The Drivers Cooperative • Hacker News Board

Re: The Drivers Cooperative

#331

Post by treis » Sun, Mar 28, 2021, 2:01 PM UTC

sjsamson wrote: post #330

treis wrote: post #323

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Few places need the theoretical density that buses provide and even less need the level that rail provides. Most of the time they're running at 10-20% capacity. Or at least that's what happens in my city. I'm not talking about taxis. Something shuttle bus or van sized. We don't need to put 200 cars worth of people in trains to solve traffic issues. Putting 200 cars of people into 30 shuttle buses is good enough.

> Few places need the theoretical density that buses provide and even less need the level that rail provides. Almost every major urban city and metropolitan area needs buses and rail service to function effectively, the population density requires it, and it is the proven, mature, and scalable solution to providing high capacity transport. Massive roads used by primarily single occupant vehicles, is the non-scalable,…

You're arguing theory and not what's happening in the real world. As an example, your cite says that rail has a theoretic density of 60-90 thousand an hour. But in my city we're spending several billion dollars to build a new rail line that is expected to carry 20,000 people a day.

Theory and practice are different. And in most places in the US your theory doesn't translate into practice.

Re: The Drivers Cooperative

#332

Post by yholio » Sun, Mar 28, 2021, 5:52 PM UTC

sm4rk0 wrote: post #317

yholio wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Underpaid compared to what? If people are willing to do the work to a high professional standard for a certain wage, than that is the right compensation for that job. When you setup arbitrary fair wages above market, you must also somehow protect them from intruders from other fields willing to change jobs and benefit from the higher wages in your field. This is exactly what a co-op ends up doing most of the time - i…

> Underpaid compared to what? You said: "relatively cheap". Relative to what?

It's easy to define 'cheap': relative to the wages market, market prices for driving are relatively low compared to other jobs.

'Underpaid' is a value judgment, you claim that prevailing market wages are unfair so presumably you have a better model to determine and protect higher wages.

Re: The Drivers Cooperative

#333

Post by gmadsen » Sun, Mar 28, 2021, 8:09 PM UTC

pjmorris wrote: post #200

gmadsen wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not necessarily. An extremely low profit margin is a sign of a commodities market, where there isn't really a space for innovation. For example a grocery store, so you are competing on very fine details and logistics. High margin, COULD be inefficiency, but it could just be a technological or innovation advantage. It seems ride hailing is transitioning into a commodity since innovation has dried up. The one obvious d…

Well, at one time, cash registers, packaged food, and stores were all technological innovations. I'm asking whether 'technological or innovation advantage' can be interpreted as a sign of temporary inefficiency that will eventually get ironed out of the system (unless maintained by force, as another commenter mentions.)

I guess in a world without regulations or laws? The entire economy is predicated on patent and copyright law, as western civilization has deemed it beneficial to protect innovation and reward the innovator.