Earla Phillips, the vice-president and co-founder of the Rideshare Drivers Association of Ontario, was driving for Lyft during a snowstorm last winter when she got into an accident on Highway 412.
“I was in a create-your-own-lane kind of snowstorm,” she said. “You can’t see the road, you just kind of guess where it is.”
Phillips was driving at a reduced speed and briefly lost traction, causing her back end to “fishtail” and slide sideways. At that same moment, an “aggressive” pickup driver behind her attempted to pass and clipped her car’s rear end, she said.
While no one was injured in the collision, the damage to Phillips’ car meant she was unable to work for weeks, she said. Lyft's insurance paid 50 per cent of the repairs, leaving Phillips with a bill over $1000. All for a ride that banked her $12.
Phillips said she was lucky, and that the accident could have been a lot worse.
Still, the incident demonstrated just how risky it can be for gig workers transporting people and delivering food during dangerous weather conditions.
It’s an “exploitative system,” Phillips said, one in which rideshare and delivery apps make profits off the backs of gig workers more willing to put themselves in harm’s way due to their financial situation. Toronto rideshare drivers make an average of $6.37 per hour, well below the minimum wage after expenses are deducted, according to a 2024 report from RideFairTO.
TorontoToday spoke to two food delivery cyclists who worked on Wednesday night, during a storm that dumped the largest amount of snow Toronto has seen this season so far.
One said the weather conditions didn’t phase him, noting he can make more money working during storms because fewer delivery people are out on the roads.
The other said it was his first winter delivering food and the snowy conditions on the road made him nervous for his safety. He said he decided to work that night because he needed the income. The delivery people asked not to be named.
Early Wednesday evening, the Ontario Provincial Police's highway safety division warned residents to stay off the roads if they could. But as wealthier residents hunker down indoors, gig workers often suit up to brave the elements, according to Jennifer Scott, president of Gig Workers United.
#OnStorm is now in the GTA. Get home and stay home.
— OPP Highway Safety Division (@OPP_HSD) February 12, 2025
If you need to be out on the roads, make sure you are driving to the conditions, stay in control and drive safe. ^ks pic.twitter.com/n4Wn3l7OPW
“I think what keeps folks working during bad weather is just the reality of this precarious work and that we can't afford to take days off,” Scott said. “I can think of so many times when I've worked in heavy rainstorms or heavy snowstorms because I had to pay the bills and I didn't have a choice.”
Scott said desperation and financial instability is often what pushes gig workers to work during storms, but Phillips noted there are sometimes financial incentives through rideshare apps.
For instance, some Uber drivers can receive “Quest” promotions, which give drivers the chance to receive a bonus if they complete a certain number of trips during a specified time frame, Phillips explained. Some drivers received Quests during the time the snowstorm was expected to hit Toronto, she claimed.
“It's bait to get drivers to come out on the road,” she said. “Incentivizing people to drive during a very dangerous time … it’s really low.”
TorontoToday sent an email to Uber to ask if any Quest promotions had been sent to Toronto drivers for the Wednesday evening time frame but did not receive a direct response.
Keerthana Rang, a spokesperson for Uber Canada, wrote that requests for Uber rides tend to spike during adverse weather events, and the company provides incentives to get more drivers on the road.
“First and foremost, drivers are encouraged to be careful and only go online if they feel safe to do so,” Rang wrote. “For those drivers who choose to go online during weather events, they can earn more through incentives and/or surge pricing. With surge pricing, prices temporarily increase to rebalance the marketplace. This also enables drivers to earn more than the normal fare.”
Both Phillips and Scott agreed that gig workers should get some form of hazard pay to work in dangerous weather conditions.
“I'm putting my livelihood at risk to try and get you somewhere safely. I should be respected enough as a community member providing a valued, essential service to be paid properly,” Phillips said.
But the real solution that gig workers need is better pay overall, they said, so workers don’t have to choose between risking their lives and paying rent.
“People die delivering food on apps,” Scott said. “We have people who are doing the best that they can to put food on the table and take care of their families, and they're doing that under incredible pressure to work at speed and make decisions that are not the safest.”
Scott is calling for gig workers to be classified as employees of the apps they work for and receive a base hourly wage.
