I have welcomed Uber to Europe with open hands but I really don't understand why they consider they should not apply to same laws as it has been put to Taxi drivers?
Because the laws are outmoded and terrible.
Uber revolution will not last
111–120 of 123 posts
Re: Uber revolution will not last
#112One 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.
I don't think you will find many uber drivers who quit a stable job in order to drive.
Re: Uber revolution will not last
#113Re: Uber revolution will not last
#114This 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…
This is the tip of the iceberg. What do you think will happen with self-driving cars on the road, or self driving trucks and other commercial vehicles? Parking lots will be long-gone as people's cars endlessly circle the blocks. The highways near storage depots will be filled with self driving trucks endlessly looping back on to and off of the highway in lieu of having the costs of a paved lot. There will be MORE cars, not less, as the total $$$/mile costs start a race to the bottom. The road's condition will deteriorate as the numbers of cars/minute/foot skyrockets, causing more construction and lane closures. It will be a glorious time for junk car dealers as the cars become as disposable as Abercrombie shirts. I can guarantee that someone with no friends or close family will set their car to circle the block and then die in the middle of their manicure. This car will not be 'valet'd' for and will just circle, drive itself to a recharge station, and then continue to circle until it catches on fire or is blockaded by thieves and left as a 'navigational' hazard for pedestrians. It's windows blown out, a headlight dangling, covered with graffiti, and filled with dusty pine needles and empty beer cans, it continues to circle the nail salon like some Flying Dutchman of the 21st century. That or it's tires blow out and it yelps at the roadside for it's dead owner to put it down. There will HAVE to be a lot of regulations as cars turn into public goods like PG&E or AT&T. Google, Uber and Lyft will conglomerate their businesses into GL&U, and the robber baron nature of capitalism takes over. No, these self driving cars will be scourge as car subscription services become like so many lite beer brands; all offering the same thing, so a race to the bottom for costs ensues. Quality falls down to the question of what a 'car' is legally allowed to be, and we are inundated with ever smaller, ever cheaper, and ever less safe "cars" to the legal minimum. It will be a nightmare for the climate and all of us. Keep your keys close and your state rep's number closer.
Re: Uber revolution will not last
#115Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
> And so far, I don't see barely running cars, i see nicer cars, free water, price predictability.
Because the new ride services are using VC money to subsidize operations cost to build marketshare. The experience you are reporting is essentially a massive marketing promotion, not a sustainable service.
Re: Uber revolution will not last
#116This 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…
This is the tip of the iceberg. What do you think will happen with self-driving cars on the road, or self driving trucks and other commercial vehicles? Parking lots will be long-gone as people's cars endlessly circle the blocks. The highways near storage depots will be filled with self driving trucks endlessly looping back on to and off of the highway in lieu of having the costs of a paved lot. There will be MORE car…
That's still about 50 years away.
Re: Uber revolution will not last
#117Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's not exactly true, cities can and do still have limits on the number of cars, case in point Seattle: h http://blogs.seattletimes.com/today/2014/03/seattle-city-cou...
That's true, and is what I meant by my worry that cities will crack down to maintain the status quo. Doing so is easily done as a consequence of Uber being centrally controlled, with full tracking on all its cars. A city can trivially know exactly to the minute how many cars are in operation via Uber at one time. However, regulation of that sort isn't what Uber wants, they want a situation where supply is unbounded a…
That's what the consumer would want too
Re: Uber revolution will not last
#118This 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…
> 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.
Its obviously not done most places yet, but adaptive traffic control [0] is a thing.
Re: Uber revolution will not last
#119This 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…
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:…
>and it's the cities that have to bear the increased costs of road construction & maintenance.
So raise taxes on cars to disincentive this behavior.