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Uber Drivers “Strike” and Switch to Lyft Over Fares and Conditions

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Re: Uber Drivers “Strike” and Switch to Lyft Over Fares and Conditions

#131

Post by anigbrowl »

nchuhoai wrote: post #128
jefflinwood wrote: post #14

The really interesting story here is that if drivers are so willing to switch networks for better opportunities, there isn't a compelling reason for Uber to have the valuation that they do. The value of Uber isn't really in the tech or the app - it's in the networks of riders and drivers in each city. If each of those can be aggregated into some other kind of service, where Uber, Lyft, etc. are just providers of paym…

I think Uber realizes this, thus their strategy is to eliminate Lyft and any future competitors from entering the market as soon as possible. AFAIK, Lyft currently makes no money on its operations while Uber does (by virtue of their greater scale). I'm afraid of a world in which Lyft is forced to quite (as you only so long sustain on VC money), and Uber then abusing it's monopoly power. The difference to the existing…

Probably so. Reading up on Homejoy for another thread, and wondering about their valuation, I noticed that after getting $38m in series A funding 8 months ago they have used some of it to buy out a competitor: http://getmaid.com/

Re: Uber Drivers “Strike” and Switch to Lyft Over Fares and Conditions

#132

Post by com2kid »

innguest wrote: post #52
orblivion wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because you're making a brazen libertarian point in a thread on a tech discussion board where it's not all that warranted. If this were a discussion of public policy it could be different. I chimed in with that stuff when Net Neutrality came up, for instance. Otherwise it just gets overbearing. That said, I also got voted down there, I think libertarians are losing ground on HN.

Thanks for the reply. The philosophical connection between the hacker culture/ethics and anarchism was much clearer to me and many others maybe a decade ago, but now I see this losing ground. There's a fear in people when someone calls for decentralization of power. Most other types of decentralization are obviously good in the eyes of programmers, but not this one anymore.

> The philosophical connection between the hacker culture/ethics and anarchism was much clearer to me and many others maybe a decade ago, but now I see this losing ground.

It is not even that so much in this case as the language used.

The HN community works hard to encourage polite conversation. Even a commonly agreed upon opinion will be down voted if not stated in a polite and clear fashion.

If you had instead stated "This is an excellent example of free market competition allowing more freedom for workers than are exhibited in a government regulated market" then your comment would likely have been better received. :)

Re: Uber Drivers “Strike” and Switch to Lyft Over Fares and Conditions

#133

Post by toomuchtodo »

lxmorj wrote: post #115
aetherson wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Self-driving vehicles are the final commoditization of the rides-for-hire business. Personally, I'd be very skeptical about the 3-5 year time frame, but clearly they're coming at some point. When they do, I can't see any rides-for-hire business having gross margins higher than 5% (though the size of the rides-for-hire market may well expand greatly). Barrier for entry is basically nonexistent.

Scale and perks will drive that 5% up, I imagine. Sure, Joe Average can buy a Tesla Model A (for automatic, obviously) and have it operate as a AI-Uber Driver, but Uber can buy a fleet of thousands, allowing them better pricing, better access to charging stations, better data about which rides are most valuable and where to position their cars. With a bit better margins comes things like bottled water in the cars. Th…

I used to think otherwise when Uber first hit the scene, but now I'm willing to pay the premium to own my self-driving vehicle to control my mobility.

Re: Uber Drivers “Strike” and Switch to Lyft Over Fares and Conditions

#134

Post by toomuchtodo »

hnal943 wrote: post #105
samstave wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know what would be interesting is that municipalities should see this as an opportunity. What if the city were to start their own modern municipal taxi services, and compete directly with Lyft/Uber.... Then they get revenues.

I'm not optimistic about municipalities running anything efficiently. However, this would provide great opportunities to get rid of public transit as we know it. Private sector rides could simply be subsidized for low income users. How much more convenient would this be vs taking the bus?

A municipality can't write a check every year to a white label service that sits between its citizens and the self-driving vehicles, maintenance facilities, and charging stations built to provide automated mobility?

My city provides roads, fire, police, and other services in a pretty efficient manner. If yours doesn't, I suggest you campaign for more transparency.

Re: Uber Drivers “Strike” and Switch to Lyft Over Fares and Conditions

#135

Post by toomuchtodo »

dnautics wrote: post #130
avalaunch wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Best guess: Uber/Lyft can't demand exclusivity from their drivers without crossing a line clearly delineated by the IRS. Doing so would be considered an "inappropriate degree of control" and the drivers would no longer be considered independent contractors, but instead employees. Neither Uber nor Lyft would want that. Penalizing drivers that don't accept a high percentage of rides offered them is Uber's attempt to de…

It's state-by-state/region-by-region. IIRC, California specifically disallows non-compete clauses in general [citation needed]. Seattle outlaws driving for more than one service.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-compete_clause#California

Re: Uber Drivers “Strike” and Switch to Lyft Over Fares and Conditions

#137

Post by oceanstone »

Lyft drivers are creeped out by Uber. "Operation: Shave the Stache" [1] is one of the most manipulative business practices I've heard of. Lyft chooses to invest its money on improving the experience inside the car, and hiring socially intelligent people, who they then treat like human beings. Uber could learn a lot from them.

[1] http://www.theverge.com/2014/8/26/6067663/this-is-ubers-play...

Re: Uber Drivers “Strike” and Switch to Lyft Over Fares and Conditions

#138

Post by Spoom »

avalaunch wrote: post #125
whitej125 wrote: post #46

Wait, strike? First off...IANAUD. If you become an Uber Driver are you under any sort of contract? Are you now an employee (W-2) of Uber or free agent contractor (1099). If drivers think they can get better fares elsewhere... go nuts and do it. Yay economics! I feel like I am missing something here.

What is IANAUD? I tried googling but nothing came up.

IANAwhatever usually means "I Am Not A whatever", in this case, "I am not an Uber driver", I assume.

Re: Uber Drivers “Strike” and Switch to Lyft Over Fares and Conditions

#139

Post by dasil003 »

glenra wrote: post #126
kapkapkap wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Autonomous vehicles that can navigate city roads and do not require any driver behind the wheel are most certainly not 3-5 years away.

By which you mean they already exist today? My parents got a demo ride in one at a google event earlier this year. As long as the city involved is Mountain View, the vehicles already exist. (Google's current effort relies on extremely detailed mapping of all the roads involved, but given the continued existence of the StreetView program that approach probably scales tolerably well.)

Mountain View doesn't really qualify as a "city" in the sense of city traffic. The roads are wide and not particularly densely packed. Not to downplay the accomplishment, but it's probably a long way from being able to handle San Francisco let alone New York or London.

Re: Uber Drivers “Strike” and Switch to Lyft Over Fares and Conditions

#140

Post by seanflyon »

findjashua wrote: post #129
toomuchtodo wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would you say self-driving vehicles fit into this? Supposedly they're rolling out in ~3-5 years, and with self-driving vehicles, you no longer need the middle man managing a fleet of contractors. EDIT: I'm willing to me a Long Bet [1] with anyone regarding fully autonomous self driving vehicles in regular use in 6 years. [1] http://longbets.org/ ; http://longbets.org/rules/

I think the 'self-driving' feature of the car will be more like an autopilot - you'd still need a human at the wheel to occasionally override the system. Hence, I see the self-driving car to be more of a competition to short-term rentals like Zipcar. In situations where you don't want to drive (have to work/talk on phone; after a you've had a few drinks etc), you'd still need a driver.

That may be the case at first, but I can guarantee you will not still need a driver forever.
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