If Uber or Lyft tried this in China, heads would roll, literally. The American culture of complete servility and submission to corporations is so embarrassing
Lyft, Uber to leave Minneapolis after city council forces higher driver pay
31–40 of 40 posts
Re: Lyft, Uber to leave Minneapolis after city council forces higher driver pay
#32Curious if they survey the drivers too, the people who are affected by this. I see no mention of this in the article. I'd think they should have a major say.
Drivers I've talked to seem supportive, at least so far. They're used to uncertainty with their income. Apparently Lyft and Uber have been squeezing driver pay very hard recently. I wouldn't be surprised if this is directly related to fed policy and VC funding dry up.
Re: Lyft, Uber to leave Minneapolis after city council forces higher driver pay
#33If Uber or Lyft tried this in China, heads would roll, literally. The American culture of complete servility and submission to corporations is so embarrassing
Are you suggesting that Minneapolis should ban Uber and Lyft from leaving the city?
Re: Lyft, Uber to leave Minneapolis after city council forces higher driver pay
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wasn't aware of this (and neither were local lawmakers), but ironically it is actually illegal in Oregon as of 1971 for any local government body to pass a law targeting the public consumption of alcohol and drugs. This threw a major wrench in plans to control the rampant public use of fentanyl and meth around Oregon cities, and this likely contributed to us to rolling back small time possession to a misdemeanor. A…
The issue is really that the initiative system is, quite frankly, a terrible way to govern and pass complex policies. Had the legislature implemented this they would have been able to spend time investigating potential problems such as these and plan for a smoother rollout. I voted for and still support measure 110 in principle. I would also be just fine with laws criminalizing public use. The two are perfectly compa…
>the initiative system is, quite frankly, a terrible way to govern and pass complex policies.
On the one hand, I agree, but on the flip side decriminalization is not something I would expect from our elected officials at any point this decade. The voters are able to push the envelope in ways that risk-averse career politicians simply will not.
We may finally see substantive election finance reform in Oregon (we lag dramatically behind most of the rest of the nation) come November due to our initiative system. IIRC, Cannabis legalization was another one that the citizens of Oregon pushed through and only then did the legislature get it's butt in gear and write comprehensive legislation. Same with decriminalized and medicalized psychedelics.
If we didn't have such dysfunction at the state level due to republican state reps continued antics protesting and not showing up to deny a quorum, it's entirely possible that the issues with measure 110 could have been sorted out at the capital before public opinion had time to do the full 180 on decrim.
It's a shame, but as an Oregonian with a drug felony from over a decade ago, I'm happy with the progress of making possession of personal amounts of hard drugs a misdemeanor instead of a felony. Two steps forward and one step back is still progress.
Re: Lyft, Uber to leave Minneapolis after city council forces higher driver pay
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
I mean, if the holy Free Market is as wonderful as some people say, a new and better alternative will take their place. Right?
This is a really elementary misunderstanding of free market principles. That theory only holds if the market is actually free. As an extreme example, if they regulated minimum $1000 per ride. No logical person, free market oriented or not, would expect "alternatives" to take their place.
> That theory only holds if the market is actually free.
That was my point, since in fact no market is free
Re: Lyft, Uber to leave Minneapolis after city council forces higher driver pay
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
> your voter base will revolt I'm not sure that Minneapolis is the best place to put this in place. Folks in Minneapolis are wholly liberal and support living wages. If anything, this is just going to look bad for Uber/Lyft. I don't live in Mpls proper, although I do reside in Hennepin County, and I primarily don't use Uber or Lyft so I don't really have skin in the game either way, but I just don't see this as being…
Even the most idealistic can change their tune as soon as they begin to be negatively affected. A good example might be Oregon completely walking back their drug legalization or San Francisco drug testing for welfare. https://abcnews.go.com/US/oregons-drug-decriminalization-law... https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/06/drug-test-we...
Minneapolis native. Good riddance and everyone I know and talk to agrees.
Re: Lyft, Uber to leave Minneapolis after city council forces higher driver pay
#37What is the point of laws like this? They are way too specific. Instead the Minneapolis City Council should come out with legislation prohibiting the re-definition of what a contractor is. Uber and Lyft claim that their drivers are contractors, but then also don't allow their drivers to set rates themselves. It's an absolute tragedy that governments just let companies get away with "disruption" when its really just f…
I think that this entire debate is skewed based in rather broken concepts of benefits. In the ways that ought to matter, rideshare drivers seem like contractors: They set their own hours; overtime pay would odd, but perhaps too many hours should be banned on safety grounds. They bring their own equipment. They owe no particular allegiance to an “employer” like Uber or Lyft (and can work for more than one of them at o…
Contractors pay self employment taxes in lieu of the social security and Medicare payroll tax, and as a result are eligible for both.
The health insurance situation is not great, but it's available through Obamacare. In my experience the actual cost is not much worse than employer provided, but the true cost is often subsidized, so employees don't always realize how much salary they are giving up for health insurance.
No eligibility for unemployment or workers comp though.
Re: Lyft, Uber to leave Minneapolis after city council forces higher driver pay
#38If Uber or Lyft tried this in China, heads would roll, literally. The American culture of complete servility and submission to corporations is so embarrassing
Are you suggesting that Minneapolis should ban Uber and Lyft from leaving the city?
Let’s watch pornhub in Texas. Whatever overreaching Republican tactic to punish pornhub, let’s go one step further in Minneapolis with Uber until we end up with a Supreme Court case and/or a Congressional hearing.
Re: Lyft, Uber to leave Minneapolis after city council forces higher driver pay
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’m sure there’s a plethora of companies ready to move in and take their business.
I haven't heard of any of them.
https://libretaxi.org/
There's a lot of companies and cooperatives from a quick look. Even cities rolling their own. Uber/Lyft is handing an entire market over to a lucky competitor,
Re: Lyft, Uber to leave Minneapolis after city council forces higher driver pay
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are you suggesting that Minneapolis should ban Uber and Lyft from leaving the city?
Let’s watch pornhub in Texas. Whatever overreaching Republican tactic to punish pornhub, let’s go one step further in Minneapolis with Uber until we end up with a Supreme Court case and/or a Congressional hearing.
The pornhub and Uber/Lyft situations seem completely different. You wouldn't be going further, but would be doing something completely different.