Weekly Round-Up: Uber Teen Goes Nationwide

Uber Teen option is going nationwide, including in California. Drivers will have the choice to opt in or out. Also, Uber and Lyft continue to threaten to leave Minneapolis over wage debate.

Also in the news, a lawsuit over an error in Lyft’s earnings report, more ads in apps, and data from Seattle reveal changes in food delivery.

Join RSG Contributor Paula Lemar as she breaks down the top headlines in this week’s rideshare news.

Looking For A Ride To Soccer Practice? California Teens Can Now Use Their Own Uber Accounts

Topic Originally Appeared On LA Times

Summary

Forget a bike or the city bus. Californian teens can now grab a solo Uber ride to their desired destination with a new product launched by the company statewide on Thursday.

Looking For A Ride To Soccer PracticeCalifornia Teens Can Now Use Their Own Uber Accounts.
Looking For A Ride To Soccer PracticeCalifornia Teens Can Now Use Their Own Uber Accounts.

The company’s teen rides program allows children aged 13 to 17 to operate their own Uber accounts — hail their own transportation and order food — after parents add them to a family profile.

Parents get a notification each time their teen orders a ride or a meal and adults can put limits on spending for each service through the app.

Uber has prohibited minors from riding without an adult for years, but many teens have attempted to create their own accounts anyway.

Drivers are allowed to ask for an ID to verify age and are told to turn down the fare if the person is an unaccompanied minor requesting a ride through the traditional Uber app. Lyft, the company’s main rival, doesn’t allow minors to ride without an adult.

My Take

To catch up on the nuances of Uber Teen, check out Sergio’s article Uber Teen: Uber Is Now Allowing Teens to Order Rides & Food. 

Uber’s claim on this decision is to make the lives of parents and teens easier. But what about the drivers? In some ways, it may be easier because prior to this option, drivers were not supposed to pick up teens or kids without a parent on the ride as well.

But, drivers might not want teens in their vehicle. Luckily, drivers have the option to opt out of this service. BUT, they’ll still likely run into teens not officially booking through Uber Teen who will try to get into their vehicle.

Check out Chris and Sergio’s views on this change on their latest episode of Show Me The Money Club! 

Veto-Proof Minneapolis City Council Approves Rideshare Driver Pay Hike; Frey Vows Veto Anyway

Topic Originally Appeared On Star Tribune (archive.ph)

Summary

Dismissing Uber and Lyft’s vows to leave town and declaring a victory for a sector of underpaid workers, a veto-proof majority of the Minneapolis City Council on Thursday approved a pay increase for rideshare drivers that Mayor Jacob Frey immediately pledged to veto.

Veto-Proof Minneapolis City Council Approves Rideshare Driver Pay Hike; Frey Vows Veto Anyway
Veto-Proof Minneapolis City Council Approves Rideshare Driver Pay Hike; Frey Vows Veto Anyway

The vote was 9 to 4, enough to override a veto if that vote were to hold.

If the council overrides the promised veto this month, both ride-hailing companies said Thursday they would cease operations in the city — and perhaps Minnesota — on May 1, the day the pay increase would take effect.

Uber and Lyft are the only two rideshare operations licensed to operate in Minneapolis, although several entities have indicated an interest in starting up in the city.

My Take

The battle continues in Minneapolis. As you’ll see in the links below, Sergio has given his opinion on if Uber and Lyft will really leave Minneapolis if a minimum wage is set. Short answer: No.

It makes sense. We have past examples to show us the possibilities. Uber and Lyft threatened and left Austin, Texas, several years ago, but other options popped up pretty quickly to fill that gap.

Also, they threatened to leave Seattle when a minimum wage was being debated, but they are still active in that market WITH a minimum wage in place.

Now, Minneapolis just needs to get their ducks in a row to get something passed through in order to benefit the drivers of their city.

Lyft Earnings Report Error Prompts Shareholder Lawsuit

Topic Originally Appeared On Reuters

Summary

Lyft opens a new tab that has been sued by shareholders for securities fraud after a mistake in a recent earnings release about a key profit metric that sent the ride-sharing company’s stock price on a wild ride up and then down.

Lyft Earnings Report Error Prompts Shareholder Lawsuit
Lyft Earnings Report Error Prompts Shareholder Lawsuit

In a proposed class action on Tuesday, shareholders said Lyft was careless in initially saying on Feb. 13 that one of its profit margins would expand in 2024 by 500 basis points, or five percentage points when it actually expected 50 basis points.

The mistake disclosed at 4:05 p.m. EST (2105 GMT) triggered a buying frenzy that caused Lyft’s share price to rise 67% in a half-hour.

My Take

I don’t think anyone thought this would just be swept under the rug and forgotten. The mistake was just too big and made too big of a financial splash for Lyft. It doesn’t surprise me that they are now being sued over the mistake.

Was Lyft negligent? Indifferent? Motivated to delay fixing the error? These are all questions the lawsuit brings up. What are your thoughts?

Uber and Instacart Are Showing More Ads in Their Apps. Not All Customers Like It.

Topic Originally Appeared On WSJ (archive.ph)

Summary

Get ready for more ads when ordering a ride or food. The battle for your eyeballs is the latest front in the ride-booking and delivery wars.

Promotions are increasingly popping up on the Uber Eats app, tablets inside Lyft vehicles, and Instacart-sponsored smart shopping carts.

My Take

Anything for profitability. That’s the name of the game. These companies need to get and maintain profitability Ads are a way to potentially make that happen.

But will any of the profits be passed along to the drivers? Likely not. It’s not ads within the vehicle or car wraps or toppers like companies have played with in the past. It’s advertising on the apps when you’re trying to book a ride.

I can think of a few things more annoying than ads getting in my way when I’m trying to book a ride. I’ll need to keep an eye out the next time I order an Uber or Lyft to see if I notice a difference or not.

Data From Seattle Food Delivery Drivers Shows Higher Hourly Earnings but Less Customer Demand

Topic Originally Appeared On GeekWire

Summary

Seattle-area gig workers are making higher hourly wages while they’re delivering food for platforms such as Uber Eats and DoorDash following the implementation of a new minimum wage law. But they’re also getting fewer tips, and consumer demand has likely fallen.

Those are some takeaways from data provided to GeekWire from Solo, a Seattle-based software startup that helps more than 250,000 independent contractors manage their earnings.

The controversial law went into effect in January and set a minimum per-minute and per-mile amount for app-based workers delivering for tech platforms.

My Take

This was our bonus crossfire segment for YouTube members! Never heard of Crossfire? It’s a new video series where Harry and Sergio go head to head on hot topics relating to rideshare and delivery. Check out all of their Crossfire episodes here. More to come soon.

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