Uber Hit with Cap as New York City Takes Lead in Crackdown • Hacker News Board

Re: Uber Hit with Cap as New York City Takes Lead in Crackdown

#191

Post by admax88q » Wed, Aug 08, 2018, 11:41 PM UTC

pradn wrote: post #42

colinbartlett wrote: post #29

If the problem they are trying to solve is "too many vehicles" then we need a congestion tax. They should certainly not be limiting vehicles that are more likely to take multiple people with a Pool option. If the problem they are trying to solve is "drivers aren't making enough" then they should impose a minimum wage on drivers or force an actual employee relationship. If the problem they are trying to solve is a bai…

The real issue is that cab drivers are committing suicide because of their debts. Simple market analysis ignores the real human toll these technological changes are making. Yes, better service should be rewarded. But those hurting should get some relief. (I personally don't care too much about medallion-owning companies/groups.)

Reflief shouldn't be protecting their broken business model and the corrupt medallion system. This isn't a problem technology is causing, its loan sharks locking taxi drivers into debt with the insane prices of a medallion. I'd rather see the medallion system removed, debt relief provided to the drivers and a more fair congestion tax or similar to control the number of cars.

Re: Uber Hit with Cap as New York City Takes Lead in Crackdown

#192

Post by knuththetruth » Wed, Aug 08, 2018, 11:41 PM UTC

CamperBob2 wrote: post #148

pradn wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/01/nyregion/a-taxi-driver-to... : Immigrants from Romania, the couple had bought their New York City taxi medallion nearly three decades ago. Lately, it had been difficult to find fares. Her husband worked 12-hour shifts, but brought home less money. He was worried about the plunging value of their once-lucrative medallion and frustrated about Uber’s takeover of the industry. On a…

Yeah, a real tear-jerker. So, let's fix this. How do you propose to write a law that defines exactly when responsibility for suicide attaches? In this case, Mr. Ochisor's customers were so desperate for an alternative to his three-decade-old business that they turned to a startup company that works by (literally) dodging taxi regulators. Is that really Uber's fault? The regulators'? The customers? Just how far do we…

I don’t know how far, but possibly beyond glib dismissals of people’s suicides as a “real tear-jerker.”

Re: Uber Hit with Cap as New York City Takes Lead in Crackdown

#193

Post by cwkoss » Wed, Aug 08, 2018, 11:42 PM UTC

Article notes he is eyeing AirBnb regs next.

De Blasio seems to really like adding regulations to industries that were largely responses to NYC (and similar large cities') regulation that strangled the previous version of that industry, leaving competition excessively expensive, inefficient and unpleasant.

Maybe there are some things he could do to make taxi's more competitive with Uber?

- Develop a cross-service hailing app including taxis?

- Regulate to prevent annoying TV screen ads

- Streamline payment process

I feel like this is a step towards Uber being regulated into becoming a clone of the poor taxi services it was rebelling against: unmaintained interiors, no customer service, unreliable hailing.

The only regulation I want to see on Uber is statutory penalties if "time to arrival" wait times consistently exceed the provided estimates. I use Uber much less now because I several times I've gotten an estimate of "3 minutes" and waited over 15. This is false advertisement.

Re: Uber Hit with Cap as New York City Takes Lead in Crackdown

#194

Post by admax88q » Wed, Aug 08, 2018, 11:47 PM UTC

pradn wrote: post #124

CamperBob2 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The idea that Uber, or any other company, is responsible for someone else committing suicide is both bizarre and offensive.

From https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/01/nyregion/a-taxi-driver-to... : Immigrants from Romania, the couple had bought their New York City taxi medallion nearly three decades ago. Lately, it had been difficult to find fares. Her husband worked 12-hour shifts, but brought home less money. He was worried about the plunging value of their once-lucrative medallion and frustrated about Uber’s takeover of the industry. On a…

The problem is not ride sharing, its the fact that being a taxi driver in NYC is viewed as an investment rather than a job. That you have to purchase a medallion for insane sums of usually borrowed money.

It's a broken system. Could you imagine if you had to put up $1.3 million to be a factory worker? Money that you're still on the hook for if the factory ends up closing due to lack of demand? Charging people for the privilege of working, and somehow its Uber's fault for not protecting this corrupt and manipulative system.

Re: Uber Hit with Cap as New York City Takes Lead in Crackdown

#195

Post by CamperBob2 » Wed, Aug 08, 2018, 11:47 PM UTC

knuththetruth wrote: post #192

CamperBob2 wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, a real tear-jerker. So, let's fix this. How do you propose to write a law that defines exactly when responsibility for suicide attaches? In this case, Mr. Ochisor's customers were so desperate for an alternative to his three-decade-old business that they turned to a startup company that works by (literally) dodging taxi regulators. Is that really Uber's fault? The regulators'? The customers? Just how far do we…

I don’t know how far, but possibly beyond glib dismissals of people’s suicides as a “real tear-jerker.”

(Shrug) It's an appropriate response, I think, to the use of peoples' suicides for purposes of overt emotional manipulation.

Your beef is with the taxi cartels and their click-hungry sympathizers in the media, not with me. They started it.

Re: Uber Hit with Cap as New York City Takes Lead in Crackdown

#196

Post by user5994461 » Wed, Aug 08, 2018, 11:51 PM UTC

weeksie wrote: post #186

CydeWeys wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uber cars aren't on the road most of the time. Yellow cabs are. Those taxi medallions are expensive and they operate with shifts of drivers, the goal being to keep the taxi running 24/7, except when it needs maintenance. It's pretty typical for any given cab to have three different drivers running in 12 hour shifts. That way you keep it on the road all 168 hours of every week. An Uber just requires a relatively inexp…

That's a nice story but even if each yellow cab was operating 24/7 that's 3x, not 6x. // edit: right, 7 days so ~4x.

The given 60k figure is probably registered drivers, not active drivers in the last week.

Also, uber drivers don't work 5 days a week, for example some only work on the week end or on peak hours, it can be additional income rather than a full time job.

Re: Uber Hit with Cap as New York City Takes Lead in Crackdown

#197

Post by CydeWeys » Wed, Aug 08, 2018, 11:54 PM UTC

StanislavPetrov wrote: post #181

CydeWeys wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live and work in Manhattan and there's on-street parking everywhere. Most streets are easily wide enough for two travel lanes plus a bike lane, but instead have one or two rows of parked cars. It's quite common for streets to have two parking lanes, one travel lane, and no bike lanes. Just pull up satellite imagery on Google Maps and it'll all be obvious.

I live and drive here. Parking is virtually non-existent. http://www.opencurb.nyc/ You see the sea of red lines? Those are all places you cannot park.

I'm seeing a sea of green as much as I am a sea of red. "Parking is virtually non-existent" is so far from the truth I don't even know where to begin with that. You're literally looking at the map and complaining that not every single square foot of Manhattan can be used for parking. Guess what, land in the densest city in the country has better uses than parking cars. And yet in many neighborhoods almost every single block has twice the parking space than it does driving space (go look at East Village on that map). I think you're complaining about Midtown Manhattan, but what alternative solution could you possibly want? It's a simple matter of physics. The space just isn't there. There's no room to add parking; there's not even any room for people to drive or walk on the sidewalk.

Re: Uber Hit with Cap as New York City Takes Lead in Crackdown

#198

Post by caro_douglos » Wed, Aug 08, 2018, 11:55 PM UTC

Regardsyjc wrote: post #169

CydeWeys wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would love a congestion tax. I take a bike to work, but there's no good cross-town protected bike lanes, so I hit so a lot of damn vehicle traffic that severely slows down my commute. I frequently have to go slow to wend my way through narrow gaps of parked cars and cars stuck in traffic, and sometimes get stuck completely with double parking or construction. Make more protected bike lanes so that vehicle congestio…

Does anyone know what would be the best way to get these bike lanes? Is the only way to petition our local politicians or are there any other ways?

Another alternative is to attempt to get federal funding (local politicians love padding the budget):

https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/bicycle_pedestrian/fund...

This explained a number of dumb bike lanes (which lead to nowhere) in my 'hood.

Re: Uber Hit with Cap as New York City Takes Lead in Crackdown

#199

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Aug 08, 2018, 11:55 PM UTC

simonbarker87 wrote: post #17

TuringNYC wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure, but green cabs do address the bias against the non-Manhattan crowd. It is very common for yellow cabs in NYC to refuse rides to Brooklyn/etc. Destination discrimination "isnt allowed" but there isn't really a way to enforce the rule.

Could you lie when hailing the cab and once inside say they misheard you and say the genuine destination? Not allowed I imagine but pretty hard to enforce that rule? (Genuine question, as a UK reaident I’ve little experience of the US taxi system and have always had excellent service from taxi firms in the UK - as a result I’ve never really understood the problem Uber is solving in the UK)

[deleted]

Re: Uber Hit with Cap as New York City Takes Lead in Crackdown

#200

Post by CydeWeys » Wed, Aug 08, 2018, 11:56 PM UTC

weeksie wrote: post #186

CydeWeys wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uber cars aren't on the road most of the time. Yellow cabs are. Those taxi medallions are expensive and they operate with shifts of drivers, the goal being to keep the taxi running 24/7, except when it needs maintenance. It's pretty typical for any given cab to have three different drivers running in 12 hour shifts. That way you keep it on the road all 168 hours of every week. An Uber just requires a relatively inexp…

That's a nice story but even if each yellow cab was operating 24/7 that's 3x, not 6x. // edit: right, 7 days so ~4x.

It explains the majority of the difference. It's simply not a remotely apple-to-apples comparison to compare yellow cab medallions, which are on the streets constantly, to rideshare license plates, which are not. The difference could even be more than 4X as another commenter points out, as many rideshare drivers are part-time.