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Chicago taxi industry sliding towards collapse

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Re: Chicago taxi industry sliding towards collapse

#101

Post by noveltyaccount »

TY wrote: post #6

Anectodal evidence from my trip to Chicago last week. The same trip cost me twice as much when I took a taxi vs Lyft. So guess what I'm going to take the next time...

This happened to me in Seattle recently. I ordered an Uber and there was a long wait, so I went to the taxi queue and got one immediately. The fare in the end was DOUBLE what the quoted Uber fare was. Before that I had assumed fares were the same and the only reason to order an Uber was the convenience of using an App. I haven't hailed a taxi since.

Re: Chicago taxi industry sliding towards collapse

#102

Post by furioussloth »

linkregister wrote: post #40
bitJericho wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We'll see what you think of the cab industry when uber raises their prices by 3 times in order to become profitable, after the cabbies all gone.

I'm pretty sure Lyft, which is just about as good as Uber for taking ordinary trips, will moderate that. Lyft isn't going anywhere; their cash reserves are large. Also public transit, car rentals, etc.

and who do you think is paying for your cheap Lyft trips? Does not matter which ride sharing company you use right now. It is all VC money. Stop the whole Lyft has higher ethical moral ground BS. It is all about capitalism and supply demand.

Re: Chicago taxi industry sliding towards collapse

#103

Post by orcdork »

thephyber wrote: post #85
nserrino wrote: post #25

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.

> have some sympathy for the cab drivers who put their life savings in medallions Nope. Nope nope nope nope nope. They were speculators in a bubble market. It didn't matter what percentage of their life savings they used. If you feel sorry for someone who purchased a $300k taxi medallion which had an intrinsic value (the total value a medallion can be used for rental to taxi drivers over X years) which is far less, y…

Can't help but wonder, would you call startup investors "pieces of trash" in the event of a bubble popping? What if they asked the government for assistance, would they be actual pieces of trash then?

What if it was the web devs requesting assistance, due to thousands being laid off when said bubble popped - would they be actual people made of refuse then?

You don't sound the least bit saddened, quite the opposite.

Re: Chicago taxi industry sliding towards collapse

#104

Post by SilasX »

ThrustVectoring wrote: post #18
sharemywin wrote: post #17

As much as I think the taxi system needed replaced, I'm not sure how I feel about companies breaking laws to innovate. If we go down that path are the south american drug cartels just ahead of their time.

It really depends on the law. "You need to pay $300k for the right to get paid to drive people from point A to B" is a really terrible law.

The law was more like, "You must have a medallion to operate a cab. We only issued 10k medallions (or whatever). The medallions are transferable. We're not issuing new ones."

Combined with the supply of cab labor, that had the effect of, "if you want to operate a cab, you need to buy one from an owner at the current absurd market price".

Re: Chicago taxi industry sliding towards collapse

#105

Post by y_u_no_rust »

logfromblammo wrote: post #66
dev360 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never been furious about Taxis before I heard of the medallion system in Chicago and New York.. Sounds like something the mob would cook up together with crooked politicians as an alternative source of revenue.

> ...something the mob would cook up together with crooked politicians... It's Chicago. The crooked politicians are their own mob. Vice crime may be contracted out to the local gangs, but the rackets are kept strictly in-house. That way, when you want to buy a senate seat, there's no pesky middleman in the way to jack up prices. You can just go straight to the governor and hand him an envelope of cash under the table…

Illinois is just more effective at catching and prosecuting criminals like that.

Re: Chicago taxi industry sliding towards collapse

#106

Post by ghaff »

imron wrote: post #97
linkregister wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm pretty sure Lyft, which is just about as good as Uber for taking ordinary trips, will moderate that. Lyft isn't going anywhere; their cash reserves are large. Also public transit, car rentals, etc.

Public transit and car rentals are a poor substitute for a taxi service.

I must be weird. I travel over 100 days a year. I do a lot of walking, sometimes rent cars, take public transportation, etc. I take taxis etc. relatively rarely.

Re: Chicago taxi industry sliding towards collapse

#107

Post by furioussloth »

weberc2 wrote: post #52
bitJericho wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We'll see what you think of the cab industry when uber raises their prices by 3 times in order to become profitable, after the cabbies all gone.

I live in Chicago; I rarely use Uber. Mostly Lyft. Works just as well and less embroiled in ethical faux pas.

Same applies for Lyft. The rides are cheap because of VC money. It is a good thing to have competition to keep the prices in check.

Re: Chicago taxi industry sliding towards collapse

#108

Post by acchow »

tstactplsignore wrote: post #9
basseq wrote: post #3

I'm left wondering... so what? The "personal transportation" market has massively changed. Whether it's for the better or worse simply doesn't matter . Veteran Chicago cabbie John Aikins,67, who is facing foreclosure on two medallions for which he owes more than $330,0000, said he has little hope that the industry can be saved. "It feels like the city is just watching us collapse," Aikins said. "Right now, there are…

>Whether it's for the better or worse simply doesn't matter Yikes- I have only a little sympathy for the taxi industry, but it is very scary that you do not believe we should be concerned with whether market forces improve society or not. I think it is extremely important to the vast majority of people that any enormous change in transportation occurs for the benefit of society - the ideology that capitalism is an en…

> I think it is extremely important to the vast majority of people that any enormous change in transportation occurs for the benefit of society

There's a lot of people who would disagree with you. They are called libertarians. What matters first and foremost is freedom - individual freedoms should not be overridden for the sake of improving society.

Re: Chicago taxi industry sliding towards collapse

#109

Post by acchow »

tstactplsignore wrote: post #9
basseq wrote: post #3

I'm left wondering... so what? The "personal transportation" market has massively changed. Whether it's for the better or worse simply doesn't matter . Veteran Chicago cabbie John Aikins,67, who is facing foreclosure on two medallions for which he owes more than $330,0000, said he has little hope that the industry can be saved. "It feels like the city is just watching us collapse," Aikins said. "Right now, there are…

>Whether it's for the better or worse simply doesn't matter Yikes- I have only a little sympathy for the taxi industry, but it is very scary that you do not believe we should be concerned with whether market forces improve society or not. I think it is extremely important to the vast majority of people that any enormous change in transportation occurs for the benefit of society - the ideology that capitalism is an en…

> I think it is extremely important to the vast majority of people that any enormous change in transportation occurs for the benefit of society

There's a lot of people who would disagree with you. They are called libertarians. What matters first and foremost is freedom - individual freedoms should not be overridden for the sake of improving society.

Re: Chicago taxi industry sliding towards collapse

#110

Post by zedderled »

justaman wrote: post #44
TY wrote: post #6

Anectodal evidence from my trip to Chicago last week. The same trip cost me twice as much when I took a taxi vs Lyft. So guess what I'm going to take the next time...

Bar time in Madison. Lyft was about $60, a cab was $20. If you find yourself around people in their twenties all looking for rides at 3am, call a cab.

I like this strategy more than commitment to either.
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