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Lyft and Uber Won’t Be Happy Until They’re Your One-Stop Transit Guide

nytimes.com

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Re: Lyft and Uber Won’t Be Happy Until They’re Your One-Stop Transit Guide

#51

Post by rayiner »

virmundi wrote: post #40
giantsloth wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This happened with trains in the 19th century and it was an absolute disaster. Please learn your history on privatized public goods. It results in massive fragmentation in standards, extreme levels of corruption and an overall worse experience for most people.

We know about the downsides now. For example, the New York system was private and actually paid for itself. New York subsidized the system. Now it's inefficient, poorly maintained, and expensive due to excessive salaries. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPhC3-9mSb4

The New York system was never really "private." The IRT and BMT were designed by the city, mostly built by the city, and were leased to the private operators. The IND was always municipally owned and operated. The city bought all of the systems in 1940, about 35 years after the first one was built.

That is not to say you can't have private systems that work (Tokyo, Hong Kong). New York just isn't a particularly good example.

Re: Lyft and Uber Won’t Be Happy Until They’re Your One-Stop Transit Guide

#52

Post by zjaffee »

394549 wrote: post #45
notarealaccount wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Am I the only one who wouldn't mind a responsible way for people to target me with things I don't know about which I might be interested in?

> Am I the only one who wouldn't mind a responsible way for people to target me with things I don't know about which I might be interested in? Targeting is about maximizing profits for the advertisers, it's not about maximizing value to you. If they can use targeting to take value from you in order to give it to themselves, they will. For instance, you could be bombarded with targeted ads for product A when you'd rea…

I want to add that I've gotten Facebook ads to attend free events before that have had very positive impacts on my life which found me through targeted advertising. While yes you are right most of the time, targeting still can provide positive outcomes.

Re: Lyft and Uber Won’t Be Happy Until They’re Your One-Stop Transit Guide

#54

Post by bad_user »

notarealaccount wrote: post #34
abhiminator wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>started sharing your data with 3rd parties as an additional way to monetize. Germany's national broadcaster Deutsche Welle produced an excellent documentary looking at the exact same scenario you described. [0] It looked into the possibility of making short-haul transportation (focusing primarily on Hyperloop) virtually free with just one caveat: a precondition that users share all their private data that advertiser…

Am I the only one who wouldn't mind a responsible way for people to target me with things I don't know about which I might be interested in?

People often miss the point on why tracking is dangerous, the two comments below included.

The point isn't if the companies behave responsibly or not. Google for example has behaved responsibly with user data, exemplary in fact and I'm sure they'll continue to do so. Yet companies like Google are and will continue to be a danger for everything you know and love.

It's not how you use the data that's problematic, although companies like Facebook should suffer for their blunders, but rather that the data exists in the first place.

Are you part of a minority? Do you have some weird sexual preference or an affair? Are you a woman or gay? Are your religious views mainstream? Have you ever traveled to an Arab country or to Israel? All of these, in the right context, can put your life at risk. It's all an issue of place and timing.

You can also imagine more benign usage, like insurance companies raising their rates or banks calculating your credit score based on where you travel or your movie preferences. Heck, that's already happening.

Yes, many companies can behave responsibly. They can do so today, but what happens tomorrow, or how about in 10 years from now? What happens when those companies are being bought by bigger, less responsible ones. It happened before and it will keep happening ;-)

Re: Lyft and Uber Won’t Be Happy Until They’re Your One-Stop Transit Guide

#55

Post by seanmcdirmid »

Spivak wrote: post #46
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would guess that no matter what they did they would be sued.

Nope, the ADA requirement for transportation is that a company must provide "equivalent service." https://www.transit.dot.gov/regulations-and-guidance/civil-r... The relevant requirements are that the following must be equivalent for everyone regardless of disability. (2) Response time (if the system is demand responsive); (f) Reservations capability (if the system is demand responsive); (g) Any constraints on capaci…

It still leaves much to interpretation. A taxi company is subject to the same rules, but only a small portion of their fleet is accessible. If you call a wheel chair accessible taxi, response depends on where those taxis are and if they are available.

At any rate, the ADA is a popular topic to sue over (see California drive by ADA lawsuits, for example). You can do everything right but still expect a few lawsuits at least. A lawsuit itself doesn’t prove anything until judgement has happened.

Re: Lyft and Uber Won’t Be Happy Until They’re Your One-Stop Transit Guide

#56

Post by j88439h84 »

394549 wrote: post #29
dominotw wrote: post #6

> Won't Be Happy Why so negative. I like how Europeans/Chinese/Everyone stands behind their companies and expect them to succeed globally. USA on other hand is bent on destroying/defaming their own.

> Why so negative. I like how Europeans/Chinese/Everyone stands behind their companies and expect them to succeed globally. USA on other hand is bent on destroying/defaming their own. Companies aren't national sports teams. You shouldn't "stand behind them" unless they deserve it.

Sports teams are companies.

Re: Lyft and Uber Won’t Be Happy Until They’re Your One-Stop Transit Guide

#57

Post by gnicholas »

Spivak wrote: post #46
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would guess that no matter what they did they would be sued.

Nope, the ADA requirement for transportation is that a company must provide "equivalent service." https://www.transit.dot.gov/regulations-and-guidance/civil-r... The relevant requirements are that the following must be equivalent for everyone regardless of disability. (2) Response time (if the system is demand responsive); (f) Reservations capability (if the system is demand responsive); (g) Any constraints on capaci…

The response time requirement could create an interesting tension between ADA proponents and environmental advocates. That is, if Uber/Lyft need to have vehicles that are 2 minutes away for passengers with motorized scooters/chairs whenever they have vehicles that are 2 minutes away for ambulatory passengers, this will require having many larger vehicles. These vehicles pollute more (and if they're EVs some day, they'll draw more electricity).

In my experience, only about 5% of the rides I've had end up being on vehicles large enough to stow a motorized chair, so equivalent response time could mean a major shift in the type of vehicles used.

Re: Lyft and Uber Won’t Be Happy Until They’re Your One-Stop Transit Guide

#58

Post by kbyatnal »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #47
treis wrote: post #15

I'm pretty sure I already have my one-stop transit guide in Google Maps.

Which coincidentally just removed the ability to book Uber trips in app.

Not sure what you're seeing, it still works for me.

Re: Lyft and Uber Won’t Be Happy Until They’re Your One-Stop Transit Guide

#59

Post by dominotw »

kevin_b_er wrote: post #13
dominotw wrote: post #6

> Won't Be Happy Why so negative. I like how Europeans/Chinese/Everyone stands behind their companies and expect them to succeed globally. USA on other hand is bent on destroying/defaming their own.

Because these companies show a disdain for the law. And in this case, "succeed" is "fully control the market and reduce your choices". Maybe European/Chinese/Everyone has plenty of companies that flout the law and others are happy with it, but I would not be.

> Because these companies show a disdain for the law.

A disdain supported by people, i don't think they would have survived this long if they did something that people at large didn't approve. People who supported and fought for uber to be legal in their cities are to blame too for showing disdain for the law.

Re: Lyft and Uber Won’t Be Happy Until They’re Your One-Stop Transit Guide

#60

Post by dominotw »

394549 wrote: post #29
dominotw wrote: post #6

> Won't Be Happy Why so negative. I like how Europeans/Chinese/Everyone stands behind their companies and expect them to succeed globally. USA on other hand is bent on destroying/defaming their own.

> Why so negative. I like how Europeans/Chinese/Everyone stands behind their companies and expect them to succeed globally. USA on other hand is bent on destroying/defaming their own. Companies aren't national sports teams. You shouldn't "stand behind them" unless they deserve it.

uber and lyft deserve it. I use lyft multiple times/week.
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