Being legally blind but not an idiot, I don’t drive even though the state of Tennessee still allows me a valid drivers license. The fact that I cannot read a street sign unless I am close enough to kiss yet, along with my inability to distinguish between objects 20 feet & 5 feet away, to me indicates that I really must let someone else do the driving. That means I use Lyft a great deal. In the past two weeks, I have had two experiences that made me wonder about their hiring practices.
The first was a driver who was hearing impaired if not completely deaf. The driver yesterday in a fashion that was clearly sign language, but though I was once fluent in ASL, I can’t see well enough to use it now. And besides, fluency in ASL is Harley common. Had Cinderella be Rhymer not chanced to be with me on that trip, I would have been up shit creek when it came to communicating with the driver.
The second driver spoke no English. That might be common among New York cabbies; I have heard of such things, but always assumed it was an exaggeration. This person could not understand anything beyond hello and goodbye. Again, only the propitious presence of CtR made it possible for me to communicate with the driver. This is especially important to me because I make a practice of calling my drivers as soon as the app allows to inform them that they are picking up a blind man who will not (particularly on rainy days or at night) be able to identify their vehicle from the description in the app. In both these cases that was impossible, and again, without the presence of my stepdaughter, I could not have used the service.
Frankly, I don’t think either of these people belong in the jobs they are in.
If you used a real, licensed taxi company, instead of Lyft, there would be a licensing department that you could complain to. Or it might not have allowed them to drive at all. But you chose to go with Lyft.
I think that there needs to be some mechanism by which these limitations are conveyed to the potential rider/driver before the pick-up is confirmed.
Most people who are profoundly deaf keep a pen and paper close by for communication conflicts. It is a pretty universal solution. In the case of someone who can not read due to blindness or other disability, it’s a real problem. But I suspect that’s an extremely low percentage of his passengers.
As for the “no English” driver, it’s more of a problem. But as long as they can comprehend the address I should think they can get you there. And isn’t that the function of the driver? Anything beyond that seems to me to be a bonus point. And the largest population of non-drivers in my area are also non- or low-English speaking.
Someone else already pointed out that this wasn’t a taxi. The whole concept of Uber and Lyft is that you are paying to ride along with someone who is going in your general direction anyway. Some folks have turned it into primary employment, and bully for them, but it isn’t necessary.
Is there some way you can identify your own limitations on your profile? So that drivers are fore-warned and can accept or not accordingly?
You are going through a terrifying transition, and I certainly understand your wish to have able-bodied well-trained people to help you through it. But hopefully your tolerance for the inabilities and disabilities of others will, in the log run, be enhanced by the experience.
Have you considered complaining to Lyft? Not about the individual drivers, but perhaps they could add options for customers to note disability/impairment status, and a guarantee that only appropriate drivers (i.e. in your case, non-hearing-impaired folks who speak English) will respond to your Lyft ride requests.
I don’t know if these guys shouldn’t be Lyft drivers – it may be that they have no issues ~95% of the time. But they shouldn’t be your Lyft driver, and if Lyft wants to keep your business, they should better accomodate customers with vision impairments.
Sure - he can be ignored by the taxi commission. I sent in complaints in the past about taxi issues - only once did I even get a form letter. That is WHY Uber and Lyft now exist.
Better to drop a zero star on the Lyft driver. With Uber, once they get knocked down, they don’t get to pick up.
I don’t use these services much, but I recall once either Uber or Lyft once told me that an incoming driver was deaf. I don’t remember if there was an option to cancel.
I’ve encountered more language barriers with taxi drivers. But this is a small sample size.
Being capable of a certain degree of communication with the passenger is a basic job requirement. If a person is (for any reason) incapable of that basic degree of communication, they are unfit for the job. Usually, the only level of communication needed is telling the driver the address, and I assume that the app takes care of that… but sometimes, and I imagine not all that rarely, the passenger has some form of special need that needs to be communicated, and which is beyond the range of what the app’s menu options can handle.
I’ve never used it, but have used something similar, (Grab), but don’t you get to rate the driver? Or read others reviews of the driver, when you book?
Is there no ‘special notes’ area for when you order the ride? You could put in ‘need driver with good communication skills please!’, maybe?
Your objections seem practical; not bigoted or racist. I won’t even argue they are hypocritical. You just want to be able to use the service unassisted and you should be able to.
Unfortunately, the potential solutions to this might lead to bigoted or racist results. If Lyft and Uber allowed riders to pick only drivers that aren’t disabled and that speak English, many riders might do so only in order to discriminate against them. You have to admit it would be bad for the disabled community if Lyft and Uber allowed drivers to discriminate against disabled patrons (blind, deaf or otherwise). Perhaps Uber and Lyft could allow disabled riders some accommodations to allow them to screen drivers in ways that other riders couldn’t but I’m not sure how that would work.
Right now, recruiting drivers and paying them as little as possible is the toughest part of Uber and Lyft’s business. Both companies are losing money on basically every ride they offer, excluding a few cities where each claims they are profitable. They need to push their costs down by continually recruiting drivers who will work for less and less pay. This pay strategy attracts drivers with the worst alternative job opportunities, which includes lots of people who don’t speak English fluently and perhaps deaf drivers too. Uber and Lyft can’t exclude these drivers because the services need them to offer prompt pickups to users in as many places as possible.
For most passengers, the driver’s ability to speak English is extraneous. The key pieces of information to communicate are where the rider is and where the rider is going. The apps handle that automatically.
It would seem like a good idea for Uber, Lyft, et al. to include that type information in the user profile. That way the drivers would know in advance the request was made by someone who is blind, deaf, etc. and could accept the ride request only if they could accommodate the disability.
The drivers are hired to go to a specific location just like a taxi. Lyft and Uber do have “carpool” options were multiple riders can use the same car, but that’s not the main service.
I bet there’s some Deaf customers who would love to be able to choose a Deaf (or at least ASL fluent) driver as well, for exactly the same communication reason. Tricky.
I wonder if there would be some kind of ‘languages’ option, where written English and spoken English could both be listed? I suspect most people wouldn’t bother checking, at least until they’d had a Deaf driver, though I don’t know how many would then select.
I basically agree that someone who can neither speak nor write the local language probably shouldn’t be in the kind of job where they’re dealing with the general public solo, especially in a situation where miscommunication could cause big problems. For me personally it wouldn’t make any difference if I had to write stuff down instead of say it, but of course that is not universal.
You can send messages via the app, right? Why call when you can text them your specific requirements.
One of the selling points of ridesharing apps is that you don’t need to involve yourself with any human interaction. The app knows where you are, and you tell it where you want to go. It handles payment, communication, and ratings. All you really need to do is get in the car when they show up and get out of the car when you’ve arrived where you want to go.
Hmmm, Maybe this is why Grab recently pushed out Uber in parts of SE Asia. It allows you to read reviews, to review your driver, and to specify special needs. If you post a negative rating it immediately asks you to detail your issue, too. Good way to weed out bad drivers.
Of course, getting into the car is a problem when the person being picked up can’t see the car, and the driver may not be able to hear the rider saying “hey? Is my car here yet? Hey? Is my car here yet?” or be able to intelligibly say “Are you the blind guy who needs a ride?” and be able to hear/understand the response.
I don’t have an issue with deaf people driving vehicles, but they do have communication barriers that can make them unsuitable for a position requiring customer serving non-deaf customers.
Not only is that victim blaming, it is just a plain cheap shot as well. I know a number of people who often use Lyft and/or Uber and are very happy with the service, overall. In addition, being a “licensed taxi company” isn’t carte blanche to good service. I got a cab at O’Hare a couple of years ago, and the driver had no idea where the Marriott Airport Hotel is despite the fact that it is a major hotel only a mile from the airport.
Regular taxis can be a pain as well. I remember calling a taxi in my old place a few times, and the taxi never showing, or being on hold forever. Uber was a lot more reliable, and the drivers were pretty personable. There is a reason, Uber and Lyft have taken hold in so many places, and it isn’t that the taxi service was so good.
You are correct. You need to be able to communicate with your driver. I believe that is a reasonable request.
I would follow up with a review on each, to include the communication difficulty.
In future, if the app allows it, ask the driver to call you prior to pick up so that you can speak with them directly. You can communicate your status (and how they can recognize you) and assess their abilities to communicate as well.
Yes, you can send messages thru the app. I routinely call to make the driver aware that I am not going to be able to recognize their vehicle from the description in the app. Are used to send text messages (I have one saved for exactly that purpose), but I found that most drivers do not check their text messages received while they are working for hours and hours.
I don’t see how contacting either of the drivers mentioned in the OP would have helped, as difficulty communicating by voice was the issue. And in the case of the non-English speaking driver, it was very necessary to give the driver more specific instructions then the app allows, as I needed to go to a specific door, not just a general address. Had it not been for the presence of Cinderella the Rhymer, I would have been screwed.