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Uber revolution will not last

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Uber revolution will not last

#71

Post by jayjay71 »

manyxcxi wrote: post #52
dismantlethesun wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Medallions (whether or not they were a good solution), were intended to restrict the number of cars on the road during peak hours, and enforce some uniform regulations on all taxis (pick up people of all races, etc.) Uber's' innovation leads to a fleet that's easier to regulate due to constant monitoring, and pre-booking data. However, when it comes to traffic congestion, their solution is pure demand-side economics:…

Those cars are registered and taxed to the state, county, and city where the driver lives. These aren't scofflaws driving in from out of town- the municipalities are getting at least their fare share from the drivers to maintain the roads.

"fare share"

I assume this was an accident, but it's actually better.

Re: Uber revolution will not last

#72

Post by WillPostForFood »

vintermann wrote: post #70
WillPostForFood wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The creation of medallions had nothing to do with the number of cars on the road at peak hours, or regulations about race. They were created during the depression in NYC to protect jobs for taxi drivers.

Taxi licensing has been around since before cars. The "medallion" system with tradable permits may be from depression era New York for all I know, but just about every locale in the world has come to the conclusion that there needs to be a limited set of permits. You can push the prices down a little with unlimited competition, but the few dollars you save aren't worth the indirect costs associated with taxi driver d…

http://www.nyc.gov/html/media/totweb/taxioftomorrow_history_...

just about every locale in the world has come to the conclusion that there needs to be a limited set of permits.

Any city that is allowing Uber or Lyft hasn't come to that conclusion, or is changing their mind. And so far, I don't see barely running cars, i see nicer cars, free water, price predictability.

Re: Uber revolution will not last

#73

Post by prostoalex »

jimminy wrote: post #56
prostoalex wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Box and Facebook both had IPOs that priced them below the last private round, and yet are limping along. Seems like positive cashflow is the key.

For Facebook, that is absolutely false. Their last known valuation prior to IPO based on a raise was $65B (March 2011), they IPO'd at $104B. And Box had a small downward valuation shift (-36%, -$0.9B), between last raised valuation and IPO. Uber's numbers even giving them liberal growth potential of 500% places them at around $33.75B (-50% current value, -$34B).

Well, you're right, FB initial IPO price on day 1 was above the pricing in the last private round. However, shortly after, and by "shortly" I mean within 3-4 months after the IPO when most of the insiders were still under lock-up, a single share of FB could've been bought for high teens, which was at a significant discount to the last round.

Re: Uber revolution will not last

#74

Post by a13n »

pfarnsworth wrote: post #45

One of my Uber drivers in the SF Bay Area told me that she went from making about $30/hr working in IT at a Fortune 500 company to making $40/hr driving for Uber. She has been driving for over a year, and quit her job about 9 months ago and had been driving full time, during the day. She knew how to work the incentives and the surge so that she maximized her earnings, and instead of working 8+ hrs a day, she opted to…

Just wait till they all get laid off at once in favor of self driving cars and then ask how happy they are. This job isn't here to stay.

Re: Uber revolution will not last

#75

Post by foepys »

pfarnsworth wrote: post #45

One of my Uber drivers in the SF Bay Area told me that she went from making about $30/hr working in IT at a Fortune 500 company to making $40/hr driving for Uber. She has been driving for over a year, and quit her job about 9 months ago and had been driving full time, during the day. She knew how to work the incentives and the surge so that she maximized her earnings, and instead of working 8+ hrs a day, she opted to…

Can't Uber dictate the price? Like if Uber doesn't feel like being expensive at rush hours to promote their service, drivers are paid less, aren't they? Also, what happens if more people learn about this and start driving for Uber? Wouldn't this lower the price for everyone?

I feel like your Uber driver is gambling with their income by quitting a stable paying job. Then again maybe the job wasn't that good.

Re: Uber revolution will not last

#76

Post by a13n »

rajeck wrote: post #11

Bizarre answer to this question. How is he shorting Uber? In his own mind? Q: Do you really think Uber is going to collapse or be bought up by another company? A: Look , I don’t have the internal numbers to – I’m not like . . . the hedge fund guy, Jim Chanos, who shorted Enron. He had lots of research and researched this stuff. . . . Let’s put it this way: I’m shorting Uber.

Yeah I think he means he's bearish rather than he's actually got money invested in Uber losing value

Re: Uber revolution will not last

#77

Post by tjbiddle »

a13n wrote: post #74
pfarnsworth wrote: post #45

One of my Uber drivers in the SF Bay Area told me that she went from making about $30/hr working in IT at a Fortune 500 company to making $40/hr driving for Uber. She has been driving for over a year, and quit her job about 9 months ago and had been driving full time, during the day. She knew how to work the incentives and the surge so that she maximized her earnings, and instead of working 8+ hrs a day, she opted to…

Just wait till they all get laid off at once in favor of self driving cars and then ask how happy they are. This job isn't here to stay.

It's the same with any industry that's automated - it's not going to all happen at once. Self-driving cars will start to be introduced, and slowly human drivers will begin to pull out. The rug isn't going to be swept out from under them and they'll have time to adapt. In the meantime - a driver is free to capitalize on it how they see fit.

Re: Uber revolution will not last

#79

Post by kartickv »

matt4077 wrote: post #66
prostoalex wrote: post #4

The "labor-exploiting" argument seems a bit disingenious to me. It's not like someone sees an ad for Uber and tells their boss to shove it, as they're quitting their full-time job, forfeiting all the benefits and 401(k) matching to start a brand new career as an Uber driver. The alternative for many drivers is simply unemployment. While there's zero possibility of labor exploitation, it reminds me of Flight of the Co…

The most common alternative, and the actual net change, is taxi driver. The only difference being a 50% reduction in wages. It's a giant app-based redistribution of wealth from the front seats to the back seats. And even if the alternative were unemployment – how does that mean that there shouldn't be a standard for such kinds of work? If people have to accept any working conditions because otherwise they'd starve to…

It would be a redistribution only if Uber drivers are earning less. Do you have data to prove that?

Maybe the lower prices and better quality of service are incenting more people to take Ubers than taxis, which may mean that drivers are earning more, in aggregate and/or individually.

I've taken a couple of dozen Uber trips that I wouldn't have taken by taxi. That's a redistribution from me to a poorer driver — a good thing.

Re: Uber revolution will not last

#80

Post by Monory »

WalterBright wrote: post #47
mc32 wrote: post #18

This is gold... "So, yeah, it’s great: you hit the app, and the car shows up now in 10 minutes instead of a 35-minute wait. But now the traffic congestion is so bad that you’re sitting in that car for 20 minutes longer to get anywhere... cities now are starting to discuss and deal with: traffic congestion. The traffic congestion is so much worse. Now, is it all because of Uber? Not it’s not...you suddenly have a new…

I won't believe cities are serious about reducing congestion until they fix the traffic lights to dynamically maximize flow. No, it isn't done already. Too often, I am in a platoon of 20 cars that has to slam to a stop so one car can cross the intersection on the cross street, and then there's yet another minute of red with nobody in the intersection. You'd think with cameras already installed on the lights that this…

There are also more static variants. I know that Yandex collaborated with Zelenograd [0] (city to the north of Moscow) to optimize timings of city traffic lights. Yandex has similar data to what Google does in other places, due to Yandex.Maps app, and they reported to increase average car speed at many intersections without dropping average at any other one.

On the example shown, average car speed at one particular intersection improved from 10 km/h in rush hours to 30 km/h, which is fairly significant.

For many cities which do not want to spend money to replace all traffic lights, such collaborations could be less-than-optimal, but still a great improvement.

[0]: https://yandex.ru/blog/company/38835 (Russian)

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