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Uber has defeated Bill de Blasio’s plan to rein them in

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Re: Uber has defeated Bill de Blasio’s plan to rein them in

#121

Post by vacri »

jrockway wrote: post #117
Pyxl101 wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uber drivers can see where you are as part of evaluating your ride request. Consequently, though your ride request might be offered to several drivers before being accepted, you are not likely to be assigned a driver who cancels later because of your location. Furthermore, Uber drivers are not allowed to refuse more than a certain small percentage of rides, so drivers who do this more than rarely will be kicked out.…

I have had a case of an Uber driver not really wanting to drive me to Marina del Ray from downtown LA. He gave me a low review (this was back when there was the bug that let you see your rating). The biggest problem I have with Uber is that some of the drivers are so pleasant and professional that I hate not being able to give them an extra tip. Maybe I should figure out how to do that.

> Maybe I should figure out how to do that.

Why wouldn't cash work?

Re: Uber has defeated Bill de Blasio’s plan to rein them in

#122

Post by eru »

danieltillett wrote: post #77
dotBen wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Assuming they eventually win all the legal battles and drive all other taxi and taxi-like services out of business That's very unlikely to happen and I don't think anyone here at Uber sees the world as a zero-sum game as you portray it. Even in SF, the most mature Uber market, there are still plenty of cabs operating. Cabs offer a different service (street hails, fixed pricing etc) - which is why you can even hail a…

I also don’t think it is very likely either, I was just assuming the best case scenario for Uber and I can’t see how they can make money in the long term even if they achieve this. Competition is great for consumers, but not so good for investors. Edit. Thanks for the updates to your post Ben. Given Uber’s cost of capital and current valuation how do you see Uber earning enough of a return with a differentiation busi…

Winning all the legal battles might not be their best case. They are getting good at fighting legal battles, and a permanent state of lawfare might be to their advantage (because they are better at fighting it than competitors).

Re: Uber has defeated Bill de Blasio’s plan to rein them in

#123

Post by clarkm »

Hominem wrote: post #93
arthurcolle wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When do you drop the tidbit of information related to the whole reason you got in? /just moved to NYC

As others have said, if the cab has the "on duty" light on, just get in. If, and the happens a lot late at night, the cab does not have the on duty light on you can negotiate. I've gotten steep discounts or even free rides for agreeing to do stuff like pick up the drivers wife off the clock on the way home. Like everything in New York, everything is negotiable.

I thought the light was tied to the meter in order to prevent stuff like that?

Re: Uber has defeated Bill de Blasio’s plan to rein them in

#124

Post by eru »

dylanjermiah wrote: post #81
danieltillett wrote: post #65

The thing about Uber I don’t understand is how they are going to defend their monopoly once they acquire it. Assuming they eventually win all the legal battles and drive all other taxi and taxi-like services out of business then how are they going to stop anyone else from entering their market? Each transport market is effectively isolated (you don’t hail a driver from SF to get around NYC). This means any new entran…

It is rare to see, of not impossible, a real monopoly in a free market. Uber has to compete to win customers, if they artificially raise their prices to where people will not pay, people will choose a different form of transportation.

> It is rare to see, of not impossible, a real monopoly in a free market.

Most long running monopolies in free(-ish) markets seem to be related to owning (the right kind of) land.

Re: Uber has defeated Bill de Blasio’s plan to rein them in

#125

Post by eru »

pbreit wrote: post #106
danieltillett wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is it a natural monopoly? A natural monopoly is something like the electrical poles and wires. I can't see how Uber could even become a normal monopoly even if everything went their way.

In most of their cities they are already a monopoly or near monopoly. Liquidity is a hugely massive advantage for both drivers and riders.

Both riders and drivers can use multiple apps without too much hassle.

Re: Uber has defeated Bill de Blasio’s plan to rein them in

#126

Post by pbreit »

danieltillett wrote: post #118
pbreit wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Pools" are multiple riders.

Yes I know what pools are. I was referring to the cutting prices in half to drive out competitors.

They don't cut prices. Since there are 2 or 3 parties they split the fare. Huge liquidity advantage.

Re: Uber has defeated Bill de Blasio’s plan to rein them in

#127

Post by eru »

ethanbond wrote: post #30
onewaystreet wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really, defeating the cap was much more important to Uber than the data access.

Okay? And the data access was clearly more important to NYC than the cap. If you really think NYC can't step up at a moment's notice and drop the hammer, you're awfully optimistic. I mean, it's in the press release that the cap is not off the table. Unfortunately, this world cannot have win-wins, so I've got to find someone to hate in this situation!

> Unfortunately, this world cannot have win-wins, [...]

Why not?

Re: Uber has defeated Bill de Blasio’s plan to rein them in

#128

Post by eru »

bko wrote: post #39

Whatever you think about Uber, you have to realize that de Blasio's actions are not about congestion or the public's interest. Let's not forget his original plan to have the city pre-approve upgrades to ride-hailing apps: > The mayor’s plan to require Uber Technologies Inc., Lyft Inc. and other ride-hailing services to get city approval for upgrades to the user interface on smartphone apps -- and to pony up $1,000 ea…

Couldn't that be easily circumvented by making the actual app a glorified browser that always stays the same?

Re: Uber has defeated Bill de Blasio’s plan to rein them in

#129

Post by eru »

tzs wrote: post #115
vasilipupkin wrote: post #83

There is a restaurant in Chicago called El Ideas http://www.eater.com/2015/4/27/8486425/phillip-foss-el-ideas... It's in a neighborhood that has no cabs and driving there not pleasant or convenient. Last night the chef told me if it wasn't for Uber, they probably wouldn't have survived

Why did they put their restaurant in a location that depends on a single, possibly illegal, transportation service to get their customers to them? Was that location easier to get to when they opened?

In theory, they should pay lower rent for a bad location. Uber, in driving up their profits, should in the longer term also drive up their rent. The landlord will eat all the advantage eventually.

Re: Uber has defeated Bill de Blasio’s plan to rein them in

#130

Post by vacri »

mikeash wrote: post #111

Most of my exposure to Uber has been negative articles about them. I've used them a handful of times, but not for a couple of years, until just this week. I used them to get to and from the airport for a trip this week, and it was pretty interesting to compare with what I've been reading. First, of course, the experience as a user was great. This is no surprise, but it sure does cement my desire to use them over any…

> They charged him $150/day to drive for them no matter what.

Not that I particularly want to defend taxi companies, but they also own and maintain the cars. Purchasing a newish vehicle and maintaining it isn't free - while not being charged daily, it's still a sizeable invoice you have to pay, no matter what. $150/day does seem extortionate, though.

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