September is Guide Dog Access Awareness Month, a time to educate people on proper guide dog etiquette, the rights of guide dog handlers and the legislation that protects them, and champion equal access for guide dog teams. To underscore the important role that guide dogs play, we’ve introduced a mandatory information module on transporting riders with service animals for drivers on the Uber platform.

“We believe in equal transportation for all Canadians, and that includes riders with service animals. We take several steps to ensure drivers are informed of their legal obligations, and we’re proud to increase our efforts by introducing a mandatory information module for drivers. We do not tolerate discrimination on the Uber platform,” said Laura Miller, Head of Public Policy and Communications for Uber Canada.

We are proud to continue our work with the CNIB (Canadian National Institute for the Blind) to raise this important issue and create more awareness on our platform so everyone has equal access to transportation with Uber.

“Through our continued advocacy, we have worked with Uber on raising more awareness that transporting riders with service animals is the law,” said Angela Bonfanti, President and CEO of CNIB. “We are pleased to see Uber take this step, requiring mandatory material on the platform. We hope this mandatory material will be the beginning of the end for these humiliating and serious safety experiences that guide dog handlers face too often.

It is against the law for drivers to discriminate against riders with service animals. Drivers can be fined by local law enforcement, or they can be subject to proceedings at provincial human rights tribunals. Drivers who knowingly refuse a rider because of their service animal or assistive devices will lose access to their Uber account.

This summer, a driver who refused to transport a guide dog handler received a fine and lost their Passenger Transportation Company license through enforcement by the City of Toronto.  As a result, the driver also lost access to their account to drive with Uber. This is the first known municipal enforcement action taken against a driver on the Uber platform.

Uber has a specialized team devoted to investigating complaints of service animal denials, and they reach out to every rider and driver when looking into a complaint. If a rider is denied a ride or faces an issue related to their service animal like harassment, improper cleaning fees, fees, or receives a low rating because they are travelling with a service animal, we encourage the rider to report the issue to Uber through Support in the app.

There is still much more work to do. We’re committed to working with partners and listening to riders as we develop and implement more inclusive ways to ride with Uber.