Live data from Hacker News

Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

lyft.com

841–850 of 1001 posts

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#841

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

You're right, we'll make it completely voluntary for the transportation providers to participate.

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#842

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it does not pay a reasonable wage for anyone to live on, Why is the purpose of a wage to live on? Many uber drivers drive part time for fun or extra pocket change. The existence of thousands of uber drivers -- who in my experience, have all been quite reasonable, nice people -- seem to directly contradict your claim that it does not pay a 'reasonable wage'. Clearly, it does for those invested parties.

Many Uber drivers are great people! I know a bunch, I know how they have been screwed. The costs are never upfront. The Driving rarely lasts as people eventually get taken out by upkeep expenses, waiting for fares, and lost values in vehicles.

Also, Uber requires cars to be relatively new, which means drivers have to make substantial payments on the car itself.

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#843

Earlier quoted context omitted.

'Ridesharing' (Which is a hilarious term for the simple fact that the ride is not being shared, the driver is not intending to go to your favorite bar. ) isn't a 21st century situation or solution. It's not a profitable or a good force in an economy, it does not pay a reasonable wage for anyone to live on, it is not environmentally friendly unless done in large quantities of people,(which is called a bus). Ridesharin…

Why do you get to decide what a fair wage is, or what a positive force in the economy is? Taxis are an obsolete service, Lyft and Uber are overwhelmingly favored by customers and businesses.

Um, try the Curb app. Here in NYC, it competes just fine with Lyft and Uber, but uses licensed taxis. There's hailing, pickup, walk-away payment ("pair to pay"), etc etc

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#844

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This would be a positive force as it would reduce overcrowding of the local market and ensure work and pay for drivers. The Uber and Lyft driver pool is too large for reasonable pay for demand by nature. Something really important in an economy, is security of work and pay. For those who are on the schedule they can depend on their job to be able to live. For those who would not be on the schedule (due to demand) Tha…

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.

You forgot: increased traffic[1] in already congested cities and tried to cover up rape and sexual assaults[2][3].

[1] https://www.npr.org/2019/05/08/721139488/uber-and-lyft-cause...

[2] https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/05/business/lyft-sexual-assa...

[3] https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/uber-silences-women-sexu...

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#845
post #558
post #479

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please don't do this here.

Do what?

Troll. Or, if you'd like the longer version:

"Eschew flamebait. Don't introduce flamewar topics unless you have something genuinely new to say. Avoid unrelated controversies and generic tangents."

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#846
post #678

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lyft and Uber are favored due to convenience and price. Nothing stops a regulated Uber that pays fair wages from convenience...but the price paid will have to become higher to support people. This is like McDonald's paying workers $3 an hour, charging $2 for a value menu meal, and then people saying 'wow, McDonald's has made Burger King obsolete!'. Of course customers will prefer the cheaper service that screws worke…

Before Uber/Lyft existed, the taxi experience sucked. Uber/Lyft provided: - A way to pre-pay - A way to communicate current location and destination clearly to driver - All from an intuitive app on your phone I'm guessing you never went to NYC, tried in vain to find a taxi when you needed one, then got a taxi driver who barely spoke English, tried to communicate where to go, ended up paying way more than you intended…

All of this exists in the Curb app, which btw is competing just fine in NYC.

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#847

Earlier quoted context omitted.

'Ridesharing' (Which is a hilarious term for the simple fact that the ride is not being shared, the driver is not intending to go to your favorite bar. ) isn't a 21st century situation or solution. It's not a profitable or a good force in an economy, it does not pay a reasonable wage for anyone to live on, it is not environmentally friendly unless done in large quantities of people,(which is called a bus). Ridesharin…

I agree with you on one point, "ridesharing" is a silly word. I would call it something like an "Open Car Service". The main reason I can't get on board with the rest of this line of argument is that it ultimately just comes down to paternalistic protection of the poor disenfranchised gig workers that you clearly view as being less than capable, rational adult humans. The number of gig economy workers has been growin…

Rational adult humans sell themselves into modern day slavery in order to feed their families, see the Qatar World Cup Stadium for example. That doesn't mean we as a society should support or enable that. That's a ridiculously naive line of reasoning. What is rational for an individual in extreme circumstances does not and should not automatically make that valid legally.

Similarly, if a market is saturated with under-paid over-worked labor forces, then you can't end up with humane, fair alternatives. You'll get those when you eliminate the exploitative markets first. Uber & Lyft didn't make new markets. They didn't create new job opportunities. They replaced existing ones - namely, taxis, and they achieved disruption via unsustainable economics & exploitative practices. There's no reason to believe that when that hole is plugged that all "order a ride" services will vanish. We'll just have taxis again. Remove some of the barriers that gave taxi services pseudo-monopolies, and there you go.

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#848

Earlier quoted context omitted.

'Ridesharing' (Which is a hilarious term for the simple fact that the ride is not being shared, the driver is not intending to go to your favorite bar. ) isn't a 21st century situation or solution. It's not a profitable or a good force in an economy, it does not pay a reasonable wage for anyone to live on, it is not environmentally friendly unless done in large quantities of people,(which is called a bus). Ridesharin…

Why do you get to decide what a fair wage is, or what a positive force in the economy is? Taxis are an obsolete service, Lyft and Uber are overwhelmingly favored by customers and businesses.

>Taxis are an obsolete service, Lyft and Uber are overwhelmingly favored by customers and businesses.

As a customer, I might favor the Uber/Lyft experience over a taxi, but I sure as hell don't favor the way that Uber/Lyft treat and pay their drivers. There's a difference.

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#849

Kudos on that moral victory California. You robbed my mobility-impaired younger sister of her legs without providing any alternative. Fuck your sorry excuse of public transit filled with gawkers and requiring her to wonder whether there will be connected sidewalks for her to solve her last-two-mile trip on her chair. "Oh, but Uber and Lyft were brought down by their own greed" Well, where is the non-greedy alternativ…

Maybe relying on the exploitation of others for vital services is a bad situation to be in in the first place?

I'm sure uber and lyft drivers are also extremely upset by this, since they are only being exploited because they are vulnerable.

The fact that these drivers cannot survive without being exploited and that your sister can't be mobile with out their exploitation is not a problem with CA law makers.

Its beyond insane that so many people on HN will jump through such tremendous intellectual hoops to justify the world that they exist and temporarily thrive in. These companies might make your live easier today, but the distance from where you are to feeling that exploitation is not as far as you think.

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#850
post #800

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with you on one point, "ridesharing" is a silly word. I would call it something like an "Open Car Service". The main reason I can't get on board with the rest of this line of argument is that it ultimately just comes down to paternalistic protection of the poor disenfranchised gig workers that you clearly view as being less than capable, rational adult humans. The number of gig economy workers has been growin…

> I agree with you on one point, "ridesharing" is a silly word. I would call it something like an "Open Car Service". Let's not beat around the bush, the appropriate term already exists, it's called a "taxi service". The fact that the taxi operators provide their own vehicles is not novel.

Taxis and real-time ride sharing operate quite differently, for one, I cannot just turn up and hand signal to stop a moving vehicle from the latter.
Post reply on HN