Disability rights advocates say transportation giants Lyft and Uber are not doing enough to ensure equal transportation access as required under federal law.
Uber and Lyft transformed how people get around cities, but the ride-sharing revolution hasn’t included everyone. Many people with a disability who use wheelchairs say Lyft and Uber have substandard or non-existent service for them. Disability rights advocates say they see a pattern of exclusion that violates federal law. As NPR’s Eric Westervelt reports, they’ve taken legal action.
ERIC WESTERVELT, BYLINE: Forty-three-year-old Portia Lemmons, who has cerebral palsy, spends a lot of time waiting for buses. Or if she has a doctor’s or other appointment, she has to book an electric wheelchair accessible paratransit van 24 hours in advance, vans, she says, that can be unreliable and sometimes cancel on you abruptly.