The latest streets and transportation news from Streetsblog NYC.
Today’s top story is a barn-burner! Our Sophia Lebowitz discovered how Uber’s app compels the company’s drivers (er, independent contractors) to drive recklessly, in one case, ordering up an illegal U-turn that ended in a violent crash.
Drivers say they are reluctant to ignore the Uber app because of the risk of being deactivated (that is to say, fired) for a late pickup.
So many things that are wrong about our society are evident in Lebowitz’s commanding, soon-to-be-award-winning piece, including but not limited to worker exploitation, tech greed, labor silencing and basic street safety.
People have lots of opinions about what should happen to the Brooklyn Queens Expressway, but the only opinion that will end up mattering is the one belonging to the Transportation commissioner. So here it is.