A strange development occurred in the anti-Trump protest as the protesters deleted their Uber account. The action was taken after the company turned off surge pricing for the passenger who takes the ride from the airport.
Anti-Trump protesters deleted their Uber account immediately after the company announced the decision. This strange development was explained in chronological order by Recode which began when the New York’s taxi drivers join the protest Saturday.
In support of the protest, a union that called themselves Taxi Workers’ Alliance (TWA) joined the opposition to President Trump policy at the John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. The union that claimed to represent more than 50,000 drivers in New York City asked the members to stop working at the airport on Saturday, Jan. 28 for one hour from 6 pm to 7 pm.
Soon after, Uber announced that the company removed its surge pricing for passengers riding at the airport. As a result, protesters accused the company to take profit from the protesting cab drivers by offering a cheaper price. The protesters launched a twitter hashtag campaigning #deleteUber.
The anti-Trump protesters responded by posting a screenshot of them deleting Uber app and installing Uber’s competitor Lyft. Following the strange development, the popularity of Lyft rose as many anti-Trump protesters installed the application to replace Uber. The backlash from the protesters against Uber is again for Lyft according to USA Today.
In New York, Uber has gained many customers which switched from using New York’s yellow taxi to the ride-hailing apps. The taxi drivers were unable to do anything to stop the rising popularity of Uber until now.
This time, taxi drivers in New York use the anti-Trump momentum to get sympathy from the protesters. Unfortunately, the protesters selected the other ride-hailing apps Lyft, which also the enemy of taxi driver instead of stop using the ride-hailing app. Therefore, it doesn’t give benefit to the TWA and taxi driver at all.
