Uber Wants 5,000 More Boston Drivers

Announces "urban partnership" with NAACP, others to bring more inner-city entrepreneurs onto ride-hailing service

Gontrand Germain, known far and wide as Mr. G., left his job as a taxicab driver in Brookline, Massachusetts, for the Uber service two and a half years ago.

"There's no comparison, really. Uber is a better platform," said Germain, who has since recruited his father and two brothers to drive as well. "When you're an Uber driver, you're your own boss. If you put in the time, you put in the work, you're going to make the money."

Thursday, Germain was thrilled to join at Roxbury's Hibernian Hall for Uber's announcement of UberUP – short for "urban partnership" – in which Uber Boston general manager Cathy Zhou said, "Right here in Boston, we will be onboarding and bringing onto our platform 5,000 driver partners" from inner-city neighborhoods.

The Institute for a Competitive Inner City and the Boston chapter of the NAACP are partnering with Uber. Financial terms on what Uber's paying them aren’t being disclosed. Michael Curry, president of the Boston NAACP branch, said he sees the effort having the potential to help close a vast black-versus-white wealth gap.

"How do you create more revenue for people to make more money to start their own businesses?" Curry said. "UberUP creates a vehicle, pun intended, for revenue for communities of color, so we're excited to be part of this conversation."

But with taxi drivers already seeing generally a 50 percent loss of revenue from Uber, Lyft, and other new and unregulated competitors, and 1,800 cabs already licensed in Boston, Donna Blythe-Shaw of the Boston Taxi Drivers Association/United Steelworkers union said she was flabbergasted by the idea of putting 5,000 more drivers on the street in Boston and nearby areas.

"You have a huge supply of drivers – how are they going to earn enough?" Blythe-Shaw said.

The BTDA has been battling for years and demanding stricter regulation of what it calls illegal competition from Uber, whose drivers can get around scores of costly regulations taxi drivers and medallion owners must comply with. Adding another 5,000 drivers, Blythe-Shaw said, would only drive a race to the bottom for all drivers' pay and benefits.

"It's unfortunate that Uber would take advantage of inner-city people who are struggling to make a living," said Blythe-Shaw.

One huge unanswered question in the taxi-versus-Uber war: What do you tell inner-city entrepreneurs who have borrowed $500,000, $600,000, or in some cases even $700,000 to buy the "medallion" or license you need to operate a Boston taxi? Those medallions have been rapidly plunging in value as taxi owners see more and more people using their own cars to provide taxi-like services through Uber and other car-hailing services.

"There's really no concern within the city or the state for these individuals who played by the rules and bought a medallion," Blythe-Shaw said.

But Germain said from his perspective, Uber is winning through providing better, cleaner and more attentive service – including drivers willing to pick up riders in many neighborhoods of color like Roxbury, Mattapan, and Dorchester that many taxi operators shun.

"Don’t be mad at Uber, because Uber didn't create this," Germain said. "You know, the people want this."

"What I would say to the taxi owners," Germain added, "is: 'If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.'"


With videographer Marc Jackson

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