, interviewing more than 50 full-time rideshare drivers facing a difficult choice: "Stay home and sacrifice a livelihood, or keep driving in a depressed market and risk contracting the virus."
As independent contractors, rideshare drivers don't receive sick leave, unemployment insurance, or the many other benefits enjoyed by W-2 employees. During a pandemic, this has proven to be especially problematic... [Uber and Lyft are now offering 14 days of paid sick leave, but only to drivers who have contracted COVID-19 or are quarantined by a public health authority] Deemed "essential" workers, Uber and Lyft drivers have been encouraged to continue business as usual. But the current state of affairs has polarized drivers: In a survey of nearly 400 full-time Uber and Lyft drivers The Hustle conducted last week, 57% said they will continue to work at the peril of their health, while 43% have decided to stay home and sacrifice their sole source of income.
Many drivers told us that, while aware of the inherent exposure risks in carting strangers around in an enclosed metal box all day, they have no choice but to work... "I have a 6-month-old daughter, a family, and apartment rent on my head. I have bills to pay. I've been making about $40 a day since last Monday..." "They are vectors for this disease," Veena Dubal, a professor of law at U.C. Hastings, says of the drivers. "And they have no training in health and safety."
In early March, Uber and Lyft pledged to do their best to provide drivers with basic sanitation products like hand sanitizer and wipes. But the companies have struggled to find supplies during a global shortage and have since closed down the driver hubs where they were meant to be dispensed. (Uber and Lyft told us they are actively working to change this.) Many drivers we spoke with have turned to fellow drivers for help, using WhatsApp groups to swap Lysol cans, gloves, and masks.
With more potential passengers staying home, the drivers' real earnings are now averaging around $5.50 an hour. (One Uber driver, who rents his car, tells the site that "I'm not even breaking even.") Yet they're still braving the risks.
One New York City driver admits "I've literally been driving people to the hospital. I had one guy get into my car who was hacking for 10 minutes straight. I pulled over and cleaned my car for 20 minutes after."
Many drivers told us that, while aware of the inherent exposure risks in carting strangers around in an enclosed metal box all day, they have no choice but to work... "I have a 6-month-old daughter, a family, and apartment rent on my head. I have bills to pay. I've been making about $40 a day since last Monday..." "They are vectors for this disease," Veena Dubal, a professor of law at U.C. Hastings, says of the drivers. "And they have no training in health and safety."
In early March, Uber and Lyft pledged to do their best to provide drivers with basic sanitation products like hand sanitizer and wipes. But the companies have struggled to find supplies during a global shortage and have since closed down the driver hubs where they were meant to be dispensed. (Uber and Lyft told us they are actively working to change this.) Many drivers we spoke with have turned to fellow drivers for help, using WhatsApp groups to swap Lysol cans, gloves, and masks.
With more potential passengers staying home, the drivers' real earnings are now averaging around $5.50 an hour. (One Uber driver, who rents his car, tells the site that "I'm not even breaking even.") Yet they're still braving the risks.
One New York City driver admits "I've literally been driving people to the hospital. I had one guy get into my car who was hacking for 10 minutes straight. I pulled over and cleaned my car for 20 minutes after."
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Which is highly unlikely for most of them. 99% of the people who died from COVID-19 had multiple pre-existing medical conditions.
I noticed that the US media doesn't like to mention that little inconvenient fact though. They prefer to lie by omission to keep the fear levels high and the eyeballs glued to their streams of drivel.
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This is pretty fucking stupid and a complete lie.
On the other hand, live your life as usual, since problems like this have a way of working themselves out.
Just stay the fuck away from me, Anonymous Bitch.
k.
"individual contractors" is just evasion (Score:1)
So now, with "independent contractors":
1. The drivers are put at risk in order to survive because only employees get employment security and "benefits"
2. The public is put at risk from sick drivers that cannot survive without the income.
Can someone please explain to me why Uber and Lyft are allowed to cause widespread risk and harm to make money without any obligations? In the current situation I do not see their business model as being any different from directly beating up individuals for cash (which even
Re:"individual contractors" is just evasion (Score:4, Insightful)
The drivers are put at risk in order to survive because only employees get employment security and "benefits"
You'd ban all part-time jobs? No one can work a second job to make ends meet?
The public is put at risk from sick drivers that cannot survive without the income.
No difference here with taxi drivers. If you think using a service would put your health at risk, don't use it. That's your call. It's worse for taxi drivers who rent their taxis, as it's normal to work 40+ consecutive hours without sleep, and sleep deprivation really hurts the immune systems. Taxis services are much more abusive of their workers when you have to rent your taxi by the calendar day to make money.
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Re:"individual contractors" is just evasion (Score:4, Informative)
Not all employers offer shit jobs. Certain jobs without a lot of "protection" were originally intended for very casual use, but become overwhelmingly favored by some people because those people thought they could flourish in them, but apparently didn't do all of the math. If the government is too protective, the government stifles freedoms; but people need to take on the responsibility of looking out for themselves when they venture out of the mainstream.
A few decades ago there were a number of IT folks who went out on their own as contractors because they thought they could command much higher incomes. Some were successful, others found out that paying their own payroll taxes, covering their own sick pay and vacation pay, health insurance, etc. left them worse off than when they were just employees. The somewhat recent implosion of the LuLaRoe MML clothing empire has resulted in some life lessons for others.
Saying someone is an "independent contractor" isn't always an evasion, but people who choose to work in that fashion are definitely taking on more risk which they need to understand. If the government forbids all such activities, then it takes away economic freedoms from people who understand the risk but can still benefit.
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It's worse for taxi drivers who rent their taxis, as it's normal to work 40+ consecutive hours without sleep, and sleep deprivation really hurts the immune systems.
That is not allowed for commercial truck drivers, and it certainly should not be allowed for taxi drivers. Tired drivers are as bad as drunk drivers, and are a threat to everyone on the road, not just themselves and their passengers.
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Yup, I had a cab driver literally fall asleep and drive through a red light asleep, FF the roads were quiet.
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If you feel that way, you should probably avoid taxis. I do. Make the difference it's within your power to make.
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I don't use taxis and already consider them as the general sleepless road hazards you describe.
It's handy they have big warning decals and signs on their cars. Might be useful for Uber to have the same.
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Uber and Lyft are allowed to cause widespread risk and harm to make money
Neither Uber nor Lyft is making money.
Uber lost several billion last quarter while Lyft lost $400M.
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Because if that sick guy couldn't get an Uber ride, he might've gone bankrupt trying to pay the ambulance bill or died in a traffic accident trying to drive himself.
The drivers who are still out there driving people should be lauded as heroes. I guarantee you that most of the riders would rather drive their own cars, but they are taking a known risk because they don't have a better option.
When an 'article' about how TAXI DRIVERS handle (Score:2)
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I try to explain that corporations are just paper organizations. Imaginary lines we've drawn around groups of people who've decided to work together, in
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It's actually different, because Uber and Lyft drivers are all in their own vehicles, while many taxi drivers are in a company's vehicle. Some of those companies have already installed partitions and card readers so that the cabbie never comes into physical contact with the passengers. Others haven't, and some taxi companies are so small that the owner is driving their own cab, so there's a lot of overlap, but only ride-hailing drivers are ALL driving their own poorly-equipped vehicles.
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These partitions seem to be mostly an American thing. From my experience around Europe and elsewhere, most of the time a taxi is a regular unmodified sedan, just like you'd get with an Uber, except maybe painted yellow or a different local "taxi" color.
What I've seen taxis do here is to make makeshift partitions out of plastic or plexiglass, which if combined with a mask and regular disinfection, should be pretty good. Definitely better than setting foot into public transport at least. It sucks that not eve
Partitions. (Score:4, Informative)
I drove a cab back in the '80s in Boston. Mostly Volares, Crown Vics, and Impalas, though I did push one of those Checker Marathons for a couple of years. All of these cabs had a partition sealing the front seat from the rear, because cabbies are rolling cash registers. The Checkers had 3/4" thick acrylic, the rest had 1/4" Plexiglas (more of a stab deterrent than bulletproof), on top of a sheet metal shield across the back of the front bench seat.
Of course, the sliding partition door would be open to facilitate conversation but it's better than nothing. Watch Lyft/Uber drivers make their own from clear plastic sheeting before more permanent solutions come on line.
k.
Peak Pricing fees (Score:2)
Trips to the hospital require an additional fee for Uber and Lyft to glom onto.
And
" I had one guy get into my car who was hacking for 10 minutes straight. I pulled over and cleaned my car for 20 minutes after."
How long did the driver spend cleaning their lungs after that?
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To be fair, cleaning cars is not anything unusual for taxi drivers. When you drive drunks around, they puke in cars all the time.
And during flu season, a lot of people you're going to be driving are going to be sick.
There is an market for med taxi even $100+ ride (Score:3)
There is an market for med taxi even $100+ ride is lot better then the ambulance price
Medicare payments range from $324 to $453, plus $7.29 per mil
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"Stay home and sacrifice a livelihood" (Score:1)
I wasn't aware that driving for one of these companies was a livelihood. I always thought it was more like sharecropping or indentured servitude.
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I wasn't aware that driving for one of these companies was a livelihood.
For most, it isn't.
For only about 20% of Uber drivers is Uber their main source of income. The other 80% drive part-time for supplemental income.
Disclaimer: These percentages are pre-covid.
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They don't (Score:3)
Our current system = work and get paid, or the opposite. Hopefully the bailout supports the people who are already on the edge of poverty. This isn't the time for "get a job you lazy bum". As far as I can tell, jobs are evaporating at a pace of about a million a day. That's a LOT of people who are going to be angry and hungry in a few weeks, unless our government does something.
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Govt. needs to step in... (Score:2)
How to do this (Score:1)
Make moving people to a doctor, dentist part of the essential workers system.
Not everyone has family, friends ready at that time of day to drive a person to a doctor/dentist in that part of the USA...
Give them all masks as any gov worker, ISP worker, farmer, truck driver would get in any advanced nation.
Got to work in wuflu conditions? Get a free mask as needed when needed.
Use a smartphone app to grant each worker a mask. Tell them when they
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Right now these Uber cars should have installed a glass pane between the front and the back seats,
like those taxis in London which could be seen in old black and white movies.
There were a few cases of our local taxi drivers contracted the virus possibly through passengers not wearing a mask.
Then people are not taking the taxi fearing the taxi driver is giving them the virus.