Uber Hit with Class Action Over Alleged Failure to Provide Wheelchair-Accessible Rides in Pittsburgh

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Four Pennsylvania residents have put their names on a proposed class action that looks to remedy Uber’s alleged ongoing discrimination against those with mobility disabilities who want to but cannot use the company’s on-demand transportation service.

The 23-page complaint states that despite Uber’s dominance in the arena of offering shared, on-demand rides, its policies and practices deny wheelchair- and scooter-reliant individuals full and equal access to its services. Singled out in the complaint is the Pittsburgh area, in which the plaintiffs claim Uber provides no wheelchair-accessible vehicles through its app-based service at all.

Alleging violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the plaintiffs claim Uber’s apparently discriminatory policies in the Pittsburgh area “have a profound negative impact” upon those with mobility disabilities in that access to public transportation in the region is steadily decreasing. Given the fact that those with mobility disabilities in the Pittsburgh area have historically had limited transportation options, the lawsuit says, Uber’s practices serve to effectively make a bad situation even worse.

The plaintiffs stress in the complaint that the lawsuit is not about money, but rather intends to halt Uber’s practices that by and large discriminate against those with mobility disabilities. According to the lawsuit, the plaintiffs seek only injunctive and declaratory relief “to redress Uber’s violations of the ADA.” The individuals claim that they contacted Uber on their own to request that it modify its policies to allow wheelchair-reliant individuals access to its transport services, but the company “failed to make such modifications.”