>There are too many instances of immaturity, deception, corruption, and negligence. As an uber and lyft driver (I prefer lyft) who has created a runway to launch a startup nonprofit by driving for both, lyft has had its share of immaturity and negligence, you just haven't heard about it as much. But only 2/4 is an improvement. What worries me is that in many cases lyft has looked at uber and done exactly what they do…
Trends: Uber vs. Lyft
81–90 of 139 posts
Re: Trends: Uber vs. Lyft
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
Where has this been shown? Since I bike daily, I'm really curious about studies about helmet safety.
Probably referring to the study in the uk to examine how overtaking distances of passing vehicles is affected by the attire of the cyclist [1]. There's suggestions that making helmets compulsory reduces cyclists, which in turn makes cycling unsafer. I cycle in London every day (for the past 10 years) and personally don't wear a helmet (though plenty of my friends do). I tried, but found for me it was a mild occasiona…
Re: Trends: Uber vs. Lyft
#83Earlier quoted context omitted.
I just started biking to/from caltrain and in the first week, I've already had someone try to steal my bike off the train and have nearly been hit by several cars in completely un-extraordinary circumstances. I'm sticking with it, but it doesn't paint a great picture for biking over other forms of convenient, readily available transport. Also the initial cost of biking, even when going for a super cheap bike and gear…
City biking does have a bit of a learning curve, and I do highly recommend you look into those classes that I linked to above (or find similar ones in your area). You will get better with experience though, and the better you get the more you'll be able to understand how to bike defensively and reduce any sort of close calls.
Re: Trends: Uber vs. Lyft
#84The idea of any one company owning such a large proportion of global transport infrastructure seems scary to me. And the fact that Uber's leadership seems to have a very poor ethical compass makes the path we're headed down seem pretty ominous. I've been trying to think of better, less centralized solutions, and they're not too hard to imagine. An open transportation marketplace, populated by independent vendors, isn…
Re: Trends: Uber vs. Lyft
#85"February is a slow month! We're gonna make this deal sweet for you by lowering prices 20%!"
"March Madness, 20% off all rides!"
"Summer Special, 20% off all rides!"
"Summer Special is here to stay! 20% off all rides is permanent!"
Now, lets not kid ourselves here. Uber is always going to get their cut. If you talk to any Uber driver (I was one of them at one point in time), they'll tell you their hourly wage has dropped from $30/hr to about $18/hr now. Still not bad, but now factor in the longer hours, the maintenance fees, the city fines...not so much a good deal anymore for the other side.
Re: Trends: Uber vs. Lyft
#86Why do we dislike Uber? Lets go through the links. 1) Stuff about the CEO's personal life. 2) CEO wants to automate business processes. Those of us in tech would never consider replacing humans with machines, right? 3) Trying to compete for workers. (Didn't we hate Apple/Google for agreeing not to do this?) 4) We love Peter Thiel and he hates it. 5-7) A few Uber drivers are crazy (Uber is helping the cops). Note that…
I'm sorry, but you're flat out wrong about this, You're also hilariously ignorant about the most basic aspects of journalistic ethics.
The million dollar "opposition research" effort that BuzzFeedBen reported on is NOT journalism. Do journalists dig up dirt? Yes. Do they publish it? You bet. But here's the critical difference: The do it under their own names, using bylines at the very top of the page.
Contrast that with what the asshat from Uber said when he was asked if his plan to personally violate unfriendly journalists might backfire with, you know, actual journalists. What he said was "Nobody will ever know it was us".
Now I realize that sound ethical reasoning is not your strong suit. I mean, your comment history speaks for itself. But surely, even you can tell the difference between publishing information that's in the public interest under a proper byline and conducting personal vendettas on the company dime then doing everything you can to conceal your tracks. I mean, this is not a subtle distinction. In truth, this is the difference between ethical and wildly unethical, between acceptable and borderline criminal, between journalism and manifestly not journalism.
Further down this thread you have the temerity to upbraid others for "intellectual dishonesty". I promise you, dude, getting this personal is not a game you are in any shape to play. If you try, you will lose. And as an aside, I'm glad to see that others are also calling you out for the dishonesty in the way you've framed (read: misrepresented) a number of the issues you listed.
I won't tell you to quit while you're ahead because you are not ahead. But maybe consider quitting before you fall even further behind.
Re: Trends: Uber vs. Lyft
#87Why do we dislike Uber? Lets go through the links. 1) Stuff about the CEO's personal life. 2) CEO wants to automate business processes. Those of us in tech would never consider replacing humans with machines, right? 3) Trying to compete for workers. (Didn't we hate Apple/Google for agreeing not to do this?) 4) We love Peter Thiel and he hates it. 5-7) A few Uber drivers are crazy (Uber is helping the cops). Note that…
Re: Trends: Uber vs. Lyft
#88And this, folks, is why taxi regulation is a thing. Of course, there is crime and corruption and they have their own variety of scams[1]. But what you won't see is a sweeping sense of impunity because if you go out of bounds to this degree so blatantly (and at regular intervals, it seems), a rather large hammer will come down on you and your union. Taxi drivers in general are well aware of this. But a bunch of broexe…
I think what'll come out of this entire experiment is something very, very similar to the current taxi industry - simply with better apps and dependability, and I will not complain at all. A little part of me suspects that this will not be Uber (at least in America, where the regulatory blockade feels really impenetrable as an engineer), although at this point it's anyones game.
There are multiple apps like mytaxi which add a layer of usability, estimated pick up time and cost, pay from app, interactive maps, and driver rating.
Re: Trends: Uber vs. Lyft
#89If you live in San Francisco, you might consider getting a bike and/or using public transportation instead of ride-sharing services. Either of them are better for the city by reducing congestion and pollution, and biking in particular is surprisingly fast and convenient. If you are interested in getting introduced to biking, there are a bunch of free classes by the SF Bicycle Coalition that I highly recommend you loo…
So I cycle around SF, but am considering stopping. The data varies depending on which source you use, but it seems like cycling is about 3 times less dangerous than motorbiking, and considerably (at least ~5-10x) more dangerous than driving. Most people who've lived in SF have plenty of anecdotal evidence of friends who've been hurt, often seriously, by bike accidents. I'd love to be proven wrong about this: I love c…
Re: Trends: Uber vs. Lyft
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm simply pointing out more or less nonsensical arguments and mob behavior. The Uber CEO may be an objectivist jerk, but that doesn't mean everything he does is evil. 2) significantly drop wages (primarily due to competition in cities with multiple ride-sharing services)... Companies competing for workers drops wages? That's an interesting economic theory. I guess the Uber people who were hiring lyft cars in order t…
>> significantly drop wages (primarily due to competition in cities with multiple ride-sharing services) > Companies competing for workers drops wages? I think that moab's point was that competition between ride-sharing companies lowers prices, and one of the places those price reductions come from is a reduction in worker's wages.
Price reduction has played out its tune in tech before - at cost pricing was how Amazon won (and continues to have a chokehold over e-commerce). At Amazon, however, employees from the warehouse stockers to their receptionists are under contract and regulation, and get guaranteed wages for reasonable hours. Compare this to Uber where there's basically a massive disparity between the number of effective workers (drivers + employees) and the number of actual 'employees'. As a bystander, I'm worried about the humans involved in this bet between Uber/Lyft and co, and hope they start finding ways to either pull drivers into the company itself, or offer better guarantees or securities for the drivers. The first company to do this will probably get a ton of good press, and will also up the ante on consumer perception of ridesharing in general (it's great, but feels 'evil').