RIDEGURU
Guy interrupts two undercover cops conducting a sting to catch people picking up street hails.
Sting on Uber drivers picking up street hails
Posted 5 years, 8 months ago
Posted In
Angry Drivers
Passengers from hell? Complaints or suggestions for Uber and Lyft? Glaring problem with the industry? Do you have stories of your horrible experiences with rideshare services? Leave your comments here and share your stories.
Posted By
lionfool
236
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Comments
This happened to me last Saturday night in Naperville, IL I was smart though I said hell no. The narc even tried to bully me into taking it he said I’m going to give you $20 you are only going to get probably seven dollars from your actual fare. He was right too I only got like seven dollars for the legit ride.
The reason I know it it was a sting is they got the next driver to fall for it and me and my pax all watched.
I completely agree with Outlandish - that does not seem legal. Good on you for refusing, I am not sure I would have...
at least now I know!
I am no lawyer but that seems like entrapment if they are pushing you and offering more and more money until you finally crack. Like, how far can they push it before it's actual entrapment.
Here's a tip. though I am totally joking.
https://ride.guru/lounge/p/sting-on-uber-drivers-picking-up-street-hails#comment-12545
Wow, for real, a sting? I feel like they don't have to run a sting (and offer a $20) to find people who do this. I mean, I think I see Uber drivers doing this often at the Departure floor.
Perhaps they have to make it a sting or it's too hard to arrest them. At the end of the day, they can just claim it's just one driver picking up an acquaintance..
Ok so I mean, this isn't just about uber drivers right? Anyone could pick up a hitchhiker and ask them for money to be driven somewhere...
If that anyone you speak of has a TNP license that specifically prohibits street hails then yes. No TNP license no problem.
Wait, you are saying if you don't have a TNP license, you can pick up people for money? That can't be right. Well, maybe you can ask for gas money, but you can't charge a fare for profit, right?
If no TNP license then it is a private transaction between two parties. But if you try to advertise yourself you would be assumed to be an unlicensed commercial enterprise. I’m not a lawyer of course but it seems feasible.
It’s why the cops in the sting video are targeting TNP cars not random opportunists or samaritans. I imagine the citation on a TNP is pretty big too. Does anybody know roughly the citation amount?
Yes. This is about killing gypsy cabs. They are a problem for all of us, and they are a safety issue for riders. There was just another thread about some poor woman who got picked up by a fake uber driver and was found dead later.
What’s this sting for? For the sake of taxi drivers who actuslly can?
Or is it for the sake of Uber who wants a piece of the revenue
It’s for public safety. They aren’t necessarily hunting down Uber drivers. They’re hunting down crooked drivers who are trying to make a few bucks without going through the proper channels and background checks.
Can't this be classified as two friends who decided to make an arrangement, and one person just paying the other person as a thank-you?
All you have to do is to pull Forest Gump and introduce yourself to the passenger. "We ain't strangers no more."
Dorothy Harris (the bus driver) is awesome. and yes, she is the same woman at the end. She grins because she knows who he is and remembers the time 30 years ago. (or however long it is)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDOZFlgQkss
This boy actor is amazing. His voice trembling and all while he announced his name. Brilliant.
BTW, is that the same bus driver as the ending scene? I don't think I realized that.
Online I saw two pretty different reactions to this. A normal reddit thread was mostly sympathetic to the drivers and against the sting, while the drivers in /r/uberdrivers and /r/lyftdrivers were not very sympathetic to the drivers at all. Drivers mainly seemed to say that you should never, ever stop for someone flagging you down, and definitely never take a street hail.
Yeah reddit in general can be pretty anti-cop for some reason. So it doesn't surprise me that the normal thread was like that. Actually to be honest I think a lot of the popular subreddits are really overrun by bots and paid trolls. Why they are anti-cop I don't really know. When you get into the more specific subreddits you start to see more real/sensible opinions from actual people.
I mean, it's really common sense that you definitely should not stop and pick up street hails. If you're gonna do that, don't bother working for uber, right? You're just a gypsy cab at that point. You could have been doing that just as easily before Uber came along (and it would still have been illegal and dangerous then).
Right, we all know NOT to pick up street hails but if someone is offering you twice the fare amount it is hard to say no. I know many drivers who now personally know some of their frequent riders and they get paid on the side. It might not be right, but drivers have to do what drivers have to do to make a living wage.
WOW, good on this guy for sharing his story. Pretty brave to video tape that.
Also, is it just me or do those people just not look like cops at all. I guess that is why this works, lol