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Uber has 30 days to require some drivers to get fingerprinted if the ride-hailing giant intends to continue transporting unaccompanied teens in California.
The California Public Utilities Commission issued a ruling Thursday requiring taxi drivers and taxi drivers carrying unaccompanied minors into the state to pass a fingerprint background check. The ruling also requires carriers to pay the cost of those background checks.
Uber has a history of fighting against fingerprint-based background check requirements for drivers. seven years ago, Uber and Lyft have been banned A similar effort is in California for fingerprinting drivers. The company argued that current name-based background checks and other guardrails are adequate, and that such an inconvenient move would discourage drivers from signing up for the platform and would disproportionately affect minorities.
All of this goes to waste when it comes to transporting children safely and making sure they don’t get into the car with potential sex offenders.
“When an adult is charged with providing a service to a minor, the adult is placed in a position of trust, responsibility and control over California’s most vulnerable citizens – children,” the decision said. “Failing to conduct a fingerprint-based background check to identify adults with ineligible arrests or criminal records would place an unaccompanied minor in a potentially dangerous, if not life-threatening, situation.”
Uber launched Uber for Teens, a service that allows teens ages 13 to 17 to join Uber without a parent or guardian, in February 2024. The CPUC sent a warning letter to Uber strongly recommending that Uber discontinue the service until the 2016 rules are in place. About background. Checks can be resolved. In March, Uber asked for clarification on the rule, specifically the part that states that any company “primarily” involved in transporting minors will need to enforce strict background checks. The company said this summer that less than 10% of the company’s total flights include unaccompanied minors.
The crux of the debate was whether Uber should be required to participate in the Department of Justice’s Trustline program. Trustline is a registry maintained by the California Department of Social Services that uses fingerprints to screen caregivers for criminal arrests and convictions. It also screens applicants against the Central Child Abuse Index, which contains reports of cases of child abuse and neglect.
Uber said its name-based screening system via Checkr, as well as safety features like live ride tracking built into Uber for Teens, are enough to keep riders of any age safe. Uber also says it only pairs the most experienced, highly rated drivers with teens.
Uber has also been charged Not taking enough steps To protect riders from dangerous situations, incl Child trafficking. In July, two families in South Carolina File a lawsuit against Uber Alleging that the company allowed their teenage daughters to be taken across state lines to the predator’s home where one of the girls was sexually assaulted.
The CPUC’s ruling is bad news for Uber, which launched its Uber service for teens in California in February 2024, but good news for HopSkipDrive, a startup that provides a ride-sharing service for kids and has called for the ruling to be upheld.
HopSkipDrive refers to its drivers as “CareDrivers,” and says they all have caregiving experience and undergo a 15-point certification before joining them — including a fingerprint-based background check. The startup also uses telematics technologies to detect unsafe driving behavior and enable real-time trip tracking, and has a dedicated team to monitor each trip.
The CPUC ruling also requires carriers that intend to transport minors to share information with the agency about how they implement live trip tracking for parents, what safety measures they implement at pickup and drop-off locations, and what type of driver training the companies specifically implement. About the transportation of unaccompanied minors.
The ruling also stipulates that each company is responsible for paying the value of the checks.
Uber has also argued against the requirement, saying that forcing the company — which had a market value of about $150 billion as of December — to pay for fingerprinting would lead to higher prices for Uber’s service for teens. Uber, like many large companies, has a history of offloading costs associated with rulings and legislation onto the customer. For example, riders in California can expect to see the following message at the bottom of their Uber receipts: “In California, on average, approximately 33% of a customer’s price went toward covering government-mandated commercial insurance on rideshares in July 2024, “It is one of the highest rates in the country.”
HopSkipDrive pays the cost of fingerprint checks for its drivers. “If small[transportation network companies]like HopSkipDrive can cover the cost of a TrustLine background check, Uber should too,” the commission wrote in its ruling.
Uber did not respond in a timely manner to TechCrunch’s request for comment.
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