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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

#591

Post by lflux »

silviogutierrez wrote: post #497
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.

A while ago — and I have no citations for this — I read it was easier to just pay for private rides for every accessible person than to make NYC and SF's public transportation accessible. Yes, in perpetuity. Considerably cheaper, too. Why then, go through the effort? Because they should be integrated into society like all others. I firmly believe public transportation has benefits beyond efficiency. Something about a…

In Sweden if you're disabled, the government will pay for taxis for you. There's limits on how often et c and they don't come as fast as a normal taxi booking and you can only bring one other person with you, but it's a great option for when public transit doesn't cut it.

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#592

Post by weyland108 »

AgloeDreams wrote: post #552
tathougies wrote: post #532

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet, Uber and Lyft have reduced drunk driving rates, provided mobility to thousands of people who otherwise may not have it, and generally made life easier for millions, if not billions, of people around the world. It's almost like one can enrich themselves while helping others.

Nothing is stopping a regulated Uber/Lyft from doing this without underpaying workers. Minimum wage laws exist for a reason, after standard IRS tax deductions Uber and Lyft pay WAY under minimum wage.

This is not about minimum wage. It’s about gig work. There is quite a few people who like to do this part time. I think the real crux of the issue is health benefits. If you are not working full time you don’t get health insurance and that drives most laws like these which seem misdirected.

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#593

Post by stefan_ »

crondung wrote: post #534
tehwebguy wrote: post #460

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah I am fairly sure it's a straight up lie! Just because someone is an employee doesn't mean the employer can't give them flexible hours

if you pick your own hours and your own pickups, you are not anyone's employee -you by definition are your own boss. to be an employee, you have to have your hours and your work defined by your employer. employers tell you what work to do and when to do it. flexible hours don't work when at 4pm on tuesday dispatch yells you to pick someone up. california is forcing all rideshare contractors to be employees. that's no…

And the employer is free to "assign" you the very "shift" you yourself picked. Every time.

The dissonance here is amazing. Uber and Lyft literally started operating in cities and countries where rideshare was explicitly outlawed, hoping they would come around. But now that they had a year to prepare for this, all they found it in themselves to do is pick up their toys and go home? Don't fall for it.

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#594

Post by cool_dude85 »

jessedhillon wrote: post #503
runarberg wrote: post #459

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a true and an important concern. Municipalities and counties in California really need to step up their game and provide a viable and cheap to use alternative. Everybody deserves to be able to go where they want within their community when they want to. And we should provide these without relying on private companies with questionable labor practices.

If only there could be an efficient method for connecting those who need to travel with those who can provide them with transportation.

Wait a sec - this efficient method doesn't involve abusing contractor status to not pay employees benefits, does it? If it does, I'd rather come up with another idea, thanks.

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#595

Post by mrweasel »

ivarv wrote: post #7

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

Well it’s not even ridesharing as such. I think Uber and Lyft would have avoided legal issues, had they been actual ridesharing companies. Driving around picking up people and driving them to destination where you don’t need to go is called being a taxi.

I really wish we could stop calling Uber ridesharing, when the majority of their business is in fact not. It cause problems for actual ridesharing, which do enjoy some legal protection in some countries.

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#596

Post by ztratar »

clearasmudd wrote: post #525

If you can't operate your business without independent contractors, then they aren't independent contractors. If Lyft and Uber want to back up their claims that they aren't livery services but simply a technology platform, then there should be no problem with eliminating the independent contractor drivers. The fact that they have to "shut down" only proves they were misrepresenting drivers for as long as they have ex…

They just said they could operate, if you wanted to destroy jobs and the entire innovation of dynamic schedules/hours.

Why do you think they couldn't operate?

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#597

Post by reincarnate0x14 »

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?

In most cases, they waited additional hours, per trip, for limited spots on paratransit or depended on friends and family.

The ones affluent enough to afford it used private drivers.

A few years ago I was in a freak accident and ended up in a wheel chair for about 3 months. It's really hard to put into words how much more effort and hassle it is to get around that way, even when most of the people around you are willing to help. And I was relatively lucky, still having full use of my arms and no other health issues. But a decent rule of thumb is to take however long you think some activity should require and multiply that by three, at minimum.

A disabled friend of mine has often spent quite literally all day dealing with disabled transit issues to get across town for a single appointment someplace. We help him out when we can, but like most people he hates feeling beholden to the charity of friends.

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#598

Post by [deleted] »

silviogutierrez wrote: post #497
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.

A while ago — and I have no citations for this — I read it was easier to just pay for private rides for every accessible person than to make NYC and SF's public transportation accessible. Yes, in perpetuity. Considerably cheaper, too. Why then, go through the effort? Because they should be integrated into society like all others. I firmly believe public transportation has benefits beyond efficiency. Something about a…

[deleted]

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#599

Post by lhorie »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #323
lhorie wrote: post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it really a matter of whether voters want to pay taxes, though? Consider that in California (US), if you make 100k, you pay an avg tax rate of ~29% (marginal 41%), vs in Ontario (Canada), you pay an avg tax rate of ~28% (marginal 43%). At a glance, these look like fairly comparable tax rates. But Ontario has free public healthcare based on residence status, while Cali doesn't. So a better question might be what is…

People all up and down healthcare earn far higher pay in the US than anywhere else. Discussions about other causes for US taxes to be so high can get very political very quick because the myriad tax deductions available to the asset owning class, as well as the unaccounted for defined benefit / retiree healthcare debt that US governments have at all levels, and then you can get into military spending and so on and so…

But earning more means paying more taxes. If the tax rates are comparable, then your argument entails that the US government gets even more tax revenue than other countries per capita, so it makes even less sense that it then presumably spends those tax dollars on things that are not related to healthcare, whereas countries like Canada and UK do consider healthcare one of their priorities in their budgets, while still maintaining things like military operations and space programs.
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