Via Britannica

Winie Coulanges

Managing Editor

When you’re out on the town late at night and need a ride home, or when you’re craving some sushi but you’re not in the mood to leave your house, the thought of using Uber has probably crossed your mind. Whether or not you decide to indulge, the company has taken over multiple markets. While Uber hasn’t created anything new, they’ve managed to take over ride-hailing services. What’s more, their brand is now so synonymous with food delivery that not many restaurants still handle their own. With a profit of 1.5 billion dollars as reported by Vox News in 2022, it’s clear they’re here to stay, especially in Montreal where other ride-hailing apps haven’t been as successful as they are in other countries.

Founded in San Francisco in 2013 and originally launched as a luxury ride service, Uber’s rise is marked by a number of controversies, legal issues and backlash from users, drivers as well as their internal employees. They were notorious for trying to evade taxi laws in almost all the countries the app was released in during their expansion between 2014 and 2017. When Uber launched in Quebec in 2014, not only were they deemed illegal by the government, but taxi drivers were furious at their arrival. In the winter of 2015, this outrage triggered a protest and an egg-fueled standoff between the taxi and Uber drivers at the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Airport. Much of their frustration came from the fact that taxi permits are incredibly expensive, sometimes costing their life savings to acquire. At the peak of the market, before the 2019 reform, a permit could sell for as much as $210,000, according to the Montreal Gazette. Since Uber drivers didn’t own permits, they had no regulations or standards to abide by. This situation led to a raid of Uber’s offices in Montreal, where 40 cars were seized and Revenue Quebec investigated them on suspicion that they were not paying provincial fees. In June of this year, Quebec settled a class action lawsuit with taxi drivers with a sum of 143 million dollars. 

A cloud of disappointment hangs over their head and in 2022 CBC published with proof that Uber was attempting to thwart the law by deploying a “kill switch” that would remotely restart all the devices in the office when raided by the police.The CBC also found that they used it in Montreal but also overseas, “During a July 2015 raid by the French tax agency, Mark MacGann, the top Uber lobbyist in Europe, advised Thibauld Simphal, then head of Uber France, that employees play dumb when the kill switch is activated, according to leaked text messages.“

Consumers have complained about surge pricing in times of emergency. In Sydney, Australia, Uber raised their prices during a hostage situation in 2017, causing rides to cost a minimum of 100$, according to BBC News. CBS also reported that they raised their prices following a subway shooting in Brooklyn in 2022. After both situations, Uber issued apologies and pledged to refund users who paid exorbitant fees.  In 2019, a feature article by the Washington Post details how the company laid off a vast majority of their corporate employees via a 90 second Zoom call. On top of that, this year, NBC reported on a protest against Uber and Lyft (another ride-hailing service) in the San Francisco Bay Area for discrimination against blind people and their service dogs. Drivers frequently cancel once they learn the rider has a service animal, which is a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. A similar incident happened in Montreal this year when CTV News reported that a class action lawsuit was brought against Uber for discriminating against users with reduced mobility. 

Last May, Uber settled wage theft claims in New York for a sum of 290 million dollars and they’ve found themselves in hot water once more. In September 2024, drivers protested against Uber and Lyft at New York City Hall for using a loophole called a lockout to underpay drivers. A lockout, like the name suggests, is when the Uber application locks the drivers out of their accounts thus making it impossible for them to work.  With the implementation of a minimum wage for drivers, lockouts were adopted as a tactic to prevent drivers from getting paid for time between new passengers. Ibrahima Gory, a member of New York Taxi Workers Alliance (NYTWA says “ It takes away 60 to 55% of our income monthly”.  More Perfect Union, a non-profit news organisation, interviewed Bhairavi Desai, the President of the NYTWA, who stated: “Uber sends you a message that you’ve been taken offline and that you should drive to a busy area. You go to a busy area and the lockout will continue. The reason is to manipulate the percentage of time the drivers appear to be empty so under city regulations they don’t have to pay drivers more.”

Since the pandemic, there’s been a remarkable uptick in the amount of orders made on the platform. After Seattle and New York implemented a minimum wage for drivers, BNN Bloomberg observed a 53% increase in fees for customers and 13% increase in fees for restaurants. Speaking with Dave, a 20 year old Dawson student who worked for Uber between 2022 and 2024, it’s clear that the app wasn’t built to be an advantageous platform for drivers.

“You wouldn’t really have any idea how much you’re making because Uber pays you a base rate,  per delivery, depending on estimated kilometres travelled. Uber pays you maybe four dollars per trip and then the rest is supposed to be supplemented by the buyer.” […] I think I was making roughly $10 an hour.”

Uber has tried to improve their reputation and their relationship with their contract workers using a new AI powered algorithm that tells drivers how much they’ll be paid upfront, an attempted improvement on their old pay structure. Some drivers still worry that this will lower their revenue since the factors that determine how a driver is paid are vague. CBC reports that the day and location a rider is picked up will have a major influence on the pay. Some experts like Veena Dubal, a law professor, worry that there’s a chance that the algorithm will discriminate against some drivers. More Perfect Union posted a video in September 2024 where seven different drivers were offered different wages for the same ride. Forbes also discusses the implications of AI for customers, “ Uber’s average US ride hail prices have increased by over 50% […] and it’s safe to assume that the company has exploited its knowledge of customers’ willingness to pay by significantly ratcheting up passenger fares over the past six years.”

With all these blemishes on their record, how has Uber managed to remain successful and bypass all the criticism they’ve faced?  First, they make it virtually impossible to speak to human representatives– that goes for consumers as well as drivers. When drivers have their accounts deactivated, they must seek an appeal through the app, a process that can take several days.  Second, they don’t hesitate to undercut their drivers’ wages if it results in a higher payout for the company. They also make it very clear that Uber drivers are not employees and are independent contractors, which saves them from having to implement basic labour benefits such as holiday pay or paid sick time. Dave explains : “What really freaked me out initially was that you never talk to a single person, when you sign up. It’s fully automated.” Lastly, since they’ve dominated almost every market they’ve stepped foot in, many consumers feel pigeonholed into relying on Uber, but it doesn’t have to be that way.  There are people brave enough to go against a tech giant because they believe in a more ethical way of doing things and those people are right here in our neighbourhoods. Eva is a Montreal corporation founded in 2019. In an interview with Global News, the founders established the differences with other competitors such as the fact that drivers get 25% of the fare compared to Uber’s 15%, their screening process is more rigorous and drivers are subject to 35 hours of training. Radish is another corporation that focuses solely on food delivery. Launched during the pandemic, it puts local merchants and drivers at the centre.A Silicon Valley success, it’s impossible to deny Uber’s legacy and while they’ve revolutionised convenience, they shouldn’t be the only ones benefiting.