William Gallagher
The car transport company Lyft declared that it will shut down its ridesharing operation in response to local politicians' push to change the employment status of its drivers — and Uber is likely right behind it.
Lyft has announced that it will cease all of its rideshare operations throughout California from 23:59 PT today, August 20. It is in response to the State's proposal to revise how its drivers are to be classified as employees instead of independent contractors.
"This is not something we wanted to do, as we know millions of Californians depend on Lyft for daily, essential trips," said the company in a statement. "We're personally reaching out to riders and drivers to share more about why this is happening, what you can do about it, and to provide some transportation alternatives."
According to Lyft, the proposals coming from politicians in Sacramento are ones that "4 out of 5 [of our] drivers don't support." Lyft says that the changes would mean the company having to implement an "overhaul of [our] entire business model."
"We don't want to suspend operations," it continues. "We are going to keep up the fight for a benefits model that works for all drivers and our riders."
Lyft is asking users to sign a petition to defeat ballot Prop 22, which is due to be debated in November.
In the meantime, Lyft is suggesting alternatives to its rideshare services. These chiefly involve using its bikes and rentals, or public transport.
Lyft's major competitor, Uber, has said that a shutdown is possible at the same time. It has yet to confirm that it will do so, though.
Founded in 2012, Lyft completed its ridesharing coverage of California in 2017. In the same year it also announced that it was planning to deploy self-driving cars in the San Francisco area.
Update August 20, 3:24 P.M. Eastern Time: Uber and Lyft have been granted a temporary reprieve from worker reclassification by the courts
Thomas Sibilly
Andrew Orr
Wesley Hilliard
Marko Zivkovic
Malcolm Owen
Andrew O'Hara
29 Comments
A perfectly appropriate response IMO.
I’m confused. Lyft paid for YES on Prop 22, why would it ask to defeat ballot Prop 22?
https://prop22facts.com/
I feel bad for the people living in Calf today, the people running this state have no clue what they are doing. They living in an ideal world which does not exist and the citizens are paying the cost.
This happen because a few people decide to compliant and thought they could pay all their bill on being a cab driver using all their own resources. Then woke up one day and realize what they were making did not cover their cost and decide they should be employee.
This new law affected more than just Gig workers, it affected people who get payed big $ to be consultant, this force them to set up LLC and be an employee of the LCC and then contract out their services, which they have to pay the government $500 each year renew the LLC business license.
Then add in the rolling blackout Calf is forcing onto their citizens, because they shut down all their power generation plants and forgot solar power does not work at night and windmills do not product as much energy at night since winds slow down when the sun goes down. The have more than enough power during the day, but not at night.
Got some really bright people running the state in Calf.