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Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

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Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#871
Imagine a distributed, open-source, bit-coin like version of Uber. There's no company, drivers get 100%, set their prices, and somehow a distributed protocol allows people to broadcast a bid for a ride, and nearby drivers could accept it.

It would

1) workaround the law, there's no employer, no company, and no one to sanction 2) be impossible to regulate or shutdown

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#873

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is why the California economy is collapsing. /s Everybody likes to complain about California. When I was born here it was about 15m people. Now its 40m. If you are unhappy, please leave to a lower cost, lower tax state. People have been predicting California's decline my entire life and the real problem is it can't handle the growth. Also, California has been sucking up employing the young and of mid-west and so…

> If you are unhappy, please leave to a lower cost, lower tax state. People are, by the millions.

Certainly! My whole life it has gotten more expensive and lots of people can't afford it. That's not different than New York City or London.

But unlike many other states, the population of California has not actually gone down (see below). Maybe it will, but why is that a problem when traffic and housing costs are such an issue?

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=populat...

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#874
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…

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Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#875

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a bit unfair. Yes, the public transit in cali sucks, but there needs to be a minimum standard with how we treat workers. Gig work was initially framed as a side thing where somebody going to the same area as you hops in your car and you share a ride. Like on demand carpooling. That is no longer the case, its people's livelihoods due to economic inequities and lack of normal jobs available to match the demand…

> Gig work should NOT be how people make a living I don't think I understand this. Why not? Seems like more options besides a traditional 9-5 is a good thing.

With how gig work is defined under prop 22 (pre AB5), its unfair. Look at the parent comment. Apparently these gig workers are insanely important, but they don't deserve health insurance (all of this is operating under the assumption that we won't get universal health care any time soon). People who are doing these gig jobs full time are destroying themselves (many work 60+ hours) doing a menial task with no benefits. That's not fair. My father for years worked a back breaking manual labor job and got excellent health benefits, reasonable hours, and flexible time off most of the year (not all of it though). All of this from a university that was always on the brink of collapse. He didn't make a great salary but there were other benefits. We cannot regress as a society where people are expected to work longer hours and do something more boring and dangerous (driving ain't safe, also sitting down all day is known to be bad) and expect people to not have benefits or a reasonable pay. Maybe you can't give them everything (reasonable pay + good benefits), but at least do one.

What should happen is there should be a UBI in place. Many people would stop being a ride sharing drivers and the people who want to be a driver for extra cash will be paid fairly because only the people who WANT to do it will do it, not the people who NEED to do it. Lyft and Uber and benefiting from how many people are in the second category. Its not Lyft's and Uber's job to fix societies inequities, but they shouldn't be allowed to exist solely on those people's backs.

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#876
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."

California literally paid billions in unemployment to rideshare drivers during Corona, funds that Uber and Lyft didn't contribute a cent to, but you feel it's sensible Republican policy to declare "next year, we'll do it all over again"?

Those people stopped working because California's government prevented them from doing so. They're entitled to be compensated.

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#877
post #821

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's been stayed as of 10 minutes ago... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24227481 The parent post (from Lyft) looks hilarious in hindsight. Edit: Added context

Some person with a legitimate concern about how this effected their disabled sister is not "hilarious".

I was referring to the Lyft post, not the parent comment...

I have edited the parent to make this easier to understand.

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#878

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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-…

When there is a forest fire going on? If your AQI is at 800 because a forest fire is raging nearby, driving less isn't going to change that number at all. You simply have bigger problems than auto exhaust at that point.

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#879
post #456

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where do you see those numbers? ACA offers catastrophic plans to those under 30 and they're not nearly that expensive. I just did a quick check for someone with no subsidy in San Fransisco using the age of 25 and a catastrophic plan from Oscar showed up at $223.46/month. This includes zero subsidy. Using a $30k income and rerunning the numbers, a bronze plan form Kaiser with subsidy comes out at $47.83/month. Look, I…

Sorry if this wasn't clear -- I'm saying that I wish that catastrophic plans were available to people over 30 as well. My numbers are based on my own experiences shopping for healthcare in an ACA exchange in NY.

OK, cool. Every state is different, so I'm always a bit curious as to how high premiums are set in different places. I just took a look at plans for those in NYC. For someone aged 35, it still looks like they're offering catastrophic plans. Fidelis has one at $178.75/month with no subsidy. For someone making $30k/year, the subsidy drops a bronze Fidelis plan to $16.59/month.

And, to be sure, coverage is still pretty bad. Just because someone has coverage doesn't mean they have the money to use coverage. Unless there's another subsidy, and there may be, that bronze Fidelis plan has a $8150 out of pocket max and it's unlikely someone making $30k/year is going to have that much money laying around. That said, at least the plan has a couple of free PCP visits.

Anyway, my intention here isn't to beat a dead horse. It's really important to me that people get health care coverage and costs are a barrier. I believe ACA plans to be far more affordable than people think them to be. I don't doubt that you saw a price in the realm you mentioned because they're out there, but often better pricing can be found and I end up doing these searches a lot.

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#880

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a bit unfair. Yes, the public transit in cali sucks, but there needs to be a minimum standard with how we treat workers. Gig work was initially framed as a side thing where somebody going to the same area as you hops in your car and you share a ride. Like on demand carpooling. That is no longer the case, its people's livelihoods due to economic inequities and lack of normal jobs available to match the demand…

1. If you think the public transit in California sucks, at least it exists. 2. There are many jobs available that don't allow the lifestyle freedoms of gig work (see the trucking industry, which as it turns out also has a long reputation for unfairly treating employees). In my opinion, the US continues to punish employers, employees, and contractors by tying employment to healthcare. It's much easier to say: "Look at…

1. U rite. I lived in a part of florida for many years with basically 0 transportation and didn't have a reliable car. It sucks 2. You are right, but at what cost. We can't have people who are desperate for a normal life take on jobs that nobody wants with no benefits. These jobs are clearly important (see parent comment and many other comments), but yet we don't want to pay them fairly or give them benefits.

If we get universal healthcare, then yeah this problem goes away. But california can't bank on that existing because even Biden during a pandemic isn't committing to single payer healthcare if he's elected. What is California supposed to do? We need standards, its probably not fiscally feasible for California to provide healthcare or UBI for all, therefore this is the best option it has to prevent workers from being abused.

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