Uber has threatened to end its operations in the state if the Colorado General Assembly passes House Bill 25-1291. As currently written, the bill would require popular rideshare companies such as Uber and Lyft to implement audio and video recording in all trips, prohibit drivers from serving customers food or drink and impose several other safety requirements.
According to reports from Colorado Politics, Uber sent a letter to the Colorado Senate and House leadership on April 23. While acknowledging the bill’s good intentions, the letter presented an ultimatum that the company would end operations in the state if the bill were passed as it is currently written.
Uber’s main gripe with the bill is that requiring all rides to be recorded with audio and video would be impossible to guarantee. It also argues that another bill provision, which requires the company to make all rider and driver comments available publicly, would endanger user privacy.
“We support real, evidence-based safety policy – not legislation that checks a box but fails to deliver. As written, this bill not only misses the mark but also risks doing more harm than good,” Uber spokesperson Gabriela Condarco-Quesada told Westword.
Yet others, including the primary sponsor for the bill, Representative Jenny Wilford from Adams County, argue that the company shouldn’t be able to operate in Colorado unless it takes further precautions to avoid sexual assaults in its vehicles. Her passion in the matter stems from her own experiences.
Last year, Wilford was in a rideshare car driving back to her home in Northglenn, Colorado, when the driver sexually assaulted her. The crime occurred just outside of her house after the driver made several inappropriate comments, locked the car doors and proceeded to assault her before Wilford was able to escape and hide in a neighbor’s backyard.
After reporting the crime on the app, Lyft told Wilford that she would not be paired with the driver again and would receive a refund. Wilford did not receive any confirmation from Lyft that the account had been deactivated.
Wilford later discovered that her perpetrator had been using another individual’s account.
On January 14, 2024, Wilford announced that she would sue Lyft to force the company to enact new security measures to protect its customers. Her lawsuit alleged that Lyft did not take precautions to end sexual assaults occurring in its vehicles, as well as the issue of drivers using fraudulent or fake accounts.
While Uber, on the other hand, has already implemented several safety precautions to protect riders, such as an “emergency button” that riders can use to call the police automatically, proponents of the bill argue that it hasn’t solved the problem.
Between 2017 and 2022, according to Uber’s self-reported safety statistics, there were 12,522 sexual assaults on Uber passengers. Additionally, the frequency of rapes reported to the company in its cars stayed consistent between 2017 and 2022.
Meanwhile, Colorado is also dealing with a severe backlog in rape test kits that make it difficult for rape victims to feel safe or find closure.
It is unclear whether Uber will follow through on its threat to leave Colorado if the bill is not killed or heavily changed. In 2017, Uber threatened to leave Seattle after the city allowed rideshare drivers to unionize. However, it ultimately never followed through on the promise.
