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Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

lyft.com

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Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#441

Post by mumblemumble »

whoisjuan wrote: post #111
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?

I keep paying my health insurance premium at my home country just because the health insurance in the US is completely broken. I feel that if you get seriously sick in the US you're in an almost sure path to financial insolvency. My employer pays probably a shit ton of money for my health insurance and what I get is the most subpar, confusing, broken and sometimes blatantly extortive service ever. I live in Austin an…

You don't even necessarily have the option to shop for service in the USA.

Earlier this year my family had a medical emergency that resulted in us being billed a truly staggering amount of money for services that were technically elective, somewhat unproven, and not necessarily even recommended by the standard of care, and for which the actual sticker price varies wildly from hospital to hospital. But, when an emergency happens, you don't get to shop for hospitals, and you more-or-less unthinkingly do what the care team recommends, because there's simply no opportunity to stop and do any sort of cost/benefit analysis. As luck would have it, we ended up at a hospital that both tends toward the more liberal end of the spectrum in terms of what they do, and tends toward the more expensive end of the price range.

Fortunately our financial hit won't be too bad, because we have decent employer-provided insurance, and that cushions the blow quite a bit. If there's a silver lining, it's that we hit our out of pocket expense limit in the first part of the year, so we basically get everything for free for the rest of the year. But that whole situation is also a big part of the problem. We're nominally in the driver's seat, but, in practice, we really aren't in charge. Because we don't have access to a lot of the information necessary to make informed decisions, but also because we've been insulated from some of the major factors that might motivate an informed decision.

Social criticism in the USA tends to revolve around the "theater" metaphor. We have security theater, we have hygiene theater. I would characterize the underlying principle of the USA's health care system as agency theater.

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#443

Post by joshgachnang »

tmp538394722 wrote: post #41
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…

I’d think a good ole fashioned taxi would work. Is there a reason you couldn’t or wouldn’t use one?

The last cab I was in, the driver was asking my girlfriend how to get where we were going (Chinatown in LA from downtown...not exactly challenging), which she didn't know because she doesn't drive. He was rude to us both the entire time, and then when we got out, (even after she left him a reasonable tip), he called her a "fcking btch" and sped away. We tried complaining to the cab company a few times but nothing came of it. I've never had an issue even remotely close to that in Uber/Lyft, but have had more unpleasant than pleasant experiences in taxis all over the country.

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#444

Post by vertbhrtn »

wmichelin wrote: post #410
fotta wrote: post #344

Another group caught in the collateral damage is people in wheelchairs. Paratransit sucks in most places and where wheelchair accessible Uber/Lyft is available they provide a much better service. This is an especially vulnerable population because it's not like a wheelchair user can just find a friend with an accessible vehicle to take them to appointments, etc.

What did people in wheelchairs do before these rideshare apps were around?

I guess they hired a personal driver or spent hours a day in the public transit system.

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#445

Post by Auracle »

murph-almighty wrote: post #396
mullingitover wrote: post #330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Unfortunately many gig workers don't have the privilege. Gig work turning into full time work out of necessity is the band-aid on the bullet wound. The unemployment numbers were down, in large part due to gig work, but that work never should've been counted as real employment. So rather than address the underlying problem with something like the New Deal's Works Progress Administration, which was the real and neces…

I have a strong suspicion that the Works Progress Administration may come about if Biden wins the election. There's a lot of bridges going into disrepair, new transit projects we _should_ pursue- not to say that everyone employed by this program is necessarily qualified to build a bridge, but if the opportunity is there I wouldn't be shocked if it drew unemployed folks. But again, "if".

Maybe it’s due to where I live, but I’ve never understood throwing money in to roads and the like as stimulus. Construction crews are already busy all the time, and a company isn’t going to hire another 100 untrained workers to tackle an additional project and then fire them again.

I remember one local road being resurfaced during the 2008 stimulus that was perfectly fine before. It was just an easy road for them to shut down.

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#446

Post by akamaka »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #181
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?

You might want to consider doing some research before just mindlessly dismissing what other people say.

“Mobile sources of air pollution from cars, trucks, ships, emissions from construction equipment, and tire and brake wear on roadways are the biggest root cause of poor air quality in the city, and addressing these should result in positive air quality trends.”

https://sfgov.org/scorecards/environment/days-epa-air-qualit...

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#447

Post by Ensorceled »

wmichelin wrote: post #410
fotta wrote: post #344

Another group caught in the collateral damage is people in wheelchairs. Paratransit sucks in most places and where wheelchair accessible Uber/Lyft is available they provide a much better service. This is an especially vulnerable population because it's not like a wheelchair user can just find a friend with an accessible vehicle to take them to appointments, etc.

What did people in wheelchairs do before these rideshare apps were around?

Endured.

Worse, the financially better off using the paid services allowed the public services to become more responsive to the poorer members of this demographic. So now everybody will suffer.

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#448

Post by mlindner »

ivarv wrote: post #7

So this is basically an admission that the ridesharing business model is not viable without worker exploitation?

I dislike the moving of the goalposts about what is "worker exploitation". The workers aren't being exploited, they're working. Worker exploitation would be forcing them to work 80 hours a week without the ability to say no.

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#449

Post by fizzled »

pmcollins wrote: post #220
blhack wrote: post #131

Lot of my friends who work in non tech jobs use driving for Uber or Lyft as a way to either get a little extra cash, or bridge themselves across gaps in employment. This would devastate them. Absolutely heartless move on behalf of the California government. Don’t kick the little guys while they’re down to make some political point. It’s not the time.

The interesting thing is that this may not have been a heartless move, it seems to have been, from what I can tell, a well-meaning move that is going to hurt the very people politicians were trying to help. I feel like this is a theme of the last 100 years repeating itself over and over. The road to hell...

The road to hell...

...is paved with (IMHO) an irrational support for billionaires getting richer at the expense of the exploitation of the commoner.

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#450

Post by tpl »

wmichelin wrote: post #410
fotta wrote: post #344

Another group caught in the collateral damage is people in wheelchairs. Paratransit sucks in most places and where wheelchair accessible Uber/Lyft is available they provide a much better service. This is an especially vulnerable population because it's not like a wheelchair user can just find a friend with an accessible vehicle to take them to appointments, etc.

What did people in wheelchairs do before these rideshare apps were around?

Wait hours for a van to maybe show up.
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