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Uber sign-ups soar by 850 percent as cab drivers protest

csmonitor.com

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Re: Uber sign-ups soar by 850 percent as cab drivers protest

#71

Post by hyp0 »

codyb wrote: post #54
hyp0 wrote: post #50

With both the taxi and hotel industries being disrupted (technical meaning), I wonder if there's a pattern here... Is it a direct consequential of the web, enabling new ways to connect customers and providers? Or, deeper societal forces at work, making this a general time of change for other, non-technological reasons? Or just coincidence...?

The web started as a distributed system. It is turning these industries into distributed systems (A car from a person with time and a car at a time when a consumer needs a car as opposed to strict 8 hour shifts. A bed from a person with a bed when a consumer needs a bed as opposed to a centralized location with many beds). It will be interesting if we see these newly distributed systems consolidate in the future. And…

Sounds right, esp for hotels. Though taxis are already distributed and on-demand. Just regulated centrally.

Deregulation is pretty common: banking, utilities (electricity, gas, telecommunications), railways, jails. States get a phenomenal one-off budgetary windfall from sale of infrastructure assets, and buyers get a government mandated toll-bridge - everybody wins! Though more governmental than "societal" as I previously described it.

Governments aren't driving hotel/taxi deregulation, but the hard-won legal and admin expertise to do it is sitting around with nothing to do...

Re: Uber sign-ups soar by 850 percent as cab drivers protest

#72

Post by alextgordon »

stevekemp wrote: post #70
alextgordon wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In theory, that's great. In practice, cabbies still rip people off sometimes. I'd be happier if they always took the Google Maps route. It's sad but they are simply a victim of technology. Before sat nav, minicab drivers were very unreliable. They would get lost, they would have to consult maps, etc. Now, a minicab is as good or better than a taxi.

> I'd be happier if they always took the Google Maps route. Part of being a good taxi-driver is knowing which parts of the city are going to busy at different points of time. If a taxi takes a detour from the best map-presented route you don't know if they're giving you a faster journey, or ripping you off. Too often people assume the latter.

Maybe I was being prematurely futuristic and unfair, but it seems that at some point Google Maps will be better at routing than the average cabbie.

Google has all the information a cabbie has (road layout, major disruptions, historical traffic patterns, speed limits). They also have real-time traffic information. This is the kind of problem that computers tend to beat humans at, eventually.

Re: Uber sign-ups soar by 850 percent as cab drivers protest

#73

Post by naturalethic »

waylandsmithers wrote: post #57

This seems like an extremely risky move by the "official" cab drivers. Angering their potential customers and removing themselves from the pool of drivers for the strike just seems like it would send people running into Uber's open arms.

Bullies aren't that bright.

Re: Uber sign-ups soar by 850 percent as cab drivers protest

#74

Post by naturalethic »

opendais wrote: post #56
melvinmt wrote: post #51

The disruptive nature of Uber will make policy makers eventually doubt who to support: should they keep protecting the jobs of the taxi industry while Uber is creating jobs at a much higher pace?

They are protecting tax revenues, not the taxi industry.

Don't underestimate kickbacks and bribes.

Re: Uber sign-ups soar by 850 percent as cab drivers protest

#75

Post by stevekemp »

alextgordon wrote: post #72
stevekemp wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'd be happier if they always took the Google Maps route. Part of being a good taxi-driver is knowing which parts of the city are going to busy at different points of time. If a taxi takes a detour from the best map-presented route you don't know if they're giving you a faster journey, or ripping you off. Too often people assume the latter.

Maybe I was being prematurely futuristic and unfair, but it seems that at some point Google Maps will be better at routing than the average cabbie. Google has all the information a cabbie has (road layout, major disruptions, historical traffic patterns, speed limits). They also have real-time traffic information. This is the kind of problem that computers tend to beat humans at, eventually.

I expect it is only a matter of time.

Using the same kind of volunteers who contribute to OpenStreetMap it should be possible to update routing based on temporary road-works (which might last for 3-5 days, here in Scotland), which would otherwise catch drivers out by surprise with detours.

Re: Uber sign-ups soar by 850 percent as cab drivers protest

#76

Post by antonwinter »

illumen wrote: post #61
w1ntermute wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do they know who to fine? Aren't all these transactions done purely digitally? You could just be getting into a friend's car, there's always plausible deniability.

People have already been fined in Melbourne.

got a link to articles on it?
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