Rideshare operations are being suspended in California • Hacker News Board

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#361

Post by sdflhasjd » Thu, Aug 20, 2020, 6:20 PM UTC

cactus2093 wrote: post #324

JMTQp8lwXL wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Now add $300/month for a parking space in an apartment building, $10/day for parking in a garage downtown near your office, plus your car payment/depreciation of the car you're driving. Also not all public transit trips take twice as long as a car. In many urban places (which is where any of this scenario makes sense) at rush hour a trip on public transit is often about equivalent to driving if not shorter.

Also, don't forget that you've actually got to drive.

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#362

Post by fizzled » Thu, Aug 20, 2020, 6:20 PM UTC

bradly wrote: post #252

subdane wrote: post #31

Am I nuts, or is the heart of this issue really the fact that our healthcare system is built on tying benefits to full time jobs?

Also poor mass transit.

Ever heard of this?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_consp...

In an nutshell: USA auto manufacturers purchased and dismantled the streetcar business to force people to have to buy cars.

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#363

Post by runarberg » Thu, Aug 20, 2020, 6:21 PM UTC

malandrew wrote: post #169

bgorman wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The heart of the issue is big labor unions want more power, and independent contractor status is a threat to their power.

Unsure why this is getting downvoted. Anyone who actually follows the money in this debate knows that the unions are very heavily financially invested in this and donate tons of money to the politicians that support anything that increases their power and influence. If unions were truly invested in the best interest of workers instead of the best interest of the union, they would value the desires of the 4/5 of drive…

It is being downvoted because it is making an unsound claim without any backing.

Most likely there is not a single explanation, usually issues like these are more complicated then that. There is no consensus on whether unions are more powerful in the US then elsewhere, I’m sure you can easily find examples—or spin the narrative—to back either case. And finally there is no evidence for some ulterior motive of driver’s unions, nor even a convincing narrative. Quite the contrary there is both evidence and a somewhat convincing narrative for why the ride-share companies would want to keep their workers from unionizing and asking for full-time worker’s benefits.

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#364

Post by nomel » Thu, Aug 20, 2020, 6:21 PM UTC

malandrew wrote: post #304

subsubzero wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think its perplexing at all, the larger the increase of ride sharing services the lower the usage of public transportation[1]. Alot of the SF traffic is not people commuting in from other cites and taking Uber/Lyft to do so. These people by and large take caltrain/muni/corporate shuttles. People that drive in using their own cars would not use lyft/uber due to cost of these services. The problem with lower pu…

> the larger the increase of ride sharing services the lower the usage of public transportation so does private car ownership, private bike ownership and bikesharing. Private car ownership externalities overlap greatly with ridesharing. The solution here is congestion pricing for all vehicles except public transportation. You tax what you want less of and what causes the most wear on the systems that need to be maint…

> If we want to people to use public transportation, the solution to that is to make public transportation better than the alternatives

There's no better way to burn up al of your free time than by taking public transportation. I've never had the balls to pull out my laptop to try to get some work done...

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#365

Post by abakker » Thu, Aug 20, 2020, 6:22 PM UTC

snowron6 wrote: post #336

abakker wrote: post #136

Behold California! master of the Pyrrhic victory. Now we have more unemployment claims for CA to process. I'm sure they'll get right on that.

They weren't employees, so AFAIK they don't qualify for unemployment.

That was kind of my point. CA just took the work away and replaced it with nothing.

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#366

Post by robertlagrant » Thu, Aug 20, 2020, 6:22 PM UTC

Johnny555 wrote: post #237

scarmig wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In San Francisco, owning your own car and using it for regular driving is a luxury. Lyft/Uber is cheaper and more convenient, all costs considered.

The problem in SF is that Uber/Lyft has become some convenient that its been diverting people from transit and putting them into single occupant cars (the driver doens't count). Much of the traffic congestion is coming from Uber/Lyft

Well it might be single occupant, but it's often also on the way to another gig. Ignoring that is double-counting.

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#367

Post by malandrew » Thu, Aug 20, 2020, 6:22 PM UTC

joshuamorton wrote: post #351

malandrew wrote: post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SCOTUS came to a different conclusion in Gregory v Helvering. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregory_v._Helvering Government doesn't exist to collect taxes. They are there to provide governance. Taxes are a necessary evil that should be kept to a minimum to provide the service of governance. If someone can come up with a legal operational structure that gets around taxes then that the government didn't do its job. It'…

Wait, the SC ruled in favor of the government in that case, overruling the district court.

"The legal right of a taxpayer to decrease the amount of what otherwise would be his taxes, or altogether avoid them, by means which the law permits, cannot be doubted."

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#368

Post by ngngngng » Thu, Aug 20, 2020, 6:22 PM UTC

asah wrote: post #359

gpanders wrote: post #339

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I live in Austin and sometimes I think if I really need a major procedure it would be just simpler to drive to Mexico and get it done there. This even has a name: Medical Tourism.

Friend does this - she raves about the results.

I definitely recommend it for dental work. You can easily find a dentist in Mexico that went to school in the US and has the same credentials. You'll save so much money.

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#369

Post by amoitnga » Thu, Aug 20, 2020, 6:22 PM UTC

They spent ton of money to get me to install their app and consider it as an option. There is really no reason for me to use one over the other. Lyft, uber, some random taxi app.. Same drives are coming in the same cars.

Now they are motivating me to look for alternatives and actually give 'some random taxi app' a name.

this combined with "dont attribute to malice what can be attributed to stupidity" leads me to doubt their professionalism. I think this is a huge mistake. and if it's not a mistake but inability of the company to execute, then that's on executives.

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#370

Post by Balgair » Thu, Aug 20, 2020, 6:23 PM UTC

dannyw wrote: post #6

I used to drive for Uber, a few hours a week during my downtime when I was bored and had nothing better to do. The earnings weren’t great, but it was very helpful as an extra. I had a fuel efficient car and kept track of all my expenses for deductions and made above minimum wage. I’ve met plenty of lovely and fascinating people and had great, enjoyable conversations. I barely had any issues with riders. This extra in…

How much did the wear and tear on the car take out? I've been thinking of doing the same, but i keep hearing that when you factor in all the repairs you'll have to do, then it comes out at pretty much a wash.