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Uber Is Taking Millions of Manhattan Rides Away from Taxis

fivethirtyeight.com

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Re: Uber Is Taking Millions of Manhattan Rides Away from Taxis

#41

Post by smackfu »

ghaff wrote: post #12
egocodedinsol wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

how much private car usage is there, actually, in Manhattan?

Low as a percentage but still significant. According to this ( http://www.nycedc.com/blog-entry/new-yorkers-and-cars ) only 23% of Manhattanites own a car. Of course, that's still a lot of cars and also doesn't account for commuters driving into the city.

If you own an apartment in Manhattan and a house somewhere else, and have a car at the somewhere else (which is very common), would that count as a Manhattanite owning a car?

Re: Uber Is Taking Millions of Manhattan Rides Away from Taxis

#42

Post by smackfu »

[deleted] wrote: post #39
stevenmays wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, some percentage of taxi drivers are racist. I've had tremendous difficulties hailing a cab, Uber removes this (and having to think about it).

[deleted]

If you are a person-of-color, and the taxi picks you up, that driver isn't one of the racist ones.

Re: Uber Is Taking Millions of Manhattan Rides Away from Taxis

#44

Post by slimslam »

mgob wrote: post #33
Spooky23 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's more than that. There's a finite number of people seeking a ride, it's a zero sum market where the supply of rides will crash, and Uber will jack up the rates. Uber ultimately will have enormous leverage to submarine any meaningful competition and even to displace public transit. Their national scope will make them a force to be reckoned with.

The idea that uber will replace public transit in NYC is laughable. Sure, there is a group of rich yuppies (and their parents) that will gladly give uber their business, but NYC's transit system serves a much, much broader demographic of customers that cannot and/or will not to pay ten dollars or more every time they want to get around the city.

Laughable? Check out the theory of disruptive innovation. From http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2015/01/ec...:

"The theory of disruptive innovation was invented by Clayton Christensen, of Harvard Business School, in his book “The Innovator’s Dilemma”. Mr Christensen used the term to describe innovations that create new markets by discovering new categories of customers. They do this partly by harnessing new technologies but also by developing new business models and exploiting old technologies in new ways. He contrasted disruptive innovation with sustaining innovation, which simply improves existing products. Personal computers, for example, were disruptive innovations because they created a new mass market for computers; previously, expensive mainframe computers had been sold only to big companies and research universities."

Re: Uber Is Taking Millions of Manhattan Rides Away from Taxis

#45

Post by brianwawok »

CodeSheikh wrote: post #30

I would take Uber over rude Manhattan cabbies any day. My personal experience with Manhattan taxi drivers after living in NYC for last two years. 1) They drive as if they are on a rally track. I have had never experienced motion sickness before until I moved to Manhattan. 2) If you ignore the tip or tip them in the range of $1-3 you get snarky remarks from them. 3) If you try to hail a cab and (regrettably) ask the t…

Here is the problem

1) Uber comes in pays well - sources on the net for hip drivers - You get awesome English speaking nice drivers

2) Uber starts to drop rates

3) Good Uber drivers quit for lack of pay, existing cabbies start to drive for Uber

4) You end up getting the same cabbies as before Uber, but with surge pricing.

It takes a while, but eventually it ends back up in the same exact place as before :( Totally happened in Chicago in front of my eyes.

Re: Uber Is Taking Millions of Manhattan Rides Away from Taxis

#46

Post by cm2012 »

CodeSheikh wrote: post #30

I would take Uber over rude Manhattan cabbies any day. My personal experience with Manhattan taxi drivers after living in NYC for last two years. 1) They drive as if they are on a rally track. I have had never experienced motion sickness before until I moved to Manhattan. 2) If you ignore the tip or tip them in the range of $1-3 you get snarky remarks from them. 3) If you try to hail a cab and (regrettably) ask the t…

Not to mention - in my experience, hailing a cab is stressful since you're not sure when one will come by. Uber is not.

Re: Uber Is Taking Millions of Manhattan Rides Away from Taxis

#47

Post by vermontdevil »

For a deaf or deaf-blind person, Uber is a godsend. As many would tell you, getting into a random cab is a tough task. Often we have a written address only for the cab to kick us out, ignore the address, or just can't read it.

Then they would try to rip us off by driving long routes when we know it's bs. It's hard to argue with them afterwards.

Forget about calling a cab company for a pickup. They almost never show up. It's maddening.

Re: Uber Is Taking Millions of Manhattan Rides Away from Taxis

#49

Post by cm2012 »

brianwawok wrote: post #45
CodeSheikh wrote: post #30

I would take Uber over rude Manhattan cabbies any day. My personal experience with Manhattan taxi drivers after living in NYC for last two years. 1) They drive as if they are on a rally track. I have had never experienced motion sickness before until I moved to Manhattan. 2) If you ignore the tip or tip them in the range of $1-3 you get snarky remarks from them. 3) If you try to hail a cab and (regrettably) ask the t…

Here is the problem 1) Uber comes in pays well - sources on the net for hip drivers - You get awesome English speaking nice drivers 2) Uber starts to drop rates 3) Good Uber drivers quit for lack of pay, existing cabbies start to drive for Uber 4) You end up getting the same cabbies as before Uber, but with surge pricing. It takes a while, but eventually it ends back up in the same exact place as before :( Totally ha…

But currently Uber is cheaper than cabbies anyway. You're saying Uber will drop rates even lower?

Re: Uber Is Taking Millions of Manhattan Rides Away from Taxis

#50

Post by odonnellryan »

CodeSheikh wrote: post #30

I would take Uber over rude Manhattan cabbies any day. My personal experience with Manhattan taxi drivers after living in NYC for last two years. 1) They drive as if they are on a rally track. I have had never experienced motion sickness before until I moved to Manhattan. 2) If you ignore the tip or tip them in the range of $1-3 you get snarky remarks from them. 3) If you try to hail a cab and (regrettably) ask the t…

3 is illegal. You can report the taxi for not picking you up for any reason if their on-duty light is on.
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