Rideshare Drivers, Unite! Again

(Hartford) Dwight Alder Frank Douglass and a dozen fellow rideshare drivers from across Connecticut got behind the wheel Wednesday morning — to drive up to the state Capitol and push for higher pay and greater protections from what they say are exploitative practices by Uber and Lyft.

The drivers are part of the worker-led Connecticut Drivers United (CDU), which was founded by drivers outside New Haven Union Station in 2019. The group has spent the ensuing half-decade pushing for protections at the state level, so far without success. 

On Wednesday morning, on the first official day of the Connecticut General Assembly’s latest legislative session, they assembled inside the lobby of the Legislative Office Building to discuss their latest lobbying push.

During last year’s legislative session in Hartford, a bill supported by the drivers establishing minimum per-mile and per-minute pay died in the House Transportation Committee. In 2023, a similar bill passed the state senate but was not taken up in the house.

The driver group on Wednesday laid out their key demands for the new legislative session: pay minimums of $1.40 per mile and $0.51 per minute, a guarantee that they’ll be paid 75 percent of the full cost of a ride (including fees), itemized receipts for drivers and riders, and interstate market access for when rides take drivers over state borders.

“They’ve been robbing customers blind and they are not paying their workers what they deserve,” Alex Johnson, a CDU member, told the Independent. ​“All those fees, all those charges, everything Uber takes, and puts towards their companies, put towards their CEO… nobody is actually getting hired here in Connecticut, nobody is getting taken care of.”

Johnson pulled out her phone and showed this reporter a receipt of an hour-long 60-mile fare she picked up with Uber, where she says the rider paid upwards of $60 and she was paid $29, equating to a total ​“take rate” under 50 percent. 

Uber did not respond to a request for comment before publication. Last legislative session, Uber and DoorDash both submitted testimony opposing the drivers’ legislation, arguing that the pay minimums would increase prices, reduce trips, and ultimately hurt driver earnings.

In a statement to the Independent, Lyft said it is trying to increase driver pay and transparency. ​“Improving the driver experience is essential to our purpose,” a Lyft spokesperson wrote. ​“This includes a new earnings commitment, more upfront information about the estimated dollar per hour rate of each ride, and an easier to understand weekly summary that breaks down where every cent of the rider fare goes. Now, drivers will always make at least 70% of the weekly rider fares after external fees.”

One of the major focuses of CDU is requiring they make a minimum of 75 percent of fares including fees, a potentially significant change. 

Jesenia Rodriguez, who has spent almost eight years driving for Uber, made the trip to Hartford Wednesday morning because a rideshare bill would mean she wouldn’t have to struggle to keep her car in good condition to drive customers. 

“I think this year we’re gonna get closer, and now we just hope that this year, this [bill] will be put in place,” Rodriguez said when asked about the legislation’s chances of passing. ​“We have family that we have to support out here.”

Dwight Alder Frank Douglass, who has been a driver for Uber and Lyft for nine years, said that Connecticut rideshare drivers often lose money on fares to New York, where they aren’t able to pick up riders. Drivers who take passengers to other states can’t make money on the drive back, while the reverse is not true — New York rideshare drivers can pick up passengers in Connecticut.

Douglass also noted that rideshare drivers provide an important service by driving drunk passengers who might otherwise get behind the wheel and hurt someone. He says he sometimes stays out until 3:30 a.m. on weekends driving drunk people home from downtown New Haven.

“People go out and party, we’re saving their lives, making them safe,” he said. ​“But I’m losing. They’re taking 65 percent of what the cost of the ride is, and I’m only seeing 35 percent of it. Three or four dollars for a ride, what is that?”