February 27, 2017
Brian Hickey/PhillyVoice
Milton Street, a former Pennsylvania state senator and Philadelphia mayoral candidate, planned to organize fellow Uber drivers to fight back against the UberPool fares. Now, he's running for a state house seat.
Last week, Milton Street put Uber on notice that he’s looking to organize fellow drivers to push back against the ride-sharing service’s POOL option that isn’t all that lucrative for those behind the wheel.
On Monday, he said that rally will have to wait an additional week as he’s still researching the legislation that opened Pennsylvania roads to Uber, Lyft and the like.
Originally planned for outside Uber’s Bartram Avenue offices this week, the rally won’t take place until 10:45 a.m., Tuesday, March 7.
“I need to finish my research into Uber’s contribution to Philadelphia’s schools and will be meeting with a (union representative) tomorrow,” he said Monday morning. “We’re continue to organize 12,000 drivers and work toward forming an Uber Drivers Association even though we’re technically not employees, but partners.”
In the days since PhillyVoice’s story ran on Street’s mission, he said he’s seen the $1.78 pool charges with which he took issue disappear from his log and actually received a $48 uberPOOL fare from Philadelphia International Airport to South Jersey.
A spokesman for Uber responded last week that the company has already heeded drivers’ complaints about the POOL service – instead of one fare, three passengers are often picked up on the same ride – and taken action to streamline the process.
