Over the last several months, Uber‘s message when it comes to keeping its riders and drivers safe has been very straight forward: No mask, no ride.
In May, the ride-sharing service announced there would be mandatory for all riders and drivers to wear a face mask while inside a vehicle.
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On Thursday, Uber rolled out an additional safety feature that aims to crack down on riders who have previously violated the company’s mask rule.
“A number of months ago, we introduced a feature that required drivers to take a selfie every time they went online to ensure that they were wearing a mask or face cover,” Uber Canada General Manager Matthew Price said. ” What we’re doing now is extending that to riders, but only riders where there’s been a report that they haven’t been wearing a mask.”
Price says the new rule is all part of Uber’s goal to keep drivers and riders accountable as the company navigates through the coronavirus pandemic.
“As cities reopen, we are in this together, and we all have to work to keep each other safe. That was core to how we thought about things back in the early days of COVID-19, and how we’re still operating today.
Uber said to date, it has removed 1,250 users from its platform in North America due to “multiple violations” of their mask-wearing policy.