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Massachusetts to tax ride-hailing apps, give the money to taxis

reuters.com

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Re: Massachusetts to tax ride-hailing apps, give the money to taxis

#11

Post by taneq »

rev_bird wrote: post #2

This is a pretty surreal move: >The law says the money will help taxi businesses to adopt "new technologies and advanced service, safety and operational capabilities" and to support workforce development... [Larry Meister, manager of the Boston area's Independent Taxi Operator's Association] said the money could go toward improving a smartphone app his association has started using, or to other big needs. I'm not an…

The right thing for the government to do would be to either deliver on their promise of an artificially scarce market (which they made when they instituted the taxi medallion system) by cracking down on unlicensed operators, or to buy the licenses back off the licensed taxis and then abolish the system and free up the market.

What they're currently doing is like if a shopping mall charged resident shops a hefty fee, but allowed hawkers to set up next door for free, allowing them to sell the same goods for far less.

Re: Massachusetts to tax ride-hailing apps, give the money to taxis

#12

Post by intopieces »

The weird thing is they don't even have a solid plan for what to do with the money. Or a plan at all, it seems.

The least they could do is create some kind of MassTrans App that shows a user options for navigating the state (uber/lyft/cabs/transit/greyhound etc). Otherwise it seems like collection for the sake of it.

Re: Massachusetts to tax ride-hailing apps, give the money to taxis

#13

Post by mahyarm »

xyzzy4 wrote: post #10
robbiep wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And by the big mac index, the cost of living in India is 50% less (at a minimum) than in the US. Direct price comparisons between countries are useless

It's not useless. If something is too expensive in one place (5x-10x in Massachusetts compared to India) then it's evidence of some serious problems. My own theory is that the immigration policies of the US prevent enough unskilled workers from filling the roads with lots of Uber drivers.

How much is the average GDP per captia in india? Rent? Food? How much is the average low-skill worker make in india vs mass? Is it also 5-10x less?

Re: Massachusetts to tax ride-hailing apps, give the money to taxis

#14

Post by acidburnNSA »

rev_bird wrote: post #2

This is a pretty surreal move: >The law says the money will help taxi businesses to adopt "new technologies and advanced service, safety and operational capabilities" and to support workforce development... [Larry Meister, manager of the Boston area's Independent Taxi Operator's Association] said the money could go toward improving a smartphone app his association has started using, or to other big needs. I'm not an…

I mostly agree with you, and I would have wholeheartedly agreed with you 2 weeks ago, but I just read a book ("Listen, Liberal" by Thomas Frank) that makes some interesting points about how liberals have shifted from representing working people to representing professionals, and to worshiping innovation. While free trade and disruptive technology is good for the professional class, it inherently increases inequality.

Frank argues that after the liberal shift, "everyone" now agrees to these pro-business, pro-Wall Street policies, but we don't have to allow rapid disruption freely. We could do what Massachusetts is doing. We could have tariffs and bring manufacturing back. Policy can prevent the inevitable.

I learned about the book while vigorously researching Trump's rise to popularity during the primaries. I personally can't wait for self-driving cars, etc., but I think someone needs to be thinking of the swaths of working people who are afraid of losing their jobs.

I know lots of working people. Many of them don't want to go back to school or get technical training. Many of them don't want to start the next big company. They just want to work their job and go hang out with their family. What do we tell the taxi and truck drivers when Uber shows up with self-drivers, etc.?

I'm new to this line of thinking myself and I know there are lots of counterarguments. I just find it worth a ponder.

Re: Massachusetts to tax ride-hailing apps, give the money to taxis

#15

Post by AndyNemmity »

intopieces wrote: post #12

The weird thing is they don't even have a solid plan for what to do with the money. Or a plan at all, it seems. The least they could do is create some kind of MassTrans App that shows a user options for navigating the state (uber/lyft/cabs/transit/greyhound etc). Otherwise it seems like collection for the sake of it.

I've never seen a successful government app, certainly there must be one.

Does anyone know of a reasonably useful government app? It's hard enough for normal tech to create useful apps, let alone the over expensive bogged down government.

Re: Massachusetts to tax ride-hailing apps, give the money to taxis

#16

Post by taneq »

qq66 wrote: post #9

I think that this makes sense in concept if not in implementation. Taxi medallions were sold and traded under a certain set of laws which defined their value. The government decided to change those laws, so "buying out" the medallions at some fair price, paid for by the beneficiaries of the change in law, makes sense.

Exactly. The issue isn't the taxi companies' competitiveness, the issue is that the government is allowing Uber et al. to offer a taxi service without having to follow the same rules imposed on taxi driers.

Re: Massachusetts to tax ride-hailing apps, give the money to taxis

#17

Post by taneq »

robbiep wrote: post #8
xyzzy4 wrote: post #7

As a lifelong resident of Massachusetts, color me unsurprised. This is a tangent but I've also spent some time in India, and a $1.50 Uber ride there would be about $10 in Massachusetts. That has to do with other factors though such as PPP, birth rates and age demographics, immigration policies, number of skilled vs unskilled workers, etc.

And by the big mac index, the cost of living in India is 50% less (at a minimum) than in the US. Direct price comparisons between countries are useless

You pay the premium to live somewhere where nobody's defecated in your drinking water.

Re: Massachusetts to tax ride-hailing apps, give the money to taxis

#18

Post by [deleted] »

mahyarm wrote: post #13
xyzzy4 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not useless. If something is too expensive in one place (5x-10x in Massachusetts compared to India) then it's evidence of some serious problems. My own theory is that the immigration policies of the US prevent enough unskilled workers from filling the roads with lots of Uber drivers.

How much is the average GDP per captia in india? Rent? Food? How much is the average low-skill worker make in india vs mass? Is it also 5-10x less?

[deleted]

Re: Massachusetts to tax ride-hailing apps, give the money to taxis

#20

Post by cloudjacker »

During periods of extremely high surge pricing, I take regulated taxis instead. At first I think, 'wow I love competition its such a good thing this alternative service was around' but then I try to pay the cab driver, here is the experience in 2016:

- The meter system is broken

- The cab driver presses buttons frantically on a black box before resorting to hitting it in hopes that it responds to external stimuli

- The cab driver is unsure how to process credit cards (or even cash) in the event this black box does not start responding "Uhhh, ahhhhh, this stupid thing"

- If black box does begin responding, then lets advance to the credit card processing part, which also doesn't work

- FUTURISTIC WORLD CITIES in the US have taxis with screens in them so the rider can do the credit card processing on their own, except this doesn't work either "your screen isn't responding..."

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