Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O. • Hacker News Board

Re: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.

#711

Post by germanier » Wed, Jun 21, 2017, 3:52 PM UTC

naskwo wrote: post #462

hueving wrote: post #430

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Paying the driver directly still sucks. In the US you constantly deal with the "I don't take cards" bullshit and lack of simple feedback for when they take you on a scenic tour. I would be fine with taxis if I didn't have to interact with the driver at all when it came to payment and could provide feedback right in the app.

In Germany and Budapest, and certainly Sweden, drivers are required by their dispatchers to accept credit cards. "Cash only" drivers will be a thing of the past soon. Look at what happened with the London black cabs: they all accept credit cards these days.

Not everywhere in Germany and even in places where they are required to, for many drivers the card reader is somehow always "broken" when you try to use it. I now use taxi-calling apps with built-in payment as those are really convenient.

Re: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.

#712

Post by blackrose » Wed, Jun 21, 2017, 3:52 PM UTC

xor1 wrote: post #684

blackrose wrote: post #614

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> or is this a one way deal? FFS, dude. Men hold the vast majority of power in our society. No cards are stacked against them. No old fashioned norms are still levied on them everytime a woman speaks to them. They aren't constantly reminded by our culture to be gentlemen or look handsome or bring home the bacon or do anything they don't want to. To say "think of the men!" here is either willfully ignorant or just bei…

>Men hold the vast majority of power in our society. Power isn't based on gender, it's based on wealth. Do you think abuse of power will suddenly end once the majority of wealthy individuals are women instead of men?

Power is enacted through multifarious means, with wealth being one of them. Wealth isn't a requisite for power. Generally in the US, positions of power are held by men, because of (or in spite of) an interconnected system of laws, norms, and a history of (generally) men telling people what to do. And those gender-based ideas enacted in laws and norms and our culture have percolated through our society to affect everyone in ways we often can't detect.

The point is that yes, for these reasons and many others, we should "believe women when they report harassment in the workplace."

Re: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.

#713

Post by Bartweiss » Wed, Jun 21, 2017, 3:53 PM UTC

beisner wrote: post #571

toomanybeersies wrote: post #549

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That would drive me crazy for every city Most people only go to another city once or twice a year, so it's not a significant issue for them.

But is that true for most people who use Uber, or even taxis? I wouldn't be surprised if a large portion of Uber/taxi users were in fact people traveling to a different city.

This is exactly what got me to use Uber initially. I can show up in San Francisco, or London, or my tiny hometown where cabs take 45 minutes to arrive, and Uber will work the same way for about the same price. Having a robust, universal way of getting places really does matter to a lot of people.

Re: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.

#714

Post by rednerrus » Wed, Jun 21, 2017, 3:54 PM UTC

naskwo wrote: post #352

A few weeks ago, I posted on HN about my experience in Hamburg (no Uber in Germany. The local taxi authority has its own app which works equally well, if not better). Last weekend, I was in Budapest. There is no Uber in Hungary (anymore), but the main taxi company (Fötaxi) has its own app which works brilliantly. I honestly see no "moat" around Uber in markets where (large) taxi dispatchers have the insight to build…

If you let the taxi authorities control this you are going to go back to artificial scarcity. That is going to create artificial price hikes.

Re: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.

#715

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Jun 21, 2017, 3:55 PM UTC

davidf18 wrote: post #701

Much of the resistance to Uber (such as laws that were broken, protests) were from entrenched interests. At least where I live in NYC, Uber was dramatically improving customer value while providing innovations that reduced greenhouse gas. It provided completion for the entrenched Yellow Cab monopoly with its very high rates. Sometimes Uber would have higher rates but then you could take a Yellow Cab instead. The Yell…

[deleted]

Re: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.

#716

Post by discodave » Wed, Jun 21, 2017, 3:56 PM UTC

davidf18 wrote: post #701

Much of the resistance to Uber (such as laws that were broken, protests) were from entrenched interests. At least where I live in NYC, Uber was dramatically improving customer value while providing innovations that reduced greenhouse gas. It provided completion for the entrenched Yellow Cab monopoly with its very high rates. Sometimes Uber would have higher rates but then you could take a Yellow Cab instead. The Yell…

> When Uber and Lyft came, the rates were lower, one could use Uber Pool to have even lower rates

> not forcing drivers to pay excessing leasing fees for vehicles.

Err, the cheaper rates were due to uber subsidising rides with VC money, which was unsustainable. Uber also did start a leasing program for drivers.

Re: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.

#717

Post by gregorymichael » Wed, Jun 21, 2017, 3:57 PM UTC

davidf18 wrote: post #701

Much of the resistance to Uber (such as laws that were broken, protests) were from entrenched interests. At least where I live in NYC, Uber was dramatically improving customer value while providing innovations that reduced greenhouse gas. It provided completion for the entrenched Yellow Cab monopoly with its very high rates. Sometimes Uber would have higher rates but then you could take a Yellow Cab instead. The Yell…

The previous market making mechanism for this industry was for a buyer to stand on a street corner, hold their hand up, and hope that a vendor who sold that service drove by.

That's insane.

Re: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.

#718

Post by stokedmartin » Wed, Jun 21, 2017, 3:57 PM UTC

davidf18 wrote: post #701

Much of the resistance to Uber (such as laws that were broken, protests) were from entrenched interests. At least where I live in NYC, Uber was dramatically improving customer value while providing innovations that reduced greenhouse gas. It provided completion for the entrenched Yellow Cab monopoly with its very high rates. Sometimes Uber would have higher rates but then you could take a Yellow Cab instead. The Yell…

> At least where I live in NYC, Uber was dramatically improving customer value while providing innovations that reduced greenhouse gas.

There is a lot of potential for such reductions to happen in urban areas. Shameless plug - the potential for pooling using Uber data is shown in Figure 8 (https://arxiv.org/abs/1701.06635)

Re: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.

#719

Post by dmoy » Wed, Jun 21, 2017, 3:57 PM UTC

jacquesm wrote: post #674

toomanybeersies wrote: post #549

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That would drive me crazy for every city Most people only go to another city once or twice a year, so it's not a significant issue for them.

> Most people only go to another city once or twice a year Is that so? I'm not aware of anybody that never goes to another city multiple times per year and that includes infants and the elderly.

You must have only well-to-do acquaintances then... Or I'm misreading all the negatives in your statement.

Re: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.

#720

Post by Bartweiss » Wed, Jun 21, 2017, 3:57 PM UTC

perdid0 wrote: post #696

johnbellone wrote: post #472

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First, I hate having to have multiple apps to do the same thing. That would drive me crazy for every city. I would pay a premium not to do that. Second, none of these apps I have seen thus far even attempts to make it easier for the user to add payment methods. Each time I need to put in my credit card information? Twice if I am on business? Nobody has taken advantage of Apple or Android pay integration. I don't cons…

I agree with the multiple apps and not knowing which ones to use where. However, as an example, when Uber and Lyft left Austin, one of the companies created locally (RideAustin) to replace the gap does allow payments via Apple Pay. Very convenient, and they also give you the option of rounding up to donate to a charity of your choice. I guess it's just up to all the other options to realize what people want.

Except... The negative reviews on RideAustin are pretty much all about people having horrible payment-method issues.

Apple Pay is great if you're immersed enough in that ecosystem, but otherwise? Uber and Lyft store CC info, allow for easy deletion, and take PayPal. I'm glad Ride Austin exists, but they still seem to be several laps behind on letting you give them money.