The only downside of Uber? Hailing a normal cab and walking out as if it's already paid for. I've done that twice since I started using Uber a few months ago. Embarrassing but funny stories :)
Taxi industry lawsuit against Uber transferred from state to US court
31–40 of 84 posts
Re: Taxi industry lawsuit against Uber transferred from state to US court
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
Umm i think regulations came because the of the sorry state of taxis. I don't know how many times i've been ripped off in a taxi. I assume people complained and the taxi industry got heavily regulated. Just look outside the US for comparison.
Nope, the medallion systems exist to block new competition. Sure there are some regulations that seem to favor consumers-- such as price controls-- but these are a short-term benefit, and at the cost of reduced innovation. Far better to allow competition, and customer service will improve through market action rather than government rule-making.
Unregulated innovation often innovates fraud and crime when you're talking about unmarked, unregulated cars driven by unknown people, picking people up off the street.
If you go anywhere in the world with less strict taxi regulation, you'll run into this. In Prague, my wife and I hopped into a cab only to find that the meter seemed to exist in a time bubble that ran 10x faster than the rest of the known universe.
I appreciate being able to hail a random car on the street and know exactly what I'm going to get. Safety and fraud issues are exactly why the industry was regulated in the first place.
Re: Taxi industry lawsuit against Uber transferred from state to US court
#33This is just a side note, but on april 2 every cab in my city was suspended from service for safety violations. http://www.wmur.com/news/nh-news/All-Manchester-taxis-suspen... The taxi industry is not a good thing to leave unregulated. If you think uber wouldn't operate just like the rest of them because they're a trendy startup, you're delusional. I acknowledge the call for regulation is over travel destination, but…
I think there is a big difference between the safety regulation and monopoly ensuring regulations. You see it quite a bit in the food truck discussions.
Most people don't have a problem with some set of minimum safety regulations for an activity. Most people don't freak out about basic access and destination regulations.
On the other hand, governments creating artificial scarcity and going after business models that target this scarcity is pretty repugnant. Too many cabs is not the problem of government and will be rightly sorted out in the market place.
Re: Taxi industry lawsuit against Uber transferred from state to US court
#34I find it so depressing that traditional taxi company's wish to stifle inovation (which, as far as I can tell, is much loved), simply because they have failed to innovate themselves. IMO this is similar to the music industry and hollywood, where companies are 'stuck in their ways' and will desperately try to keep the status quo at the expense of the consumer. Where's the love?.
Re: Taxi industry lawsuit against Uber transferred from state to US court
#35This is just a side note, but on april 2 every cab in my city was suspended from service for safety violations. http://www.wmur.com/news/nh-news/All-Manchester-taxis-suspen... The taxi industry is not a good thing to leave unregulated. If you think uber wouldn't operate just like the rest of them because they're a trendy startup, you're delusional. I acknowledge the call for regulation is over travel destination, but…
yes.
The lack of commercial insurance is troubling. Who pays if an Uber car is in an accident and a passenger is severely injured?
Re: Taxi industry lawsuit against Uber transferred from state to US court
#36Coming from Paris, I know that dealing with cab companies is a huge pain. And that's why there are a lot of initiatives that try to deal with what we call "la petite remise" which are private cars. The legislation is far less strict with them. The only problem is that up to now, there's a numerus clausus for them. But it is said that they're going to increase this number in the few next years, so it's still a big opportunity.
Still, taxi drivers hold a strong negociation power against governement: they're strongly unionized and they don't hesitate blocking trafic in case a new law might harm their business...
Re: Taxi industry lawsuit against Uber transferred from state to US court
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
Nope, the medallion systems exist to block new competition. Sure there are some regulations that seem to favor consumers-- such as price controls-- but these are a short-term benefit, and at the cost of reduced innovation. Far better to allow competition, and customer service will improve through market action rather than government rule-making.
Unregulated innovation often innovates fraud and crime when you're talking about unmarked, unregulated cars driven by unknown people, picking people up off the street. If you go anywhere in the world with less strict taxi regulation, you'll run into this. In Prague, my wife and I hopped into a cab only to find that the meter seemed to exist in a time bubble that ran 10x faster than the rest of the known universe. I a…
I can agree with what you're saying though I want to share an anecdote from Moscow where there is pretty much no regulation and pricing varies by car company. Instead of having a meter you negotiate the price in the beginning.
To help users out with ordering cabs Yandex released an app that actually let's you order cabs and shows you pre-negotiated prices, you can pick whichever one you like (economy, premium, luxury). They include user ratings and some sort of due-diligence for taxis to get accepted to their network.
But apart from that, a Lyft-like system has existed in many cities for years. In Moscow just holding up your hand on the side of the street prompts anyone to just drive over to the side of the street and offer you a ride. Most of these are full-time or part-time drivers, but also people getting home from work who don't mind a small detour for a bit of extra cash. At a fraction of the price this is the most popular way for people to get around, although some cars look like they date back into the USSR era.
This is a perfectly acceptable scenario and I think with modern technology the market will start to regulate itself.
Re: Taxi industry lawsuit against Uber transferred from state to US court
#38This is just a side note, but on april 2 every cab in my city was suspended from service for safety violations. http://www.wmur.com/news/nh-news/All-Manchester-taxis-suspen... The taxi industry is not a good thing to leave unregulated. If you think uber wouldn't operate just like the rest of them because they're a trendy startup, you're delusional. I acknowledge the call for regulation is over travel destination, but…
I think there is a big difference between the safety regulation and monopoly ensuring regulations. You see it quite a bit in the food truck discussions. Most people don't have a problem with some set of minimum safety regulations for an activity. Most people don't freak out about basic access and destination regulations. On the other hand, governments creating artificial scarcity and going after business models that…
I feel like this is cyclical.
Government steps in with common-sense safety/destination regulations, requires cab drivers to be certified. All good. Then, these cab companies who have by necessity acquired some competence in lobbying start getting some rules in to benefit them, creating a cumbersome, crappy situation ripe for disruption.
Enter Uber. After they've had some success, the government will step in with some basic, common-sense safety/destination regulations...
Re: Taxi industry lawsuit against Uber transferred from state to US court
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
Umm i think regulations came because the of the sorry state of taxis. I don't know how many times i've been ripped off in a taxi. I assume people complained and the taxi industry got heavily regulated. Just look outside the US for comparison.
Nope, the medallion systems exist to block new competition. Sure there are some regulations that seem to favor consumers-- such as price controls-- but these are a short-term benefit, and at the cost of reduced innovation. Far better to allow competition, and customer service will improve through market action rather than government rule-making.
"customer service will improve through market action"
Ever been somewhere where taxis appear to be completely unregulated? It can be a scary nightmare.
Why not enforce regulations on vehicle safety, accurate and fair charging and driver safety and remove the artificial restrictions on the number of people competing in the market? A lot of places outside of the US go with that approach and it can work pretty well.
Re: Taxi industry lawsuit against Uber transferred from state to US court
#40Why RICO? That is the part I don't quite get ...
They're just trying to throw the whole enchilada at Uber to make them either go away or somehow curb their practice. The recent Boston Globe Spotlight Team's expose on the taxi business in Boston, coupled with the fact that some of the larger taxi companies own limousine services will not help their cause. It's simple intimidation through litigation.