[Njagdu] People with wheelchairs, guide dogs denied Uber, Lyft rides

Tue Nov 1 15:15:19 UTC 2016

People with wheelchairs, guide dogs denied Uber, Lyft rides

Maria Polletta ,

The Republic | azcentral.com 8:32 p.m. MST October 31, 2016

http://www.azcentral.com/story/money/business/consumers/2016/10/31/people-wh
eelchairs-guide-dogs-denied-uber-lyft-rides/91682886/

Despite strict anti-discrimination policies at ride-hailing services, some
customers with wheelchairs and guide dogs report problems using the
services.

Wochit

'These issues are very common, both here and nationally,' a
disability-rights advocate said.

The first time it happened hurt the worst, Patricio Espinoza said.

He was standing with his service dog, a 70-pound German shepherd named
Frida, waiting for a car from Lyft during a visit to Los Angeles.

"The driver showed up, rolled down the window, said 'Nope,' and drove away,"
Espinoza said. "For someone to take one look at us and turn around, to not
even take the time to talk to me . That was upsetting."

Five more drivers from the ride-sharing service have declined to transport
Frida in the Phoenix area since August, according to Espinoza, a Phoenix
resident and graduate student.

While those refusals were less insulting than the first, he said, they were
inconvenient. They also were likely illegal.

The federal  Americans With Disabilities Act requires businesses and
transportation providers to "allow service animals to accompany people with
disabilities

in all areas ... where the public is normally allowed to go." It also states
private transportation providers must offer "readily accessible" vehicles to

riders who use wheelchairs or other devices.

Policies at Uber and Lyft generally reflect those requirements, promising
stiff consequences for drivers who discriminate against riders with
disabilities.

Experiences like Espinoza's should be rare, the companies say. But they're
not.

"Through my organization, I've spoken with many people locally who have told
me about not being able to get an Uber, or get into an Uber," said Larry
Wanger, executive

director of the Arizona Statewide Independent Living Council. "These issues
are very common, both here and nationally."

The Phoenix-area claims come on the heels of a national study that concluded
Uber users with "African-American sounding names" experience longer waits
and higher cancellation rates than those with white-sounding names.

The drivers in that study canceled rides electronically, however, rather
than rejecting users once they saw them.

'It's not right'

Bryan Duarte, a blind Queen Creek resident, said Uber and Lyft drivers have
passed him "several times" once they saw him standing with his guide dog.

"I'll order an Uber and wait in a visible area for the driver to locate me,
since I will not be able to locate them," he said. "The application will
tell

me the driver has arrived, and right after that, the application will tell
me, 'Sorry, the driver had to cancel the ride. Please retry.'

"Must be a coincidence that the driver got all the way to my exact location
before he realized he was late for dinner, right?" Duarte said. "It's not
right."

Espinoza, who said he has arrived late to class at least twice after
requesting and waiting for multiple drivers, said he now calls every driver
to say

he has a service dog with him.

"I know I don't have to call, because they're supposed to take us, no
questions asked," he said. "But I don't want to waste my time anymore."

Jennifer Longdon, a Phoenix disability-issues advocate who uses a
wheelchair, hasn't had trouble with specific drivers. Since downloading the
Uber app on Oct. 22, she said, she's struggled to get a ride at all.

"I normally have a wheelchair-accessible van with a specialized lift, but
I'm waiting for it to be repaired," Longdon said. "I thought, 'OK, great.
I'll just Uber.' We have UberWAV (an option that allows users to request a
vehicle with a ramp or lift) in Phoenix. But no matter what I did, for two
days straight, it told me there were no vehicles available."

On Oct. 24, Longdon tried to request an UberWAV to get home from work and
was prompted to call a dispatch number.

The dispatcher had a van available, Longdon said, but gave her a one-hour
arrival window with no way to track the driver's progress. Standard Uber
users can follow a driver's route in real time on the app.

"I'm sitting outside waiting for my Uber, and what shows up after 51 minutes
is essentially an ambulette (a mini ambulance)," she said. "The driver was a
wonderful, friendly young man, but he gets out and says, 'Which one of you
is the patient?' I'm not a patient. I'm a person."

On Wednesday night, Longdon again requested an UberWAV but was told the
service was "in an overflow situation and not taking anymore bookings
tonight."

"After trying to figure out an alternative, I ended up wheeling myself the
two or so miles home," she said.

Clear-cut rules

Policies at Uber and Lyft explicitly forbid drivers to deny service dogs or
otherwise discriminate against riders with disabilities.

But drivers say not everyone is aware of - or willing to follow - the
details of those policies. 

Alley Lightfoot, a Phoenix-area driver for both Uber and Lyft, said she
would never refuse a service dog but has seen others raise questions and
concerns about them in online forums.

"We have a Facebook group for Lyft drivers, and someone posted a couple
months ago saying they wouldn't let a service dog in their car," Lightfoot
said.

"The responses were about 50-50, with some people saying 'I would never.
That's disgusting. I'm allergic,' and others saying, 'You don't have a
choice. It's

the law.'"

Lyft allows certain exceptions to the service-animal rule if drivers have a
"medically documented condition" but says the driver "must contact our
Critical Response Line ... to inform us so that other arrangements can be
made."

Uber does not make any exceptions. According to the ADA, "allergies and fear
of dogs are not valid reasons for denying access or refusing service to
people using service animals."  

Both companies say they will investigate, suspend or dismiss drivers found
to have violated their anti-discrimination policies, though neither service
could immediately share how many Phoenix-area drivers had experienced such
consequences. In most cases, the companies only know about violations if
riders report them.

"We have a team that is specially dedicated to handling these issues and ...
every complaint is reviewed internally," Uber spokeswoman Chelsea Kohler
said.

Lyft did not respond to requests for comment.

While the companies' anti-discrimination policies are consistent nationwide,
their accessible-vehicle options vary widely by location.

Uber rolled out UberACCESS in Phoenix last year to offer "safe and reliable
rides ... (for) riders with specific needs."

Under that tab in the app, users who want a driver trained to help riders
into and out of vehicles or a vehicle that can accommodate folding
wheelchairs,

walkers and scooters can request an UberASSIST. They can also request an
UberWAV, but Uber could not provide the average number of such vehicles in
service in Phoenix.

Lyft similarly has created an "Access Mode" option that will dispatch
wheelchair-accessible vehicles. Access Mode is available at Phoenix Sky
Harbor International Airport, according to Lyft's website; it's not clear
where, if anywhere, else it might be offered in the Valley.

It's also unclear how much training the companies offer to drivers, aside
from those involved with UberASSIST. Some drivers have worried they could be
held liable if anything happened while they were helping a user with a
disability enter or exit a vehicle. 

Legal action pending

Wanger, the Arizona Statewide Independent Living Council executive director,
said ride-sharing accessibility issues aren't limited to Phoenix. 

Users from California to Illinois to Tennessee have reported problems trying
to get rides that would accommodate guide dogs or wheelchairs.

"The crux of this is that . these drivers are transportation providers under
Title III of the Americans With Disabilities Act," Wanger said. "(These
companies),

as their facilitators, have a responsibility to make sure that they offer
accessible options.

"That would include ensuring you have some vehicles available to provide the
same level of service to people who use wheelchairs as regular users. And
waiting for hours, or not being able to get a ride at all, is not a similar
level of service," he said.

At this point, Wanger said, riders with disabilities will likely "need the
courts to decide how this is going to go."

A 2014 claim filed against Uber by the National Federation of the Blind
resulted in a nearly $300,000 settlement requiring the service-dog policy
the company maintains today, according to the Los Angeles Times.

A pending lawsuit filed in October by Chicago-based Access Living alleges
Uber is "unusable" by people with motorized wheelchairs and aims to force
more accessible options.

For users like Espinoza, it's less about punishing the companies and more
about making sure drivers are simply "aware of what the rules are."

"Ninety percent of the time, the drivers are great and understanding, and
for the ones who aren't, it's not like I want them to lose their way of
making a living," Espinoza said. "What I really want is for them to
improve."

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