Ride share drivers practice racial discrimination, just like taxi drivers

[ucbalumnus]

http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2016/11/04/500560428/ride-sharing-apps-new-economy-same-invisible-discrimination
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/602759/ride-hailing-apps-have-a-racism-problem/

@James Condliffe in MIT Technology Review

In the Seattle experiments, the researchers found that people with African-American-sounding names typically had to wait 29 seconds for an Uber acceptance and 23 seconds for a Lyft acceptance, compared to just 21 and 19 seconds respectively for riders with white-sounding names.

[…]

To be fair, the researchers also demonstrate that it’s not a problem specific to ride-hailing services. In Seattle, for instance, an experiment in hailing a taxi directly from the curb showed that white travelers had the first taxi that passed them stop 60 percent of the time; black travelers had the first taxi stop just 20 percent of the time.

[partyof5]

I saw this article, and wish I could say I was shocked, but that wouldnt be true. Its not like you dont get paid if you are a driver with Uber, so you couldnt possibly believe that POC will stiff you. So, I guess it is truly just the skin color. Some refuse to believe that the color of our skin, permeates every facet of life.

[hebegebe]

A better headline would be “Ride sharing apps show much less discrimination than taxi drivers”. Regular taxi drivers did not stop for black riders rate 60% of the time, compared to 15% for LYFT. Certainly not zero, but heading in the right direction.

[oldfort]

There is much less chance of someone not paying when it comes to ride apps, like Uber, because it is all prepaid with a valid credit card. As far as unpleasant riders, I think it applies to all races, especially when there is alcohol involved.

[doschicos]

I’ve heard similar complaints about other sharing economy businesses like airbnb. Airbnb listers are much more likely to discriminate than hotels and other traditional lodging companies. It’s a real shame that racism is still so rampant.

[patsmom]

In the Seattle experiments, the researchers found that people with African-American-sounding names typically had to wait 29 seconds for an Uber acceptance and 23 seconds for a Lyft acceptance, compared to just 21 and 19 seconds respectively for riders with white-sounding names.

Am I missing something here? Is a difference of 4-8 seconds really that significant?

[partyof5]

@patsmom You are correct, the wait time is not significant, but this part of the story is…

"People with “black-sounding” names were significantly more likely to have drivers cancel their trips before they arrived to pick them up. Black men were twice as likely to have their trips canceled. If those black men lived in less densely populated places like the suburbs — places where alternative transportation options are harder to come by — they were three times as likely to have their rides canceled.

The researchers even noticed a kind of de facto cancellation. Because Uber penalizes drivers who cancel too many ride requests, some drivers would instead idle a distance away from the designated pickup spot — or drive in a completely different direction from it — increasing the wait time and forcing the waiting riders to cancel the request and maybe even incur a cancellation fee. It was discrimination by attrition. And as was the case in the rental study, the people on the receiving end of that discrimination would have no way of knowin it was happening."

[sorghum]

But it would be interesting if black drivers show the same bias or not. I think in some of the taxi studies, black drivers were equally unwilling to stop for black passengers.

[fractalmstr]

If it’s based on the person’s name, then why not just make the person’s name anonymous?

Are the drivers also avoiding people as they close in to pick them up?

[ucbalumnus]

@fractalmstr

If it’s based on the person’s name, then why not just make the person’s name anonymous?

Some sort of identification of the rider is necessary if the driver is to find the correct rider.

@fractalmstr

Are the drivers also avoiding people as they close in to pick them up?

According to the NPR article:

@Gene Demby on NPR

But that doesn’t mean individual folks don’t feel its consequences. Mackenzie, who is white, said that he could expect about 5 percent of his Boston trips on the ride-hailing apps to be canceled. Were he a black man coming from a suburban neighborhood near the city, he said, the rate would be about 15 percent.

[…]

And though Lyft passengers with “black-sounding” names were picked up at the same rate as those with “white-sounding” names in the Boston tests, that probably had less to do with the relative open-mindedness of drivers and more to do with the app interfaces, the researchers said. It’s only after Uber drivers accept a trip that they can see a rider’s name. But Lyft drivers are given a name and photo at the time the trip is requested. So Lyft drivers could discriminate up front by simply deciding not to accept the trip at all.