What Uber (and Taxi) Drivers Think About the Politics of Ride Sharing

Uber, Lyft, and Sidecar are all part of the ridesharing economy loved by urban-dwelling millennials and distrusted by Democratic politicians like Hillary Clinton and NYC mayor Bill de Blasio, taxi cab associations, and Salon.com headline writers.

A California administrative court recently ruled that Uber must pay a hefty fine and share more of its data with state regulators or shut down. So, Reason TV's Zach Weissmueller spent a day riding around Los Angeles in Ubers, talking to drivers about some of the rumors swirling around the company: That it doesn't pay its drivers well, that it runs shoddy background checks that put riders at risk, and that its drivers fail to pick up people in bad neighborhoods. He also made a stop at Yellow Cab headquarters to talk with William Rouse, the general manager of Yellow Cab Los Angeles and an outspoken critic of Uber. And for his final leg of the journey, Weissmueller jumped into a good old-fashioned yellow taxi.

To find out what happened, watch the video above.

Approximately 10 minutes. Produced by Zach Weissmueller and Justin Monticello. Camera by Monticello.

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