Uber Was Just Sued Over Lack of Wheelchair-Accessible Cars
What gives any group a right to sue a company for not providing a service?
Uber does not have a fleet of cars...they are all independently owned by the drivers
A frivolous suite imo
Here's a perfect opportunity for a competitor to cater to this untapped market if it's viable otherwise the claimants have public options still available for transportation
Uber's main business model hinges on trying to play the game of "we're not an employer, we don't operate a fleet of cars, etc." in order to circumvent labor laws and local regulations around taxi fleets.
This is to get away with treating their de facto employees (drivers, who often work full-time) poorly and to avoid dealing with pesky things like having to provide insurance or accommodate people with disabilities.
If Uber is acting (for all intents and purposes) as an employer of a taxi fleet, then we as a society have every right to demand that they behave accordingly. They shouldn't, in my opinion, get away with avoiding the intent of our laws because they can hold up their hands and disingenuously claim "Oh, we're not an employer! We're just a marketplace!!".
I drive part time for Uber and I don't consider myself a defacto employee nor do I feel I am treated poorly....I have all the freedom in stopping and starting when I want...as any independent contractor does. "We as a society" you're pulling the social contract card out and pushing it on a private entity where the public option already provides for this group satisfactorily...The taxi companies are happy Uber does not cater to this part of society because their government protected racket is looking pretty crap right now
I'm glad that you manage to feel freedom and that your relationship with Uber is that of an independent contractor, but I think that is not the reality for many people that drive for them.
There are many people who drive full-time for Uber, who have taken out loans to pay for their cars, etc., and whose livelihoods depend completely on their ability to work for Uber. Those people have a lot wrapped up in that, and their situation is fairly precarious -- if Uber decides to kick them off the platform (which they can do arbitrarily, for reasons like "they're too black" or "they're too female") or change the rate structure, those people could be completely screwed.
Uber, for those people, is effectively an employer, whether or not their lawyers have managed to convince some municipalities that this is the case. Uber knows exactly what they are doing, which is to cynically pretend as if they are running a marketplace in order to avoid having to deal with labor laws.