In response to Trump's executive order on Friday, banning refugees and immigrants from seven majority-Muslim nations, protestors flooded airports across the country this weekend.
In the heat of Saturday night's JFK airport protest, The New York Taxi Workers Alliance was quick to show support by calling for drivers to avoid John F. Kennedy International Airport between 6 and 7 p.m. to protest the Muslim ban (Fact Check: Yes, thanks to our boy Rudy G, we can factually call this a Muslim Ban without the aid of alternative facts).
Uber, on the other hand, waited until 7:36 p.m. to eliminate surge-pricing around JFK airport.
By continuing to operate during the taxi strike, and by waiting to lower prices until 36 minutes after the strike was set to end, many believe Uber was trying to counter-act the strike in support of and/or in hopes of profiting off the Muslim ban.
And so the Twitter hashtag #DeleteUber was born, and quickly took off. Users posted screenshots of deleting their accounts and the Uber app from their phones, accompanied with disapproving messages for the company.
Meanwhile, Lyft has taken a strong stance against the ban, and announced to users that the company will donate $1 million to the ACLU over the next four years (Fact Check: The ACLU sees $4 million in donations every year on average. This past weekend alone? $24 million.).
[anad]
Many former Uber users are making the switch to Lyft, and the app has jumped to the top 10 on Apple's App Store.
Uber was already in hot water, with many accusing the company of jacking up prices when users need help the most, like during snow storms or after hurricanes.
BREAKING: NYTWA drivers call for one hour work stoppage @ JFK airport today 6 PM to 7 PM to protest #muslimban! #nobannowall
— NY Taxi Workers (@NYTWA) January 28, 2017
Uber CEO Travis Kalanick is also a member of Trump’s economic advisory group and has continuously and stubbornly pledged to work with the president to solve issues related to urban mobility.
Surge pricing has been turned off at #JFK Airport. This may result in longer wait times. Please be patient.
— Uber NYC (@Uber_NYC) January 29, 2017
Kalanick was quick to the defense, taking to Facebook Saturday night to share a memo sent to employees, in which he took an opposing stance to the ban, saying it would affect “many innocent people," but once again defending his continued decision to work with and advise President Trump.
i never used it in NYC for a lot of reasons but they won't see a goddamned penny from me ever again #deleteuber pic.twitter.com/Wh1Yhe5aZa
— matt ◉ lubchansky (@Lubchansky) January 29, 2017
Fact Check: Not only did he defend his decision to work with DT, but he Uber Pool'd everyone else under the bus with him.
"This is why I agreed in early December to join President Trump’s economic advisory group along with Elon Musk (CEO of Tesla), Mary Barra (Chairwoman/CEO of General Motors), Indra Nooyi (Chairwoman/CEO of Pepsi), Ginni Rometty (Chairwoman/CEO of IBM), Bob Iger (Chairman/CEO of Disney), Jack Welch (former Chairman of GE) and a dozen other business leaders."
In response to the #DeleteUber hashtag, and Lyft's pledge to the ACLU, Uber said on Sunday that the company would establish a $3 million fund to assist drivers affected by the muslim ban.
But it seems to be too little too late, and the fact that Kalanick still plans to work with the Trump Administration is enough for most to keep the #DeleteUber movement in full swing.
Just FYI for the sake of clarity: We're not mad about advising Trump. Dude's business endeavors generally end in bankruptcy. But America's not a business, so bankruptcy would probably be pretty terrible TBH. He needs all the help he can get.
We're disappointed that Uber A) maintained surge pricing while there was a veritable clusterf*ck/borderline crisis at JFK, B) did so while your average yellow cab driver wouldn't drive at all because, IDK, optics/humanity/social awareness/solidarity.
So what do you think of the Uber vs. Lyft debate?
Personally, we suggest Gett who A) never applies any bullshit surge pricing, and B) doesn't undercut/break taxi strikes—and didn't as their twitter activity this weekend was doing what we probably need more of: quality assurance and customer assistance.
[via Vox] [Feature Image Courtesy TechCrunch]