SF News

Uber CEO: IPO Currently Planned For Never Because Market Is 'Irrational'

Marc Benioff, billionaire philanthropist and noted unicorn skeptic, said last year that “The unicorn mania that’s going on, that’s dangerous for our Silicon Valley economy." As opposed to crazytalk private investments

SF News

The On-Demand/Shut-In Economy Is Definitely Slowing Down, If Not Dying

With the shuttering of SpoonRocket last week, the recent news that Instacart was slashing its fees and commissions to drivers, and the December closure of rideshare also-ran Sidecar, there's been plenty of talk

SF News

Uber Wants To Drive You To, And Leave You In, Tijuana

Uber wants to be your number one choice when it comes to drunkenly deciding to go to Tijuana. The ride-hail company just announced that for the first time, customers can hail a ride

SF News

Expanding On Partnership, Lyft Drivers Can Now Rent GM Cars For Free (Sort Of)

Lyft and GM have announced the next big phase of their partnership, unveiling Monday a plan to rent GM cars to Lyft drivers for the low cost of nothing — with a few stipulations

SF News

Lyft App Not Approved By California Regulators For Calculating Fares

Uber and Lyft have changed the taxi industry in many ways. The most obvious: supplanting the old-school meter that calculated distance by monitoring wheel rotations with a supposedly more accurate GPS meter. Measuring

SF News

Why Are There So Many Uber Drivers Sleeping In The Safeway Parking Lot?

The other night I had an UberX driver tell me, in detail, how he was attempting to crank out 25 rides that evening, no matter how long it took him, and that I

SF News

Uber, Lyft Drivers Struggle With Onerous Terms Of Partner-Leased Cars

A photo posted by Uber (@uber) on Nov 19, 2015 at 9:56am PST It appears that in the case of some Uber and Lyft drivers, the ride-hail companies truly get them coming

SF News

Police Searching For Uber Driver Who Allegedly Assaulted Man After Dispute In San Jose

San Jose Police are on the lookout for a man they believe to be an Uber driver after a dispute last Thursday regarding speeding got heated. According to police, a worker at Mineta

SF News

Uber Offers To Pay $28.5 Million To Customers, Rename 'Safe Ride Fee' To Settle Lawsuits

A photo posted by Uber (@uber) on Nov 19, 2015 at 9:56am PST In order to settle two class-action lawsuits that allege misleading advertising regarding safety, Uber has offered to pay $28.

SF News

Uber Drivers' Super Bowl Protest Was A Total Bust

A planned strike by Uber drivers as well as a protest near the gates of Levi's Stadium both failed to have any real impact in the Bay Area on Super Bowl Sunday, however

SF News

Uber Employee Appears To Record Protesting Drivers' License Plates, Denies Affiliation With Company

In relation to Monday's protest held by 200 or so drivers, a company spokesperson tells BuzzFeed that “Uber respects our partners’ first amendment rights" and that they "do not — and have not — taken

SF News

Uber Protest Less Disruptive Than Imagined With Just 200 Of 1,500 Expected Drivers

The "Uber Drivers United" representative whose call to protest the company's recent fare cuts — from 10 to 45 percent in 100 North American cities such as San Francisco — might have been tooting his

SF News

Amid Massive Losses, Thirsty Uber Gambles On Lower Prices, Higher Volume

Silicon Valley's leakiest unicorn is betting on cheaper rates, more drivers, and greater ride volume to make a profit. Losses for Uber, a professional contracting service, grew to $1.7 billion on $1.

SF News

Uber Teams Up With Airbus For New Helicopter Service

Hailing a car is so 2015. Thankfully, the new year brings with it new opportunities for excess, and the fine folks over at Uber are all too happy to oblige. The not-a-transportation company

SF News

Uber Fined $7.6 Million, Will Pay To Avoid 30-Day Suspension In California

A fine recommended by a California administrative law judge last summer from the California Public Utilities Commission is being levied upon Uber, we learn today. As the LA Times reports, while Uber will

SF News

SF's Yellow Cab Enters New Chapter... 11 Bankruptcy

Welcome to 2016, San Francisco. Yellow Cab Co-Op, our city's largest taxi company with 530 medallions, is filing for bankruptcy the Examiner reports. In a letter obtained by the paper, president of the

SF News

Sidecar Hails A Ride To Nowhere, Announces It Will Cease Operations By Year's End

So long Sidecar, and thanks for all the side-view mirror covers. Co-founders of the company announced in a blog post today that Sidecar would cease operations by the end of the year in

SF News

San Francisco Drivers Only Getting Worse; Intersection-Blocking Citations Tripled In 2015

Everyone who's been behind a wheel recently or been stuck in downtown traffic in a Lyft knows what Dianne Feinstein knows: Traffic in San Francisco is worse than it's ever been. Or at

SF News

Judge Bars Uber From Imposing New Contract Denying Drivers Access To Class Actions

Uber Technologies Inc. has been barred by US District Judge Edward Chen in San Francisco from imposing a new and reworded contract that is “likely, frankly, to engender confusion" in Chen's words. Bloomberg

SF News

In Response To Class Action, Uber Sends New Agreement For All Drivers To Sign Barring Class Actions

On Wednesday, a federal judge ruled that an arbitration clause Uber had included in its agreement signed by all drivers was unenforceable, and that therefore a class-action lawsuit in California to rule that

SF News

Uh Oh, Uber: Judge Rules Class Action About Drivers Being Employees Can Expand

A debate has been raging all year surrounding class-action lawsuits against sharing-economy companies like Uber, Lyft, Instacart, Postmates, and others about whether their drivers/personal shoppers should be considered employees rather than independent

SF News

Uber Launches In Tahoe, Says It's Getting More Female Drivers Every Month

Solving a slightly complicated issue involving the state line, Uber has announced it will officially be launching in the Lake Tahoe area, north and south, before the new year. The news comes as

SF News

Taxis May Be Bouncing Back Despite Competition From Uber And Lyft

You may have assumed that taxi cabs were an endangered species and likely bound for extinction in the next few years, but that assumption may be very wrong. As the Wall Street Journal

Arts & Entertainment

Lyft Is Delivering Free Zombies Today

For a little Halloween promotional fun, Lyft is delivering zombies to your door today, for free. "Liven up a dead party! Activate a sluggish meeting!" says the promo. Yes, you can have a

SF News

California Approves Lyft-Specific Car Insurance

Drivers for Lyft and Uber must (theoretically, and yeah, legally) be insured at all times on the road. The ride-hailing process, however, is a unique one. There's driving around as a private citizen