Just to add my 2 cents here as a Deliveroo rider (bicycle) in the UK. I ride only a few hours a week on Friday and Saturday evenings for extra money. For this

Just to add my 2 cents here as a Deliveroo rider (bicycle) in the UK. I ride only a few hours a week on Friday and Saturday evenings for extra money. For this purpose it's good for me and the flexibility suits me. However, I would prefer to do a few more hours on weekday evenings but don't bother because every time I have tried recently I end up sitting in the cold with no orders coming in. This is the primary problem with Deliveroo in terms of workers rights - they push the cost of supply/demand asymmetry entirely onto the "worker". What's worse is you will often be told that it is "busy" or at least "moderate" in terms of demand in a particular area but then can't get any work when you arrive (and if you don't get orders, you don't get paid). A few weeks ago I found myself in a supposedly "busy" area not receiving orders; in my field of view I counted 14 other Deliveroo riders on bicycles - when there are so many other people it's no surprise that you can't get order, even if demand is high. Ultimately, Deliveroo can increase supply as much as they want and it doesn't really cost them as the riders who wait around and don't get orders just don't get paid. The claims they make through the app about demand in a given area are often misleading as a result of the asymmetry, but it's unpredictable enough that you can never really tell. At this point I only work the hours that are almost always profitable and don't bother with the rest. This is okay for me as I only need a small amount of extra money anyway but if I really needed the money it would be a lot more stressful. This is from the perspective of a rider on a bicycle, my understanding is that things are generally a bit better for those on mopeds. I know a lot of riders use multiple apps like Uber Eats, Just Eat, etc. too which makes things better. I'm personally a bit sceptical of applying the standard workers rights legislation to these companies - it makes more sense for Uber because most of the drivers do it as their full time job but I think you would end up destroying some of the benefits too (like flexibility) with Deliveroo. I do think something needs to be done though. Not sure how you would design it but I think any legislation should focus on the way they exploit the supply/demand asymmetry and make semi-fraudulent claims about demand to riders. We have the "freedom" to choose hours but there is no freedom around the information needed to make reasonable estimates of how much money you might make if you choose to go out and work. The actual job itself is fine as long as you make money, it requires almost zero cognitive ability and is good exercise.