A crowdsourcing question for the list

[Al Elia]

Fellow NAGDU members:

I would like your feedback on a couple of issues. I hope to combine our collective answers into suggestions for Uber, Lyft, and potentially legislators.

First, if you had the power to require Uber and Lyft tooo do one thing to address the problem of guide dog denials, what would it be? Keep in mind that you can only make a requirement of Uber and Lyft, not of their drivers. I ask you to ruminate on this a bit before answering, keeping in mind what we have already done (rquiring them to change their policies, convincing them to build SelfID systems, etc). Suggestions for changes to how their SelfID, reporting, or investigation systems are welcome, but please limit yourself to one suggestion. If you wish to build upon someone else’s suggestion, that is fine and only counts as one suggestion.

Second, you may have heard that Uber and Lyft are buildling features to let blind riders SelfID, along with notes that will be provided to drivers to assist them in assisting us with pickups/dropoffs. If you could tell all drivers one thing to do that would make pickups or dropoffs easier for you, what would it be? If you are also inclined to tell all drivers something not to do, feel free to add that as a sort-of bonus answer.

For my part, I would suggest that Uber and Lyft modify their SelfID systems so that if a driver cancels after being warned that they must transport service animals, they are automatically and instantly deactivated without any further investigation.

As for pikcups, I would want to tell drivers to roll down their window and call out my name when they arrive so I can get an idea of where they are.

I would also ask drivers to please not get out of the car and open the door for me.

I look forward to hearing your collective wisdom.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Yours,

/Æ

Al Elia

[Morgan Estes]

Hi I havent taken uber that often but my suggestion would be to have a specific section for drivers to check that they are ok with transporting service animals when they sign up for driving with the app and not just have it in the terms and conditions. It would be best if drivers could say out their window I'm here for Morgan or honk when they get to my location. Something I wish drivers didn't do is talk to my dog or cancel on me before they get to my destination one time I had like 4 cancellations but no one ever showed up so it was all in the app. I also wish uber automatically investigated like lyft did.

Warm regards,

Morgan A Estes

On Nov 26, 2025, at 4:21 PM, Al Elia <ae...@nagdu.org> wrote:



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