Rideshare platforms still require full masking, and as a driver, I'm required to have one on for the duration of the ride. I also get to report anyone who isn't masked to make sure they do it the next time, and I can refuse service to anyone who isn't masked.
Which is to say, I can choose to take money out of my pocket to enforce the policy, because it's not as if I'll make the full fare, or get credit for it as I try to achieve various bonuses, for refusing service. I'll get a minimal cancel fee and many provoke someone freaking out on my car.
Guess who almost never refuses service?
It helps that it's summer. I can lower all of the windows (sometimes a bit pointedly, especially when highways are involved), and I try to do most of my driving at night, when traffic and temperatures are both light and it's not as uncomfortable to wear a mask. My trust three-level mask plus my Pfizer vaccine means that if a passenger is pretty believable about their vax story, we might both take off our masks and enjoy the air conditioning and a conversation.
More and more passengers are also expecting to sit in the front seat and occupy all four seats of my car (never ideal; it's a small hybrid and thank heavens for that, given the rising cost of gas). More and more passengers, especially later at night with alcohol involved, are getting in without a mask. I'd rather they didn't, and if they do, I'd really like to either have no conversation at all (fewer aerosols) or a lot of details about their vaccination...
But if you are choosing to do rideshare, you need the money, right? And you always knew the job was dangerous (I've had my car hit hard enough to prompt an insurance claim twice, both times in the city where I get the most work), and you are doing it anyway, right?
Well, less of us than before, hopefully for more money per hour, and hopefully never full-time...
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