New Information will Soon be Available to Rideshare Drivers and Consumers
Denver, CO: On Wednesday, Governor Jared Polis signed Colorado Senate Bill 24-075 into law, which will require rideshare companies like Uber and Lyft to disclose important information to drivers, passengers, and the state.
Colorado will be the first state in the country to require the companies to disclose to riders how much of the money they spend for each ride is actually paid out to drivers and how much is kept by the company. The law will also give the state a window into the total time drivers must spend working to make ends meet, as well as the true costs associated with driving for Uber or Lyft; shedding light on the ways the companies manipulate drivers into accepting lower wages, less convenient hours, and rides that don’t make economic sense.
The Colorado AFL-CIO and Colorado Independent Drivers United collaborated with Towards Justice on a series of bills in the 2024 legislative session that take one first step toward accountability and transparency for companies that exploit app-based workers while denying them labor rights. In addition to SB24-075, HB24-1129, which was also signed into law this week, will require app-based delivery companies like Doordash, Instacart, and UberEats to give their drivers at least 60 seconds to decide whether to accept a delivery job. During those 60 seconds, the law also requires gig companies to tell drivers basic information about the job—including how much they’ll be paid and how long the trip will last.
“We see all the time how companies like Uber try to have it both ways—controlling drivers while also denying them labor rights. This bill is a first step in addressing the problem because for many drivers and consumers, information will mean a little bit more power,” said Dennis Dougherty, President of the Colorado AFL-CIO. “Once drivers, consumers, and the public have access to this information, we hope that the saying is true that ‘sunlight is the best disinfectant’.”
Although the rideshare companies claim to function merely as connectors, linking drivers to riders and vice versa, their algorithms pay drivers and charge passengers different amounts for identical rides based, it seems, on an analysis of how little each driver might be willing to accept or how much each passenger might be willing to pay.
Meanwhile, academic research at UCLA indicates that rideshare companies are taking an increasing percentage of passenger fares over time, leaving passengers paying more, while drivers earn less. In this context, Colorado’s new transparency requirements are essential to helping us understand not only how much rideshare companies take from each fare, but how that “take rate” changes over time.
“If I pay $80 for an Uber ride to the Denver airport, I want to know how much of that fare my driver actually receives,” said Senator Kevin Priola, a lead sponsor of the bill. “This basic transparency may inform how much I tip my driver, and it will definitely help me understand the equities in Colorado’s rapidly expanding gig economy.”
The new law also will also shed light on the percentage of total rides that are tied to incentive compensation, meaning that a driver accepted them as part of a quest, game, or incentive rather than on their merits. This window into the so-called “gamblification” of work, is combined with parameters limiting how the companies can control driver behavior while denying them employment protections. Today, rideshare companies simultaneously claim that drivers are independent contractors and penalize them for declining rides.
This new law will ban companies from retaliating against drivers regarding driver support, ride offers, or destination or area preferences, preventing companies from offering less desirable rides based on a drivers’ acceptance rate.
“These companies say that their drivers are independent, but in reality we see all the time how drivers are subject to minute-by-minute algorithmic control. This law is an important first step in shedding light on the companies’ exploitative practices,” said Nina DiSalvo, Towards Justice Policy Director.
In addition to these provisions, the new law requires rideshare companies to publish their deactivation policies, provide deactivated drivers with notice of why they are deactivated, and engage in good faith, even-handed reviews of contested deactivations. The law will also give drivers opportunities to have support in enforcing their rights through worker-based organizations.
“For years, Colorado Independent Drivers United has seen how drivers suffer when they are fired from their job without any ability to challenge the termination or even to talk to a human being,” explained Brian Winkler, Executive Vice President of CWA Local 7777 and Colorado Independent Drivers United. “This bill will at least provide drivers with a place to go for help, and a way to communicate with the company if their termination was unjust. That’s a first step in the fight for driver justice. We are dedicated to continuing the fight.”
Senators Kevin Priola and Robert Rodriguez sponsored this bill in the Colorado Senate, and Representatives Jennifer Bacon and Naquetta Ricks sponsored it in the Colorado House. Proponents included Towards Justice, the Colorado AFL-CIO, Colorado Independent Drivers United-CWA Local 7777, the Colorado Fiscal Institute, and a large coalition of worker and consumer advocates from across the state.
Contact: Nina DiSalvo︱nina@towardsjustice.