71–80 of 270 posts
Don't fool yourself in thinking that the stranger you're sitting in Uber with, could potentially be your co-worker. He's your former cab driver.
I probably won't ever take a taxi again, but have some sympathy for the cab drivers who put their life savings in medallions. The city effectively promised them the exclusive right to give taxi rides, but didn't do anything about a non-medallion entity doing that same thing. They put hundreds of thousands of dollars into something meaningless.
those medallions should never have been allowed to grow to such excessive values in such a highly regulated industry. if anything it exemplifies exactly why regulation can stifle innovation and competition. As with other cities deep pockets get control over the bulk of them and then lease usage which makes those leasing worse off than having the ability to compete on an even playing field in the first place.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
In a taxi your ride was insured if the driver got in an accident. Your cabbie is certified, and less likely to be crazy. Also half your lyft/uber ride is paid by a VC.
I think the VC money and lack of regulations is a huge issue. What people don't realize is that once the taxi companies are dead, the ride sharing apps will be able to raise prices and lower quality. Not to mention the issues already seen with Uber and Lyft, whether at a corporate level or on a driver/passenger level.
The rideshare companies are still in competition with each other. The market will stabilize at a price necessarily lower than taxi price, which was artificially inflated by local governments. This doesn't seem like a valid concern.
> whether at a corporate level
Sounds like you're imply that Uber's corporate problems are fundamental to rideshare. Care to elaborate on that?
> or on a driver/passenger level.
Why should I be more afraid of scary driver/passenger stuff with rideshare than with taxis? Do you have some information to suggest that rideshare is actually more dangerous? This seems like fear mongering...
I probably won't ever take a taxi again, but have some sympathy for the cab drivers who put their life savings in medallions. The city effectively promised them the exclusive right to give taxi rides, but didn't do anything about a non-medallion entity doing that same thing. They put hundreds of thousands of dollars into something meaningless.
Do you also feel bad for the slumlord who spends a million dollars on a property that eventually gets condemned because he didn't take care of it? Had taxi company owners not used those medallions as an excuse to provide absolutely horrendous customer service, they wouldn't have ever had to worry about uber/lyft/whatever in the first place. I've never taken uber or lyft because it's cheaper, I've taken it because I g…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
As a monopoly, you usually have no reason to change. You make piles of money with no extra work, why innovate? Uber/Lyft is eating their lunch. Now they need to innovate or die. Very likely they die at this point.
> As a monopoly, you usually have no reason to change. But they don't have a monopoly and haven't for several years. I mean changing from phone dispatch to apps has to be done in 6-12 months not 6-12 years otherwise yes they will go under. So what you are saying is that they are too slow to change? What's the reason for that? Is it that the taxi operators are small businesses and they are a too diverse group to be wi…
I think you underestimate the amount of work involved in building a rideshare platform. How are taxi companies going to consolidate and find app developers to build a platform to compete with Lyft and Uber in a tiny fraction of the time, not to mention getting the word out about their platform, when Uber and Lyft are already so good (and cheap). This is to say nothing about disparities in investment and regulation.
I used to live in Chicago. The city taxi service was horrible--the drivers were grumpy and sketchy. They would always try to take the expensive way around. I hated the taxi service so much that to get around the airport restrictions I would ride the train out to the first stop so I could order an Uber ride.
I lived in Chicago for most of my life until somewhat recently. Things I observed during that time: - A driver stating, seemingly out of nowhere to my friend and I, "we should just take all of the gays out back and shoot them" - Multiple times scheduling a morning pickup for a flight, not having it arrive, and being told by the uncaring operator the alternative was to wait so long I'd miss my flight, or gamble with t…
I have used airport shuttle companies, and limousine/livery companies (this was before Lyft and Uber). Both were overwhelmingly cheaper than a cab, and they actually show up on time. When I lived in Chicago, I'd always use the blue line to ORD or orange line to MDW.
Whenever I actually wanted a cab in Chicago, I could never get one. I suspect that was mainly down to my looks. Not so much sketchy as unattractive, and possibly willing to counter the broken card swipe machine gambit by paying with nickels and then forgetting to leave a tip.
And of course there's just something about a vehicle that smells like it was recently dusted with finely-ground cumin that makes me want to walk.
So, no sympathy here. They can choke on those medallions.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> As a monopoly, you usually have no reason to change. But they don't have a monopoly and haven't for several years. I mean changing from phone dispatch to apps has to be done in 6-12 months not 6-12 years otherwise yes they will go under. So what you are saying is that they are too slow to change? What's the reason for that? Is it that the taxi operators are small businesses and they are a too diverse group to be wi…
> I mean changing from phone dispatch to apps has to be done in 6-12 months not 6-12 years otherwise yes they will go under. I think you underestimate the amount of work involved in building a rideshare platform. How are taxi companies going to consolidate and find app developers to build a platform to compete with Lyft and Uber in a tiny fraction of the time, not to mention getting the word out about their platform,…
The apps obviously look almost the same and it wouldn't surprise me if they came from the same developer in many cases. Here are four of the largest for comparison:
https://itunes.apple.com/se/app/sverigetaxi/id504540989?mt=8
https://itunes.apple.com/se/app/taxi-sthlm/id375988670?l=en&...
https://itunes.apple.com/se/app/taxi-020/id503115316?l=en&mt...
https://itunes.apple.com/se/app/taxi-kurir/id503098740?l=en&...
You can see the last 3 just use a skinned standard taxi dispatch app! I appreciate the effort of creating the platform from scratch, but a taxi company shouldn't have to do that. They just license the app.
These taxi companies each had dispatches with many dozens of operators, so they save a good amount of money on using an app and cutting back on people) No difference from other commerce.
The main difference between Stockholm and Chicago is of course that the "taxi companies" are the large city or nationwide companies battling for market share. A taxi driver or group of drivers can also be a "company" but they just operate under the umbrella of the larger brand - who handles all dispatch, branding etc just like a city wide monopoly usually does.
So while it's understandable that a company unlike a monopoly has more incentive to evolve, I don't see any reason why a city taxi monopoly such as Chicago couldn't just make their product more similar to Ubers (regulations aside). I mean - they must also be able to save a ton by getting rid of phone dispatch staff. And anyone with a medallion obviously has an interest in their services not becoming obsolete.
We are large we contain multitudes.
I probably won't ever take a taxi again, but have some sympathy for the cab drivers who put their life savings in medallions. The city effectively promised them the exclusive right to give taxi rides, but didn't do anything about a non-medallion entity doing that same thing. They put hundreds of thousands of dollars into something meaningless.
Do you also feel bad for the slumlord who spends a million dollars on a property that eventually gets condemned because he didn't take care of it? Had taxi company owners not used those medallions as an excuse to provide absolutely horrendous customer service, they wouldn't have ever had to worry about uber/lyft/whatever in the first place. I've never taken uber or lyft because it's cheaper, I've taken it because I g…