Dear Editor:
If three people who read this letter decide to drive for Lyft and/or Uber, I’ll consider it a success. The apps are up and running, the jobs are available, we just need people to sign up to drive. When I say “need,” I speak for huge subsections of this city’s community; I do not use the word lightly.
Let me tell you a bit about myself. I’m thirty-one years old, I’m blind, and I’ve been living and working in Ruston for the last five years. I moved here in 2019 to pursue a masters at Louisiana Tech, focusing on working with blind people, teaching them crucial skills like cane travel and braille. I was moving from Boston, and everyone up north wanted to know why I was going to “the middle of nowhere.” I shared their trepidation, but one of my first interactions with a Ruston local was hugely reassuring.
My landlady, noting that I was blind and obviously wouldn’t be driving around town, eagerly informed me that Ruston had recently gotten Uber. Uber is a transportation company that has become widely-used over the past two decades, first in major cities with gradual growth out to smaller towns. For example, the town I lived in during my undergraduate degree (Williamsburg, Virginia) has a population about two-thirds that of Ruston; they started having Uber drivers in 2016. Lyft is a similar service, developed a few years after Uber.
Unfortunately, my excitement over Uber was short-lived. I quickly learned that yes, I could request a ride, but the chance that a driver would pick it up was slim to none. There just weren’t any people driving in town. So I have been living the last five years sans Uber or Lyft. Over that time, I have made three observations that convince me of the need for Lyft and Uber in Ruston.
First, without Uber or Lyft, people who don’t drive must rely on private taxi companies. These companies have no provisions to protect the rights and fair treatment of either driver or rider. I have heard first-hand accounts of cab companies charging more when a customer is a wheelchair-user, a practice that is completely illegal under state and federal law. I myself have been denied rides from local companies due to having a service dog with me (also illegal). As far as drivers’ rights, a company like Lyft has policies that riders are expected to follow: respecting the vehicle, not racking up long stretches of wait time, and generally behaving decently toward their driver. I have seen the cab drivers of private companies treated disrespectfully on several occasions.
Second, college students would benefit from Lyft and Uber in a major way. Between Louisiana Tech and Grambling State University, we have close to 20,000 students living in and around our town. As someone living across the street from a bar and around the corner from fraternity houses, I can confidently say that drunk driving is going on almost nightly. I don’t blame the students for drinking and driving: what other option do they have? Should they sit in their dorms knitting because we give them no means to safely get home from the bar? Drunk driving affects the safety of everyone in the community, young and old, rich and poor, driver and pedestrian.
Finally, limited transportation options affect more people in this community than most of us realize. As a blind person, I initially thought it was just a need for the blind people in town. But every time I rode in a cab, I watched the driver take call after call requesting rides: elderly people, disabled people, single parents, on and on. If you’re reading this and thinking, “I’m not a member of any of those groups,” ask yourself: will that always be the case?
One in four Americans will have a disability at some time in their lives, and that’s not even including temporary injuries (one may not be able to drive oneself over weeks or months of recovery.) Similarly, most of us pray and hope to live to a ripe, old age, and in doing so, we join the community of senior citizens, arguably the people whose lives are most impacted by the lack of transportation. Young and middle-aged folks, ask yourself what you will want your life to look like down the road.
I work at the Louisiana Center for the Blind. Several of our staff recently met with Mayor Walker to discuss the promotion of Lyft and Uber in Ruston. The mayor agreed with our initiative wholeheartedly. He recognizes the value that increasing the number of drivers will have for our city. As a staff member of the Center, people in town are constantly asking my coworkers and I, “What can I do for your students? How can I help?”
Today I give you one answer: drive for Lyft and Uber. You’ll be making a world of difference.
With respect and gratitude,
Georgie Syndor
