Week In TNCs: Danger, DUIs, And Dumb Moves

Smugglers Use Uber-Registered Drivers to Move Migrants to U.S. Border: On June 10, five vehicles carrying 34 Central American migrants were apprehended while traveling together between the northern Mexican states of Zacatecas and Coahuila, an official said. Four of the vehicles were linked to the Uber Technologies platform, but it was unclear whether the human smugglers had hailed the drivers using the Uber app. The drivers said they were not the owners of the cars, but worked as Uber drivers, he said. Fortune article here

What Happens When Your Uber Driver Gets A DUI?: When Katie Gallion’s Uber driver started swerving across the road’s rumble strips only 15 minutes into her ride near Durham, N.C., on June 3, she decided to give him a pass. She didn’t know he’d polished off four beers before starting to drive for Uber that night. When the car crossed over a grass median, coming precariously close to the oncoming traffic lane, Gallion began considering her options. BuzzFeed article here

Uber Driver Faces Charges Of Sex Assault On Orlando Woman: An Uber driver is facing charges after a woman said he sexually assaulted her before he dropped her off. The driver denies the charges, and said she was the aggressor. But detectives said in a report the Uber driver took advantage of her because she was intoxicated. WFTV 9 ABC article here

Lyft Driver Groped, Threatened to 'F--- Up' Passenger, Prosecutors Say: A recently fired Lyft driver has been charged with threatening the Lakeview, Ill., woman who reported him for groping her last month, prosecutors said June 25. In a voicemail, Momen Hamdan, 21, told the woman, "Listen, b----. You got them to fire me at Lyft. I'm going to f--- your a-- up." DNAinfo article here

Leaked Uber Documents Suggest Uncertainty Over Impact Of Price Cuts: Internal company documents provided to BuzzFeed News, as well as conversations with Uber economists, suggest while the company claims lowered fares mean more money for drivers, Uber actually knows less than it publicly suggests about the relationship between price cuts and driver pay. Many drivers, meanwhile, say they lose money when Uber reduces prices. BuzzFeed article here