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Legally blind woman left anxious and in tears after rideshare drivers refuse to pick her up 23 times in six weeks (www.abc.net.au)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Victorian woman Kathryn Beaton says repeated, illegal denials of service from drivers refusing to allow her guide dog into their vehicles have left her effectively housebound.

Edited to add: "anxious and in tears" is some shit tier headline writing when the real problem is the loss of independence and freedom, and the hours she has had to spend waiting just to be actively discriminated against.

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[–] IonAddis 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Ride share has been so devastating to the taxi industry that a lot of those businesses folded. Taxi businesses generally have been much more regulated than rideshare (much like hotels are more regulated than airbnb), so it was difficult to compete when Uber and Lyft popped up.

So she might not HAVE access to a taxi due to the way ride share has taken over. A lot of places are "ride share or nothing" now.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

That's a good point, and really unfortunate. I found the rising popularity of rideshare to be beneficial, as it meant more availabilities for rides and better pricing. However to get to that point, the barriers to entry for drivers had to be lower; the main appeal of being a rideshare driver is that you get more freedom than driving a taxi.

My concern is that by enforcing rules on rideshare drivers that they find too unfair, they are simply going to decide it's not worth it, and leave the industry altogether. Then she will still find it difficult to get a ride, seeing as there are none.

It really is a tricky situation and my simple uneducated answer is "more taxis".