Uber Sued Over Lack Of Accessible Rides

by Mary Wisniewski, Chicago Tribune/TNS | October 14, 2016

CHICAGO - A Chicago-area disability rights group sued the ride-hailing service
Uber on Thursday, asserting that the company did not provide enough vehicles
that can handle wheelchairs.

The lawsuit, filed in Chicago federal court on behalf of Access Living of
Metropolitan Chicago and three named individuals, wants an order to force Uber
to provide more wheelchair-accessible vehicles under the Americans With
Disabilities Act.

The lawsuit claimed that though Uber provided nearly 2 million rides in Chicago
in June 2015 alone; from September 2011, when it started operating in Chicago,
until August 2015, the company provided only 14 rides to motorized wheelchair
users who require wheelchair-accessible vehicles.

"I have a lot of non-disabled friends," said plaintiff Justin Cooper, 34, of
Lincoln Park, who uses a motorized wheelchair. "I can't travel to places with
them because I don't have accessible service from Uber."

A spokeswoman for San Francisco-based Uber Technologies Inc. didn't have an
immediate comment.

Steven Blonder, a lawyer for the firm of Much Shelist, which filed the lawsuit,
said one of the benefits of Uber as opposed to cabs is the ease of use and cost
to the average consumer.

"The benefits the everyday consumer gets from Uber aren't available for
everyone," Blonder said. "So whole classes of people get shut out."

Cooper said that he sometimes used wheelchair-accessible cabs, but that they
could be expensive.

"We're looking to Uber to stand up to make the commitment to wheelchair users
it provides to everyone else," Blonder said. Asked why the lawsuit did not
include the Lyft or Via ride-hailing services, Blonder said Uber was the
largest provider in Chicago, though his firm is looking at the other services.

Access Living had supported a proposed city ordinance intended to impose
stricter rules on ride-share services, said the group's attorney, Charles
Petrof. The original version of the ordinance would have required that 5
percent of Uber's fleet be wheelchair-accessible, and that the service be
equivalent to other Uber service in terms of time and cost, Petrof said.

But the watered-down version of the ordinance that passed the City Council in
June did not include mention of equivalent services for those with
disabilities, Petrof said.

Petrof said he was aware of one other lawsuit against Uber and Lyft involving
wheelchair accessible vehicles, filed in Texas last year, but it was settled
and no widely applicable policy resulted from it.

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