(PODCAST) This Week In Rideshare: Dara, Minneapolis, and California.

Dara moonlights as a driver, a mayor vetoes a bill, and Uber raises the minimum age. LegalRideshare breaks it down. MONDAY 8/21/23 A new study looks at delivery drivers' working conditions. Business World reported: The conditions of gig workers at local ride-hailing and delivery platforms have shown no improvement since last year, according to a study, highlighting financial insecurity and safety risks due to limited protections. None of the ten platforms demonstrated fair pay and representation among workers, Fairwork said in a statement e-mailed to reporters on Thursday. On fair management, two out of the ten platforms (GrabCar and GrabExpress/Food) received a point for having formalized processes that allow workers to appeal decisions. “Platform-related indebtedness, a major finding in this year's study, pertains to a situation where gig workers become indebted — to informal money lenders, vehicle companies, operators, and contractors — in the aspirational process of gaining access to platform work,” said Cheryll Ruth R. Soriano, the principal investigator at Fairwork Philippines, in a press statement. “The end result is the rider or driver being chained to platform labor for survival, working longer and harder hours to make a living.” TUESDAY 8/22/23 Uber's CEO Dara Khosrowshahi reviews his ‘nightmare' while moonlighting as an Uber driver. Fortune reported: The initiative, called Project Boomerang internally, saw Khosrowshahi driving the streets of San Francisco on several occasions. When asked about his worst “nightmare” experience, he revealed it wasn't actually involving any passenger he picked up in his car. “It was when I was a courier,” Khosrowshahi told the WSJ. “I was trying to deliver food and I couldn't find where to drop it off. Trying to figure out the maze of apartment complexes was a challenge.” Back in 2021, Khosrowshahi told the New York Times that he “nearly got killed” by traffic when the San Francisco Giants were playing. On the bright side, Khosrowshahi said his work experience had taught him that Uber needs to do more to make its drivers passionate about what they do. WEDNESDAY 8/23/23 Instacart's business slows as it heads for IPO. Insider Intelligence adds: While Instacart's revenues rose over 30% year-over-year (YoY) to about $1.4 billion in the first half of 2023, its gross transaction volume grew just 5% YoY, per The Information. It is questionable whether that growth model is sustainable, which is problematic given that Instacart executives may begin their IPO pitches to investors as early as next week, per Bloomberg. Instacart's slowdown in its core delivery business is a marked contrast with the 27% and 10% growth reported by DoorDash's and Uber's delivery services over the same period. While both those companies primarily provide restaurant delivery, they are rapidly growing their grocery businesses. For example, our forecast expects DoorDash to make $5.26 billion in online grocery sales this year, which is over nine tim