SF wants startups to behave, so why did it reject the ‘nice guy’ of e-scooters? • Hacker News Board

Re: SF wants startups to behave, so why did it reject the ‘nice guy’ of e-scooters?

#171

Post by dennis_jeeves » Mon, Dec 16, 2019, 12:25 PM UTC

dang wrote: post #134

dennis_jeeves wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>This does not match with my experience. How old are you and how long have you been working?

That's unduly personal. Please don't do that here. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Yes it is and, why not? If anyone ought to give any credibility to what you say on a subject, one needs to know your expertise and experience on the subject. Does that sound that fair enough? And neither of those 2 pieces of information is normally compromise your privacy in any manner.

But the fact that you are so sensitive to this question of mine tells me a lot. Basically you are just a kid with little experience in the bid bad world. Why should anyone take you seriously on your experience with bureaucracies when others have an experience to the contrary?

(I was hoping that you are someone with experience on making a bureaucracy work consistently in one's favor, other's could use your expertise.)

Re: SF wants startups to behave, so why did it reject the ‘nice guy’ of e-scooters?

#172

Post by yebyen » Mon, Dec 16, 2019, 1:55 PM UTC

lenkite wrote: post #167

yebyen wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Echo this sentiment from another Midwesterner, ex-pat former New York State resident. I moved to Indiana and have not had the experience of incorporating a business entity, but the experience I had at the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles has been one to make me question whether bureaucracies are really necessarily horrible all of the time. Starting with the experience of moving to the state, to contrast (Upstate) Wes…

Isn't this simply a population problem ? One state is ~5x more populated than the other.

If it was simply a population problem, then why do long-time residents tell me that it wasn't always this way?

Specific reforms intentionally undertaken to solve known problems with the system, made the system work better.

As a life-long New York resident until about 4 years ago, I can also tell you that I probably wouldn't disagree if you told me you thought this was "not possible in New York."

(And intuitively I'd say, it's not because of population numbers, but I can't put my finger on exactly what it is. There is a different mindset, whatever causes it I can't say, but I noticed immediately when I moved here, I still tell folks this place really just isn't like New York.)

To elaborate a bit more, I felt like part of the New York mindset was basically psychologically planning oneself around not getting robbed. There were plenty of ways to get robbed that people just don't worry about around here (and some of this can surely be attributed to population issues.) I'm not just talking about general common-sense things like making sure that valuables are not left visible in your unlocked, parked car. I mean up to and everything including neighborhoods which don't have enough driveway space for everyone in large duplex houses to park their cars, where the streets are marked for opposite-side alternate day parking.

So I don't have a private place to park my car at my rented house, and I have to park on the street, but I can't park my car on the street and leave it for 48 hours time without getting a ticket. This makes sense in Upstate New York as a condition required for Winter road maintenance, so that plows can get in and clear the snow off of the road. Only it's not just a condition required at Winter time, and when you point this out, people just accept it and say something like "yeah, well, they gotta make their money somehow..."

Re: SF wants startups to behave, so why did it reject the ‘nice guy’ of e-scooters?

#173

Post by llampx » Mon, Dec 16, 2019, 2:39 PM UTC

tempsy wrote: post #116

joshe wrote: post #113

A lesson for entrepreneurs, it really is better to go around the bureaucracy. Uber and Lyft would not exist if they had "played nice". We can imagine a world where certain regulation would have improved their service for riders and drivers. But in the real world, if they had complied with every ask, cities would have crippled them with requirements when they first started. (Ok, you can do your Lyft thing, but let's s…

Eh. To me the whole VC e-scooter industry is a “stupid game, stupid prize” sector that won’t be around in a few years anyway. I hardly ever see anyone riding scooters in SF. The scooter companies keep raising their prices in lock step because they have to, but it’s now gone from $.15/min to $.32-.33/min, which is more than $20/hr with tax. It’s cheaper to just use an Uber. Have no idea who they are targeting with tho…

What do you mean? I've always wanted to perch precariously on a machine that's statistically much more likely to leave me bruised and bleeding on the side of the road than the other "fresh air" alternatives, bicycling and walking, and be a hazard to others while I am at it. :)

Re: SF wants startups to behave, so why did it reject the ‘nice guy’ of e-scooters?

#174

Post by P_I_Staker » Tue, Dec 17, 2019, 7:57 PM UTC

joshe wrote: post #113

A lesson for entrepreneurs, it really is better to go around the bureaucracy. Uber and Lyft would not exist if they had "played nice". We can imagine a world where certain regulation would have improved their service for riders and drivers. But in the real world, if they had complied with every ask, cities would have crippled them with requirements when they first started. (Ok, you can do your Lyft thing, but let's s…

This is a massive problem though. Businesses should be able to work with the bureaucracy. They shouldn't be incentivized to break the law. The benefits of circumventing the bureaucracy should not exceed the costs.