Rideshare operations are being suspended in California • Hacker News Board

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#181

Post by seanmcdirmid » Thu, Aug 20, 2020, 5:00 PM UTC

subsubzero wrote: post #163

What people are not talking about is how much congestion these services bring to city streets. For San Francisco traffic congestion increased by 60% between 2010-2016[1] and Lyft/Uber contributed to half of that. That is very bad as more traffic leads to more traffic accidents, more fatalities and pedestrians getting hit. In addition lets not forget the heavy toll on the environment with air pollution and its myriad…

I don't think modern car exhaust emissions are a significant factor when you have a bunch of forest fire smoke floating around. The traffic concerns are much more credible, but can the government step up on public transportation to fill the inevitable gaps?

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#182

Post by adrr » Thu, Aug 20, 2020, 5:00 PM UTC

x3n0ph3n3 wrote: post #50

woeirua wrote: post #29

I suspect that California is going to backpedal on this pretty quickly. Uber and Lyft are popular. Going back to taxis is going to be very unpopular. IMO, if the California Republican party was smart they would make this a wedge issue in the next election. "Elect us, and we'll make it possible to use Uber again."

The State of California doesn't care about workers, they care about the tens to hundreds of millions of dollars they want from payroll and unemployment taxes, in addition to revenue from automatic withholdings for people whom would otherwise be below the reporting limit.

They care about the burden these employees put on the system when they get sick or injured which costs tax money. Most people don't use Uber or Lyft, why should they have to subsidize these companies.

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#183

Post by zelly » Thu, Aug 20, 2020, 5:00 PM UTC

JMTQp8lwXL wrote: post #45

I wonder what new app will spring up in place of Uber and Lyft. This is a huge opportunity for some aspiring entrepreneur. Of course, they're probably bluffing and will be back soon.

Would an app that defies this order even be allowed on the App Store?

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#184

Post by ur-whale » Thu, Aug 20, 2020, 5:00 PM UTC

superfamicom wrote: post #90

I've met a few drivers in Seattle who offered their own rates via text pickup. I used this to get to the airport once. I wonder how many drivers in California were doing the same thing knowing this was on the way- get your local clients and build trust and start their own mini ride service- assuming you know how to use Venmo and the like.

This is exactly what is needed.

At the end of the day, the added value of Uber and Lyft is not that amazing, and should be easy to replicate in a p2p system.

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#185

Post by manigandham » Thu, Aug 20, 2020, 5:01 PM UTC

JMTQp8lwXL wrote: post #30

nemothekid wrote: post #9

When I moved to CA, I put off getting a CA license for years. I always told myself I'd go to the DMV and do the paperwork, then I waited long enough to find out I would have to retake the test, until finally I just resigned to using Uber and Lyft all the time. I never thought I would need it and so I never made it a priority. So this news really sucks, as you haven't been able to schedule DMV appointments at all and…

The average person's response to being told they'd have to take another driver's test isn't to replace driving with Uber/Lyft. You're in a unique position to be able to afford to replace all driving with ridesharing, since gas+insurance+maintenance costs are much lower than say, a month of commuting to an office via rideshare.

I think you're vastly underestimating how many people can do so, especially in urban centers with walking, biking, and public transit. Even more now with the changes brought by covid.

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#186

Post by nemothekid » Thu, Aug 20, 2020, 5:01 PM UTC

JMTQp8lwXL wrote: post #143

gibolt wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are tons of people who could have replaced their car with rideshare and maybe some public transit, and still come out cheaper. Insurance, parking, fuel, depreciation, maintenance, and random events add up. If you don't need it for commuting, most of the recurring rideshare costs vanish. If you need to make an extra long occasional trip, car rental for a day or two outweighs ownership. Edit: To be clear, anythin…

An unlimited use trolley/bus pass is $150/month in my city. Suppose I spend $200/month on gas/insurance/maintenance. The marginal cost of having commutes that take half as much time, to me, is worth it. Otherwise, you could be spending 30 more hours a month commuting to save $50.

That equation doesn't work out in every city obviously. In SF a trip to the Mountain View (GOOG HQ) by car is an hour and change regardless if you drive or take CalTrain. If you live and work downtown, walking is a perfectly valid option as well.

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#187

Post by ghaff » Thu, Aug 20, 2020, 5:01 PM UTC

nemothekid wrote: post #153

ghaff wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I totally understand that it doesn't always make economic sense to own a car. But I confess that it's really hard for me to understand the mentality of not getting a drivers license if able to do so. So many of the activities I do when in the Bay Area (and elsewhere) are pretty much impossible without either renting a car or having someone else drive me which isn't always possible. I've even had jobs that I couldn't…

1. Things just tended to "work out". I'm not someone who sweats the small stuff when planning things. At the very least if I'm going somewhere "remote" (Tahoe, Santa Cruz), I wouldn't be by myself and I could ride with someone else. 2. You'd be surprised how far you can take an Uber. I had a friend take an Uber from SF to Sacremento.

I wouldn't consider, say, the Santa Cruz mountains remote. I go there all the time when I'm in the Bay Area. But, yes, I'm sure like many things one adjusts their expectations and desires based on their constraints. I'd find not having a car in the Bay Area extremely limiting.

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#188

Post by rattray » Thu, Aug 20, 2020, 5:02 PM UTC

aceman22 wrote: post #138

claudeganon wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Medicare for All is widely popular in the US. The insurance industry, hospitals, and employers who want leverage over workers buy off politicians to prevent it from happening.

Just my humble opinion, but it seems Medicare for all would only exacerbate the actual problem of medical costs being too high due to government subsidization. I'll take my down votes and go now...

HN's guidelines discourage commenting on downvotes; you may wish to remove the last sentence.

I will say that I recently had to deal with the medical system for a family member, and he was on decent private insurance. We actually would have received better care at a lower cost if he was on Medicare instead. N=1, of course.

I'm pretty sure that Medicare has been shown to be a more effective negotiator than the private insurers and generally operates more efficiently, but I may be misremembering.

Disclaimer that I don't support medicare for all myself, I'd much prefer a model closer to the NHS, with caveats (federal funding, county administration, state oversight).

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#189

Post by kevin_thibedeau » Thu, Aug 20, 2020, 5:02 PM UTC

HumblyTossed wrote: post #172

lotsofpulp wrote: post #72

Yes, voters in the US want to give people education, healthcare, and unemployment (or basic income-ish) benefits. Voters in the US also don’t want to pay for any of this. Hence, the politicians that get elected are ones that give people education via student loans, and healthcare/unemployment benefits tied to employer/employment status. Those politicians get to claim they helped people, and they get to claim they kep…

Hasn't helped that people still view getting a job "with benefits" as some kind of badge of honor. This leads to a not small amount of people feeling that if you don't have a job "with benefits" you don't deserve any.

It's not much of an honor when insurance companies will still screw over those with the benefits. Employer subsidized care distorts the market and hurts everybody.

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#190

Post by Daishiman » Thu, Aug 20, 2020, 5:02 PM UTC

x3n0ph3n3 wrote: post #50

woeirua wrote: post #29

I suspect that California is going to backpedal on this pretty quickly. Uber and Lyft are popular. Going back to taxis is going to be very unpopular. IMO, if the California Republican party was smart they would make this a wedge issue in the next election. "Elect us, and we'll make it possible to use Uber again."

The State of California doesn't care about workers, they care about the tens to hundreds of millions of dollars they want from payroll and unemployment taxes, in addition to revenue from automatic withholdings for people whom would otherwise be below the reporting limit.

That sounds very good.