Uber, Lyft Drivers Need Extra Safety as Rising Crime Retains Many Off the Roads

Trip-sharing firms

Uber Applied sciences Inc.

UBER -2.32%

and

Lyft Inc.

LYFT -3.07%

—which have been already combating a scarcity of drivers brought on by Covid-19 considerations—are grappling with an increase in violent crimes and implementing new security measures and insurance policies to attempt to higher shield the drivers nonetheless on their methods. Drivers aren’t returning as shortly as shoppers, regardless of large bonuses from firms and the expiration of momentary unemployment advantages prolonged to gig staff.

Total murder offenses within the U.S. jumped greater than 20% in 2020 in contrast with 2019, in accordance with Federal Bureau of Investigation information. Regulation-enforcement businesses say crime has continued to climb this yr.

Whereas the businesses declined to share information on assaults on their drivers, accessible information in some cities recommend drivers are getting caught up in a surge of carjackings, murders and different violent crimes. In Minneapolis, 494 carjackings have been reported by means of Nov. 11, up 279% from these reported all through 2019, in accordance with a spokesman for the town’s police. Trip-share drivers accounted for 11% of these instances. In Chicago, a police spokesman stated that carjackings by means of Nov. 10 have been up 36% in contrast with the identical interval final yr. In Oakland, Calif., official information present carjackings by means of Nov. 7 have been up 85% in contrast with the identical interval final yr and 144% from the comparable 2019 interval.

Trip-share and food-delivery drivers have been shot and killed in Washington, D.C., St. Louis, Mitchellville, Md., and different cities this yr.

Corporations are taking steps to deal with the rise in crime however some drivers suppose they should do extra.

“It’s an absolute disaster,” maintaining drivers from coming again to work, stated Lenny Sanchez, the Illinois director of the Impartial Drivers Guild, a driver-run group.

The ride-sharing apps have lengthy had security measures—for instance, Uber has an emergency button that connects drivers to 911 and shares their GPS coordinates with dispatchers—and they’re including extra.

Earlier this yr, Uber and Lyft made it obligatory for riders who use untraceable cost strategies equivalent to reward playing cards to add authorities IDs. This summer time, Uber backed a program to supply money rewards to folks with data on carjackers in and round Chicago. Previously 18 months, Lyft doubled the top depend of its crew that responds to information requests from regulation enforcement.

“We’re dedicated to doing every thing we are able to to assist preserve drivers protected,” stated Lyft spokeswoman Ashley Adams. “Violent crime, together with carjacking, has been on the rise throughout america.”

Later this month, Uber plans to check a brand new safety characteristic that enables drivers and riders to file audio throughout a visit.

“You’ll continually see us doing increasingly more,” stated Sachin Kansal, Uber’s vice chairman of product administration who additionally oversees security. He stated his crew was doing “a ton of labor,” notably in the course of the latest crime surge, to grasp how they might make drivers really feel safer.

Final month, lnstacart Inc. stated it began in-app alerts to its grocery pickers about crime or security incidents close to their places, and

DoorDash Inc.

launched an emergency hotline for its drivers.

Drivers are doing what they will to guard themselves. Some will solely work in the course of the daytime or decide up passengers from the airport. Others have taken to sporting bulletproof vests, in accordance with Mr. Sanchez.

Drivers say they need Uber, Lyft, and others to strengthen safeguards for drivers so they’re at par with measures accessible to riders.

Drivers often undergo background checks, together with getting screened for legal historical past once they join. They’re usually required to take selfies on the job to show that they’re those driving.

Passengers, then again, can create accounts utilizing false names because the apps don’t require them to reveal their identities. In contrast to drivers, they aren’t required to add images, which makes it simpler for wrongdoers to pose as passengers or misuse current accounts.

Buyer background checks are utilized in different industries. Residence-sharing big

Airbnb Inc.

requires U.S. vacationers to add IDs and checks their data towards legal databases and sex-offender registers.

Households of slain drivers say realizing these particulars may make the distinction between life and loss of life. In August 2019, Uber driver Beaudouin Tchakounte and a passenger have been shot and killed by a rider who used the app to hail a shared experience. The rider had a legal historical past courting again to 1997, police data present, and was later convicted of those murders.

Mr. Tchakounte—a father of 4—may have been spared had Uber utilized the identical checks it makes use of to filter probably problematic drivers on passengers, his household says. Cassandra Porsch, a lawyer suing Uber on behalf of the household, says the businesses have an obligation to guard their drivers, even when they aren’t staff beneath the regulation.

Uber petitioned to dismiss the swimsuit earlier this yr, saying in its authorized submitting that “the regulation merely doesn’t acknowledge this commonplace, neither is there any help for such an obligation.” A choose has but to rule on Uber’s request.

Trip-sharing firms say background checks aren’t required for different types of transportation equivalent to trains and planes, including that they’re closely regulated, costly and time-consuming.

Impartial Drivers Guild’s Mr. Sanchez—a former ride-share driver who stopped driving due to well being considerations and crime—says his group needs riders importing periodic selfies, as drivers do, so firms know their accounts aren’t being misused.

Lucas Chamberlain, a 37-year-old Uber driver in San Francisco was knocked out by a male passenger in March after he requested for an ID. The passenger seemed beneath 18, he stated, and the businesses don’t permit unaccompanied minors. Mr. Chamberlain stop driving after the assault. He needs passengers’ ages to be vetted and their photos seen on the app so drivers know who to unlock their vehicles for.

“It’s simply not truthful that these firms present our faces to clients and we are able to’t see their faces,” he stated.

The businesses say they can not pressure riders to add their images onto the app.

Some drivers say the businesses might be sluggish to reply once they ask for assist. Mr. Liner, the Chicago driver, says he reached Lyft after being carjacked to request that his rider and driver accounts be deactivated. A Lyft consultant assured him they’d be, he stated.

Mr. Liner says his account wasn’t deactivated till late the subsequent morning. Carjackers used his account to order Lyft rides all through the night time, in accordance with experience receipts considered by The Wall Avenue Journal. A second driver was carjacked within the course of.

Lyft stated it was wanting into the delay in deactivating Mr. Liner’s account.

Write to Preetika Rana at preetika.rana@wsj.com