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The Anti-Uber Way of Disrupting Transportation, Politely

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Re: The Anti-Uber Way of Disrupting Transportation, Politely

#31

Post by Sambdala »

nemothekid wrote: post #13
michaelochurch wrote: post #2

First of all, it doesn't cost $267 to get from Manchester to London. That's an order of magnitude high. Even Amtrak isn't that bad ($0.65 per person per hour) and Europe has cheaper, faster, and better rail service than the US by far . That said, I think it's really amusing and interesting that the only thing it's going to take in order to beat Uber, in the long term, is: not be Uber . Just having a more likable CEO…

What isn't transparent about surge pricing? The app straight up tells you "you will be paying more for this ride." If you don't like it, get a regular cab. I don't know why people act as if Uber is twisting their arm when it comes to surge pricing.

In the markets where they offer taxis as well, the app will even tell you that you can order a taxi and pay the regulated price instead of paying the surge pricing of UberX.

Re: The Anti-Uber Way of Disrupting Transportation, Politely

#33

Post by baddox »

snitko wrote: post #9
oleganza wrote: post #7

"Disrupting politely" apparently means "drivers don't make a profit therefore aren't classed as professionals". In other words, "if you would like to compete with our monopolized transportation mafia you can't make any money out of it". Which simply means that you are not allowed to compete. You can only run charity and we'll call it "disruption" and continue taking profits. I can't wait for a purely p2p service that…

Did you just compare honest hard working taxi drivers to mafia? If government didn't require licences for taxi drivers, you'd have some crazy place like Russia where anyone can be a private driver without any licence and customers actually get cheaper prices and can get cars any time of day in seconds by just raising a hand and negotiate the price beforehand. Oh wait...

I don't think it was a slight against individual taxi drivers, but against the taxi regulatory systems in many cities.

Re: The Anti-Uber Way of Disrupting Transportation, Politely

#34

Post by baddox »

oleganza wrote: post #7

"Disrupting politely" apparently means "drivers don't make a profit therefore aren't classed as professionals". In other words, "if you would like to compete with our monopolized transportation mafia you can't make any money out of it". Which simply means that you are not allowed to compete. You can only run charity and we'll call it "disruption" and continue taking profits. I can't wait for a purely p2p service that…

> To make sure both drivers and riders and not morons, they could use 2-of-2 multisig insurance deposit (both parties deposit $50 each with a single $100 output and can unlock it only together upon arrival, with respect for the fee).

Or, perhaps better yet, a 2-of-3 contract with an agreed-upon arbitrator who has a reputation for being fair. That way, the implicit web-of-trust can be abstracted to the arbitrators rather than directly between drivers and passengers.

Re: The Anti-Uber Way of Disrupting Transportation, Politely

#35

Post by gmisra »

baddox wrote: post #32
potatolicious wrote: post #3

My God. A sharing economy company that actually shares things!

In what sense does this company facilitate actually sharing in a way that Uber does not?

FTA:

Like Uber, BlaBlaCar takes a cut of the fare, but crucially, prevents its drivers from trying to turn this into a job. In each of the countries it operates in, BlaBlaCar uses government guidelines on driving costs to set a cap on the fare. These calculations account for fuel costs, insurance and tax. The rule helps to avoid giving the impression that the app poses a challenge to cab drivers' livelihood.

"Because they don't make a profit, BlaBlaCar drivers aren't classed as professionals," says Nicolas Brusson, the co-founder and chief operating officer at BlaBlaCar. "They don't require special insurance or a special license."

Re: The Anti-Uber Way of Disrupting Transportation, Politely

#36

Post by Mz »

I thought this was good:

Like Uber, BlaBlaCar takes a cut of the fare, but crucially, prevents its drivers from trying to turn this into a job. In each of the countries it operates in, BlaBlaCar uses government guidelines on driving costs to set a cap on the fare. These calculations account for fuel costs, insurance and tax. The rule helps to avoid giving the impression that the app poses a challenge to cab drivers' livelihood.

"Because they don't make a profit, BlaBlaCar drivers aren't classed as professionals," says Nicolas Brusson, the co-founder and chief operating officer at BlaBlaCar. "They don't require special insurance or a special license."

Re: The Anti-Uber Way of Disrupting Transportation, Politely

#37

Post by foobarqux »

wutbrodo wrote: post #27
foobarqux wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's transparent but variable pricing interferes with planning and requires repeated decision making, increasing stress. Imagine if grocery food doubled in price spontaneously several times a week.

No, imagine if normal grocery stores (or restaurants) were consistently out of stock at normal high-demand times (i.e. sacrificed predictable availability for predictable price), and a new grocery store opened up whose selling point was predictable availability instead of predictable pricing. It's absolute nonsense to categorically state that variable pricing interferes with planning more than variable availability d…

I think the right solution is to fix an easy to remember price schedule in advance.

Re: The Anti-Uber Way of Disrupting Transportation, Politely

#38

Post by nostrademons »

foobarqux wrote: post #20
nemothekid wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What isn't transparent about surge pricing? The app straight up tells you "you will be paying more for this ride." If you don't like it, get a regular cab. I don't know why people act as if Uber is twisting their arm when it comes to surge pricing.

It's transparent but variable pricing interferes with planning and requires repeated decision making, increasing stress. Imagine if grocery food doubled in price spontaneously several times a week.

Grocery food doubles in price all the time...it's called a sale. Soda goes for anywhere from $0.69/2liter to $1.29 at my local Safeway, for the same brands, just at different times. Groceries have just learned that people react better to high baseline prices and occasional labeled discounts than low baseline prices and occasional surcharges.

Most people just get used to paying whatever the checkout bill is at the grocery. Or if money is tight, then yes, it does cause increased stress, but middle-class American society seemingly doesn't care about the routine stresses of being poor. UberX is not targeting a market that will be stressed to pay for a ride, though.

Re: The Anti-Uber Way of Disrupting Transportation, Politely

#39

Post by mind_heist »

Someone on this thread mentioned Kangaride.com as the closest comparision to this service. I haven't personally tried Kangaride at all , But another popular service in this sector is "ZimRide" (which offers intercity ride sharing) ; ZimRide is sort of popular among skiing enthusiasts in Bay Area, a ton of trips on the site is mostly Bay Area to South Lake Tahoe or Truckee ( and I hope there are a few more similar routes in US to skii destinations). In most cases,whenever I have zimrided with someone - I have also shared a room with the same person.

Plus, Zimride actually does not take a cut ; you simply connect with people on the site ( and you decide to pay however you want,I have done paypal ,cash , venmo and thru zimride in itself). I m not sure how they make money ..

Re: The Anti-Uber Way of Disrupting Transportation, Politely

#40

Post by baddox »

gmisra wrote: post #35
baddox wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In what sense does this company facilitate actually sharing in a way that Uber does not?

FTA: Like Uber, BlaBlaCar takes a cut of the fare, but crucially, prevents its drivers from trying to turn this into a job. In each of the countries it operates in, BlaBlaCar uses government guidelines on driving costs to set a cap on the fare. These calculations account for fuel costs, insurance and tax. The rule helps to avoid giving the impression that the app poses a challenge to cab drivers' livelihood. "Because…

Yeah, I read that. I don't see how that makes the BlaBlaCar sharing any more actual than the Uber sharing.
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