‘Very unsettling’: Customers say rideshare drivers in Ontario improperly charging

In a recent video circulating on social media, one woman shares her emotional experience using a rideshare app when trying to get back home late at night, sparking the attention of many female rideshare users who responded, saying they had experienced the same.

In the video, she explains how she was allegedly stranded in Toronto for almost 45 minutes after booking a trip to Whitby, where she was asked for money from a Lyft driver, which she denied, resulting in her ride being cancelled.

“It’s 3 o clock in the morning and I just want to go home,” she said tearfully in the video.

In an interview with the TikTok user, @bluntcontinent, who wishes to not be identified, she explains how this was the second time in a row that a Lyft driver had asked her for money for a long-distance trip.

“The first time I agreed because I felt bad,” she said.

In the initial incident, she explained how once she got into the vehicle, the driver asked how much she paid, to which she responded $62. The driver then allegedly said he was only getting $18 for the ride and requested to cancel the ride and be paid the full amount in cash. In a desperation to get home soon, she agreed to e-transfer him and “immediately regretted it.”

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“Once the ride started, I realized I made a mistake,” she said.

Rideshare apps like Lyft and Uber have location sharing and tracking measures built into their apps. When a ride is cancelled, those features are not available for the user any longer.

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“The fact that it was after midnight, I’m in the back of a stranger’s car and no one is tracking me was a bad idea,” she said.

Following this incident, she was allegedly asked to pay cash again the following night by a different driver. This time the woman refused, resulting in the driver cancelling her ride and driving off.

The viral video she posted garnered the attention of thousands, as many women flooded the comments, saying they had also experienced being threatened to have their rides canceled if they did not e-transfer the fare or pay cash.

Another rideshare user, Adeba Siddiqui, told Global News that these instances are extremely unsafe and raise multiple safety concerns.

“I’ve had a lot of instances where this has happened and it’s really weird,” she said.

Siddiqui explained how majority of the times it happens is when she has a long-distance trip, or when it’s really late at night.

“It has put me in some really uncomfortable situations because it stops the ride, and you don’t have any way to find out where you are going or who’s tracking you,” she emphasized.

In an emailed statement, Lyft said that “this behavior is against Lyft policy and is not permitted on our platform. If a rider encounters this, they should reach out to support immediately so we can address the issue. Drivers who engage in this behavior (which is against Lyft policy) could be deactivated.”

Henrietta Francis, a frequent Lyft user, also shared concerns about how this could be attributed to the low wages that rideshare drivers receive.

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Francis recalls getting into the car for an early morning commute to work. The driver then told her that “Lyft doesn’t pay me as much, can you do cash or e-transfer so I can get more money?” She declined the request and said he sat there in silence for a moment, in which she felt “really scared.”

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“I didn’t know if he was going to lock the doors and not let me out. It was 6 a.m., still dark outside and just me and him,” she said, adding when he finally started driving, the whole situation made her so uncomfortable that she “avoided eye-contact the whole time.”

Francis said she reported the issue to Lyft but is unsure if further action was ever taken.

Another user who commented under the original video highlighted similar concerns.

In September, Marnie Gallop and a friend visiting Toronto, were picked up by an UberX driver for a ride to Newmarket. The driver insisted they pay extra in cash, claiming they should have booked an Uber XL due to their luggage.

She explained in an email to Global News that their luggage fit comfortably, but “he already had our bags, and we didn’t want to push back too hard.”

Later, they discovered he had changed their booking to Uber XL, costing an extra $50 on top of the cash they paid. They then filed a complaint and were refunded the amount.

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Global News reached out to Uber for comment but did not receive a response.

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While Lyft and Uber’s policies strictly prohibit cash exchanges and encourage users to report violations, many question if enough is being done to address these incidents.

“It is very unsettling,” said the original woman in the video.

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