Uber, taxi firms debate which option is safer
Police, others say there are no clear data — or answers
The deadly shooting rampage in Kalamazoo, Mich., raises anew a question that has dogged Uber and other taxi competitors: Their rides may be cheaper and more convenient than a cab’s — but are they as safe?
It ’s not just whether Uber’s part-time drivers are better or worse behind the wheel. It ’s whether passengers are more likely to be assaulted, kidnapped or raped by an Uber driver than a cabbie.
The answer is that there seems to be no reliable answer.
Police and transportation authorities around the U.S. say they know of no rigorous comparison of cabbies and Uber drivers.
The taxi industry, facing an existential threat from Uber, has highlighted a series of incidents as evidence that an Uber trip is a gamble passengers should not take.
Then again, taxi drivers have assaulted customers, too.
If any place might have analyzed which is safer, how about San Francisco, where Uber was launched more than five years ago and keeps its headquarters?
Police there can’t say because they don’t keep crime data in a way that would answer the safety question. Local transportation regulators don’t know, either.
The debate over safety has come amid rapid growth by Uber and other app-based ride-sharing services such as Lyft, and it flared after the arrest of Uber driver Jason Dalton in the recent killings of six in the Kalamazoo area.
Asked which is safer, Uber’s own head of safety public policy did not answer directly.
Instead, Dorothy Chou said Uber is enlisting technology “to predict and prevent incidents from happening.” She pointed out that the app lets passengers share their location and requires feedback on drivers after every trip.
Uber is starting to use its drivers’ phones to track hard braking and other dangerous driving, she said, as well as whether a driver is holding a phone.
Taxi advocates say Uber’s background checks fail because they do not include fingerprinting of would-be drivers. Many law enforcement experts say a fingerprint search is the most comprehensive way to check someone’s background, and taxi regulators typically require one.
Uber counters that fingerprint checks are imperfect and that its background check process — which it says includes searches of motor vehicle department files and criminal databases going back seven years — is excellent.