Uber called out by service dog users who are fed up with ride rejections

Salome Solomon, who is legally blind, relies on two things to get around Ottawa: her guide dog, Zurich, and Uber.

But she says Canada’s dominant rideshare service keeps letting her down by failing to uphold her legal right to ride with a service animal.

Solomon, a frequent Uber user, says she was denied service around 20 times last year by drivers who refused to transport her guide dog. She has filed numerous complaints with the company, and says she’s now reaching her breaking point. 

“Every rejection breaks you down, so, for me, it basically hits deep. It's like a dagger to my heart,” said Solomon, wiping away tears. 

When she can, she shoots a video record of her ride rejection. 

A video she shot last August shows Solomon leading her guide dog to a waiting Uber. The driver shakes his head, apparently signalling Zurich isn’t welcome.

“He’s not a pet, he’s my guide dog. You can’t deny me access,” she tells the man. Even so, he takes off — leaving her stranded.

Under Canada's human rights legislation, people with disabilities have a legal right to travel with a service animal. Even so, rideshare denials remain an ongoing problem. A survey done by the advocacy group Guide Dogs for the Blind found that of the 185 U.S. and Canadian members surveyed, 83 per cent reported rideshare rejections in the first two months of 2023. 

On Dec. 9, Solomon complained to Uber that she was rejected twice by drivers that day. The company responded that it was investigating.

Similar to the video shot in August, the two videos Solomon shot of those refusals each show drivers take off as she and Zurich approach the car.

“I was angry [at] first, but then I became sad,” she said. “It makes you feel humiliated and it makes you feel so small.”

In line with Canadian legislation, Uber’s corporate policy states its drivers must accommodate service animals. But CBC’s Go Public interviewed several customers in Ontario who say they’ve been denied rides by Uber drivers within the past few months, because of their service dogs.

Uber Canada spokesperson Keerthana Rang says the company is committed to accessible service, and, over the past several years, has taken concrete steps to remedy the problem.