It appears that rape and sexual assault are far more common than the rideshare company has admitted, with more than 300 rapes, and more than 4,000 sexual assaults observed since 2017:
Lyft collected more than 4,000 reports of sexual assault on its app dating from 2017 through 2019, in its long-promised first safety report showing the extent of the safety problems on it app.
The company released its safety report on Thursday — nearly two years after rival Uber released a similar set of data for its app — which tabulated five categories of sexual assault in an effort to make clear the extent of the dangers on the ride-hailing app. It included data for nonconsensual kissing or touching of sexual body parts; nonconsensual kissing of nonsexual body parts; and attempted and nonconsensual sexual penetration.
In total, Lyft said there were 4,158 reports of sexual assault on the app from Jan. 1, 2017 to Dec. 31, 2019; this included 360 reports of rape. Lyft said its definitions were overly broad to collect as wide a data set as possible.
Yes, "We will release data about our business to cast ourselves in the most negative light, and open us up to lawsuits," said no business ever.
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Lyft indicated its report would follow shortly after Uber’s, but only released it Thursday covering a period through 2019.
Lyft did not immediately provide comment on the report or the timing of its release.
Lyft has come under scrutiny for its treatment of sexual harassment and misconduct on the app. The company won over many passengers in the wake of repeated scandals on Uber that led to the #DeleteUber movement, capturing nearly 40 percent of the U.S. market share as it approached its 2019 initial public offering. But The Washington Post reported in 2019 that some found Lyft’s response to reports of misconduct inadequate and dismissive, feeling their concerns were not seriously addressed.
There is no money in seriously addressing those concerns, so, absent aggressive enforcement by government, they won't be seriously addressed.
It should be added that, in California at least, the commission responsible for overseeing the Uber and Lyft ignored its duties:
The agency responsible for regulating the ride-hailing industry in California has failed to collect consistent data on claims of assaults, threats and harassment on Uber and Lyft rides, a San Francisco Public Press investigation found.
The California Public Utilities Commission is required to collect the information from the firms annually to fulfill its mission of ensuring that their rides are safe. But previously confidential filings and recent interviews show that the agency has permitted the companies to use very different interpretations of the reporting requirements, raising questions about the data’s reliability.
The commission received the 2020 safety reports more than a year ago. But it was not until Sept. 22 — two days after the agency released them to the Public Press and the first time it has made them public — that it sent letters to Uber and Lyft ordering the firms to provide “all definitions” of assaults and other misconduct used in their submissions for the last five years.
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From the start, the agency has required the firms to file annual safety reports. But until now it has withheld them under an extraordinary grant of secrecy that frustrated local officials who said they needed the data for traffic planning and safety.
The 2020 reports were released to the Public Press after an eight-month effort under the California Public Records Act. The agency redacted them to protect privacy and proprietary company information.
This is what happens when a regulatory body is captured by the industry it regulates.
The ride sharing industry in particular, and the gig economy in general, is an exercise in regulatory arbitrage, not the product of innovation.
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