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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

#481

Post by zigzigzag »

thesimon wrote: post #401
zigzigzag wrote: post #326

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. There's another possibility that nobody really likes to think about: automated trucking won't even start for decades or more. The railway industry is a good example of this. Trains run on dedicated pathways with hardly any traffic, they're the perfect example of a system that should be entirely computer controllable. Yet the world still has many, many train drivers. Computers could have and arguably should h…

>The London Underground is a good example of these dynamics in action. DLR on the other hand has been driverless for ages.

Yes, exactly. Driverless trains are not technically reaching for the sky, yet deployment doesn't happen anyway due to social factors.

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

#482

Post by AndyNemmity »

chillacy wrote: post #184
AndyNemmity wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't, never used it. So it's an app that hails you a taxi. Does that make Uber a taxi service?

No, unless they're paying the drivers. They're basically providing an interface to find taxis. Just like how Amazon can sell you a pack of Coke without being a food manufacturer. Or blogs can bring affiliate traffic to Amazon without being PCI compliant. Kayak and Hipmunk can get you a plane ticket without being an airline company. Etc.

They are paying the drivers, and they set the rates.

I think them setting the rate of fares is a big indicator they are a taxi service. Amazon doesn't set the price of a pack of Coke, unless they are also distributing said coke through Amazon.

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

#483

Post by kofejnik »

deanCommie wrote: post #350
kofejnik wrote: post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Under the old model, taxi riders were/are suffering, and taxi drivers want to keep getting their monopoly rent. "Taxi drivers are suffering" actually means "they cannot fleece their customers like they used to". This is a zero sum game - taxi drivers take money from taxi riders, so any change will be met with opposition. The difference is, taxi drivers are better organized and have PR people to tell us about their "s…

Look, I hate cabs too. I hate having to tell the driver where to drop me off because they never use GPS. I hate feeling like a lowlife for wanting to pay by credit card because I never have cash. And I hate how expensive cabs are. But let's not forget that most taxi drivers are themselves far from well off. It is a working class gig, with a heavy representation from new immigrants. It's long hours, it's physically dr…

Last year in Athens I was forced to pay 50 EUR for a 20 minute ride to the airport (officially mandated price), while average monthly salary there is ~700 eur. No way an honest working class man would charge 1/14 of a monthly salary for a 20-minute job, this is a racket, pure and simple.

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

#484

Post by toomuchtodo »

madgar wrote: post #172
toomuchtodo wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because he's a democratic socialist? I love tech as much as the next person, but disrupting wide swaths of the country's working populace and drastically increasing income inequality and increasing unemployment in an unsustainable manner, due to the leverage tech provides, and we step in with laws to override the marketplace. A government exists for all its citizens, after all. No man is an island.

On HN, all men are islands looking to dominate their island's native population. Nobody on this website wants to share wealth. It's about finding the product-market fit to achieve subjugation.

I'd agree that's the view of most HN participants, and it makes me sad.

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

#485

Post by AndyNemmity »

emodendroket wrote: post #379
AndyNemmity wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cab drivers don't become homeless drifters, they become your next lyft pick up. And the quality of service of Lyft and Uber have gone down the more and more cab drivers become drivers. It's starting to not feel like much of differentiation.

> Cab drivers don't become homeless drifters, they become your next lyft pick up. Yeah, at significantly lower wages.

How much lower? Has anyone done an analysis of the difference in pay, given any requirements to pay the cab company, pay for a gold star, etc.

Does a standard cabbie make significantly more than a standard lyft driver?

Cabs are certainly far more rundown generally when I take them than lyft vehicles. People seem "better off" driving lyft, but it may not be their main source of employment.

So it would be cool to see a real breakdown done.

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

#486

Post by kofejnik »

deanCommie wrote: post #350
kofejnik wrote: post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Under the old model, taxi riders were/are suffering, and taxi drivers want to keep getting their monopoly rent. "Taxi drivers are suffering" actually means "they cannot fleece their customers like they used to". This is a zero sum game - taxi drivers take money from taxi riders, so any change will be met with opposition. The difference is, taxi drivers are better organized and have PR people to tell us about their "s…

Look, I hate cabs too. I hate having to tell the driver where to drop me off because they never use GPS. I hate feeling like a lowlife for wanting to pay by credit card because I never have cash. And I hate how expensive cabs are. But let's not forget that most taxi drivers are themselves far from well off. It is a working class gig, with a heavy representation from new immigrants. It's long hours, it's physically dr…

Also, my girlfriend is an honest hardworking person, who instead of overcrowded public transit can enjoy faster safer transportation daily, thanks to Uber. Why do you want to deny her this basic necessity?

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

#487

Post by gkya »

jwallaceparker wrote: post #479
gkya wrote: post #380

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The number of professions don't go up, and will certainly diminish in the future. Switching professions as a young person without a dependent family is not all that hard. But as a family father/mother, it's not always possible to spend the time to switch professions. Today most of the jobs have qualification, experience and age requirements. > There is certainly temporary pain endured by workers who are displaced by…

lol you're trolling me, right?

Why do you think that? Isn't that similar to how labour and income evolved since the industrial revolution?

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

#488

Post by ambicapter »

onion2k wrote: post #302
chii wrote: post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 200 years of government regulating to make the transition less painful. i find that hard to believe - what was done in the last 200 years to lessen the pain of any transition?

Here in the UK there were a number of Factory Acts passed between 1802 and 1961 that were designed to limit the impact of the industrial revolution on workers, lessening the pain of transition from agriculture and cottage industry to the modern mechanised factories. The one closest to 200 years ago did such progressive things as limiting the working hours a 9 year old child could do to 12 hours a day. https://en.wiki…

How is that easing the transition? Sounds more like making sure the current working environment doesn't suck, and that the benefits of technology are actually passed on to those who are using it.

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

#489

Post by ambicapter »

allendoerfer wrote: post #300
erklik wrote: post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup. Or learn how to make A.I.'s ?? I don't know yet but basically find a different job. Its not that complicated actually.

I am not saying this specifically to your comment, but to the whole thread: Not all people can accomplish the same performance. Most HN users were just lucky. I am not sure where I would be today if I had not been born into a college educated family, had college educated friends and so on. Not all people have the same luck. Beyond that there are different levels of intelligence or just inability to concentrate etc. T…

> There are people on the job market who write and read on a level you had when you were 10 years old.

10 years old? Really? Do we expect those people to be useful? Why not just give them a basic income and take them out of the workforce?

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

#490

Post by fastball »

angry-hacker wrote: post #343
fastball wrote: post #322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The app changes. That's what is so great about the fluidity of Uber, without medallions and regulation and such. If Uber starts to increase prices because they have a monopoly, a lone person can build an app that's cheaper.

In theory, yes, but you need to convince all the drivers and customers to install and use that app. A lone person can create a new twitter and facebook too, it doesn't mean anyone is using it. I'm sure there are lone builders popping up every day. Is anyone using it, is there competition? - no.

It's very easy to convince riders if it's cheaper.

It's very easy to convince drivers if you give them a bigger cut.

If neither is possible, then Uber has already optimized the market, and there is nothing to complain about.

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