Lyft driver’s livestream captures Nenshi’s criticisms of Uber and its background checks

Mayor Nenshi and a Lyft driver in Boston pose for a selfie at the conclusion of their trip which was livestreamed on Periscope (YouTube)

A Boston Lyft driver’s Periscope stream of his trip with Calgary’s mayor captured Naheed Nenshi’s thoughts on Uber Canada, the company’s CEO and the quality of the ridesharing service’s background checks.

In the 27 minute recording, the driver who says he works for both Lyft and Uber, discusses ridesharing with Nenshi and asks for the Calgary mayor’s take.

“Uber, there’s no polite way of saying this, have a brilliant business model and are dicks,” said Nenshi.

The unidentified driver, who addresses his questions to his cellphone mounted on the vehicle’s dash, agrees with Nenshi’s take but asks for further explanation. “Being the mayor of Calgary, you probably know something that I don’t. Why are they dicks really?”

“They (Uber) are honestly the worst people in the world to deal with,” said Nenshi. “I was at a conference and I met Travis (Kalanick), the CEO, and I was like ‘Oh, it’s because you’re a dick’.”

Nenshi provides further details on Calgary’s dealing with Uber’s staff.

“They come in and they’re the most sophisticated people in the world and (they say) ‘you don’t know what you’re talking about’ and ‘you’re in the pockets of the taxi cartel’ and blah, blah, blah.”

Nenshi says the City had registered sex offenders and people convicted of violent crimes test Uber’s background tests.

“How we found registered sex offenders, I don’t want to know,” said Nenshi, "but they all made it through the theoretical background screening.”

In the video, Nenshi does not appear to be aware his conversation with the Lyft driver is being livestreamed on Periscope. At the end of the ride, the driver and Nenshi pose for a photo together. Nenshi then points to the dashcam and asks "What's going on here? This is interesting"

"This is just livestream, man," said the driver. "These are just my friends all over the world just talking and they be like 'Dude, what do you do when you Uber?'."

The recording ends with Nenshi waving to the the driver's Periscope followers but the mayor mistakes the Periscope comments for text messages.

In an emailed statement, Uber Canada’s senior communications associate, Jean-Christophe de Le Rue responded to Nenshi’s allegations.

“It’s disappointing to see Mayor Nenshi stoop to name calling and questionable tactics,” said de Le Rue.“We hope this can give way to a more constructive conversation that benefits the riders and drivers of Calgary.”

Speaking at the opening of the Nicholls Family Library on Saturday morning, Ward 8 Councillor Evan Woolley called the Nenshi recording ‘a slip of the tongue’ and ‘not a huge deal’.

“It’s one of the things about politics, you’re sometimes candid when you shouldn’t be,” said Woolley. “In my opinion, we need to move forward with companies like Uber and Lyft operating within Calgary.’

On Saturday afternoon, Nenshi issued a statement on the Calgary Mayor's City of Calgary webpage.

"When I travel to places where ridesharing is legal, I often use services like Uber and Lyft, specifically so I can talk with the drivers and better understand their job and their understanding of the regulatory environment under which they operate," said Nenshi in the statement.

"In this case, I had a free-flowing casual conversation with the driver. I was not aware that this driver was live broadcasting our discussion on the Internet, and he certainly didn’t have my consent to do so."

"I told him the story, repeating what I have said many times publicly: that Calgary’s rideshare regulations are not unreasonable, and that Uber, in particular has been very difficult to deal with. I've called them "jerks" publicly in the past, but this time I used a more colourful term. As a guy who very rarely swears, this is probably as rude as I get, but it still wasn't very nice or civil of me. I apologize to Travis Kalanick, CEO of Uber, and his employees for my being, well, a jerk."

To read Nenshi's full statement visit 'On Mayor Nenshi's Comments About Uber'