Uber, Lyft must adopt measures to prevent sexual assaults, California regulator rules

9 years after changing into the primary company within the nation to legalize ride-hailing — and after hundreds of publicized sexual assaults on Uber and Lyft rides — the California Public Utilities Fee for the primary time is requiring the business to undertake complete measures to stop such assaults.

In a beforehand unreported vote final month, the fee issued a choice requiring that every one ride-hailing companies prepare drivers to keep away from sexual assault and harassment, undertake procedures for investigating complaints and use uniform terminology of their annual studies to the company so it might precisely monitor them.

However the fee softened its preliminary proposal by dropping a requirement that the businesses inform victims they may decide in to talk with its investigators. Though the company had stated the measure would assist it guarantee companies correctly reply to assault claims, it as an alternative determined the circumstances could be higher dealt with by firm investigators as soon as they obtain applicable coaching.

The fee hailed the brand new guidelines as “a obligatory milestone in its ongoing dedication to making sure the security” of transportation community firms, because the companies are identified, and a sign to assault victims that their claims will obtain “the mandatory consideration and sensitivity that respects their rights.”

In feedback earlier than the vote on June 23, commissioners stated they sought to steadiness holding the business accountable and defending sufferer privateness.

“It’s essential that we’ve ample info to know what’s occurring and the way finest to discover methods to stop these incidents, shield victims, and likewise guarantee their confidentiality,” Commissioner Darcie Houck stated.

Commissioner Clifford Rechtschaffen stated the choice addressed “an awfully critical and delicate set of points involving assault. We actually must tread very, very fastidiously, and I believe this resolution does that.”

Native officers stated the transfer was a welcome enchancment in how the company addresses a long-standing threat on rides.

“The CPUC’s motion to standardize how Uber and Lyft are supposed to guard passengers from sexual assault and harassment is means overdue,” Rafael Mandelman, a San Francisco supervisor and chair of the San Francisco County Transportation Authority, stated in an e-mail. “I hope this can be a signal that the state is ready to take these points extra severely, sooner fairly than later.”

Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascón, who sued Uber to cease it from making false security claims in 2014 when he was San Francisco’s district lawyer, stated in an e-mail: “It is a optimistic step. I hope that each the Fee and rideshare firms work collaboratively to enhance public security.”

Terrie Prosper, the fee’s director of stories and outreach, didn’t reply to questions in regards to the resolution.

The fee is California’s major regulator of ride-hailing companies and the state’s solely company that collects complete security information on the business. Uber and Lyft symbolize 99.9% of the state’s ride-hailing enterprise.

The company legalized ride-hailing in California in 2013, and different states adopted go well with. Inside months, there have been media studies of alleged assaults across the nation.

However the fee didn’t particularly require that companies embody sexual assaults and harassment complaints of their necessary annual studies to the company earlier than 2017, based on paperwork launched to the San Francisco Public Press below the state public data act.

Furthermore, it didn’t require that they use constant definitions of assaults and harassment, which resulted in unreliable information. The issue was revealed solely in October 2021, after the Public Press obtained {a partially} redacted 2020 annual report. The company has not launched different annual studies.

Firm representatives have stated that they submitted all required info and that security is a prime precedence. They are saying lower than one % of their rides have any security concern.

Quite a few passengers have sued Uber and Lyft alleging the businesses failed to stop and examine assaults. The companies routinely deny the claims, and settlements are often confidential. Final week, eight ladies and two males sued Uber in San Francisco Superior Courtroom, alleging they have been attacked by Uber drivers inside the final three years. Navideh Forghani, an Uber spokesperson, declined by e-mail to touch upon the 2 lawsuits.

In the meantime, the businesses have launched their very own research utilizing definitions they developed with consultants. Uber’s 2019 “U.S. Security Report” listed 5,981 alleged incidents of sexual assault in 2017 and 2018 nationally. It didn’t get away incidents by state, however Uber later stated 1,243 occurred in California.

Final month, Uber printed a second research, reporting 3,824 alleged incidents in 2019 and 2020 nationally.

In its “Group Security Report,” printed in 2021, Lyft acknowledged 4,158 alleged sexual assaults nationally in 2017, 2018 and 2019. It additionally didn’t embody state tallies.

Each firms stated in emails that they supported the fee’s requirement that they use a uniform system of definitions, or taxonomy, in reporting assaults to the company.

Underneath the brand new guidelines, sexual assault is outlined because the touching, or tried touching, of sexual physique components of a driver or passenger towards their will. This contains victims who’re unconscious on the time. A number of passengers have stated in lawsuits that they have been assaulted after passing out within the again seat.

Sexual harassment is outlined because the “unwelcome visible, verbal, nonverbal, or bodily conduct” primarily based on intercourse, directed at a passenger or driver, comparable to inappropriate private questions, remarks about look, and flirting.

The company stated it primarily based the definitions on state felony and civil regulation and the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

The fee rejected definitions that Uber and Lyft developed after consulting with consultants. The company additionally rejected Uber’s suggestion that it report solely incidents during which it had deactivated the driving force, saying this is able to obscure a real tally of assault claims.

Uber and Lyft informed the fee that as of not less than 2019 they’d begun coaching drivers on avoiding sexual assault with help from the Rape, Abuse & Incest Nationwide Community, which describes itself as “the nation’s largest anti-sexual violence group.”

However now the fee is mandating that every one ride-hailing companies develop a program in session with a acknowledged professional to yearly prepare drivers utilizing examples of proscribed acts. It should cowl harassment primarily based on gender id and expression, as required below California regulation.

Companies are required to offer a duplicate of their insurance policies for stopping sexual assaults and harassment to drivers and passengers. They need to develop an investigation handbook that requires a well timed response to assault claims and documentation. They usually should seek the advice of consultants to determine investigator {qualifications}, coaching and procedures for “trauma knowledgeable” investigations.

The businesses stated they’d added many security options over time, in addition to sexual misconduct schooling for drivers. However neither responded to emailed questions on whether or not they need to have acted earlier in requiring extra rigorous coaching for drivers and investigators.

The company emphasised that the brand new guidelines are interim and that companies should replace their packages as obligatory after an industrywide analysis by consultants.

Genevieve Shiroma, the commissioner who wrote the choice, stated earlier than the vote, “That is essential work, and we are going to proceed our work on this space.”

This text was produced by the San Francisco Public Press and was produced in partnership with the McGraw Heart for Enterprise Journalism on the Craig Newmark Graduate Faculty of Journalism on the Metropolis College of New York. Assist was additionally supplied by the Fund for Investigative Journalism. See earlier tales at sfpublicpress.org/collection/ride-hailings-dark-data.