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Massachusetts to tax ride-hailing apps, give the money to taxis

reuters.com

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Re: Massachusetts to tax ride-hailing apps, give the money to taxis

#41

Post by maverick_iceman »

raziel414 wrote: post #33
AndyNemmity wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never seen a successful government app, certainly there must be one. Does anyone know of a reasonably useful government app? It's hard enough for normal tech to create useful apps, let alone the over expensive bogged down government.

I can provide an example. I live in Seattle, and use "One Bus Away" everyday. It provides a map showing of all the public bus stops, and real time estimates for bus arrivals at each stop.

One Bus Away was developed by University of Washington students, not government bureaucrats.

Re: Massachusetts to tax ride-hailing apps, give the money to taxis

#42

Post by dsacco »

0xFFC wrote: post #27
rev_bird wrote: post #2

This is a pretty surreal move: >The law says the money will help taxi businesses to adopt "new technologies and advanced service, safety and operational capabilities" and to support workforce development... [Larry Meister, manager of the Boston area's Independent Taxi Operator's Association] said the money could go toward improving a smartphone app his association has started using, or to other big needs. I'm not an…

> I don't want to see cab drivers turn into homeless drifters This is wrong. This is exactly how they want you to think. Cab drivers are not going to become homeless or jobless, they will work(drive) for a new companies(I agree if market is healthy enough, which is not).But they frame the issue kind of like "losing job" and "becoming homeless" just because they don't want to change. (I said cab drivers because it is…

It doesn't make sense to say, "Except for [subset of policy a], I am 100% in favor of [policy a], but for [subset of policy a] I am 100% in favor of [policy b]."

That's like saying, "Except for my student loans, I am 100% debt free." It muddles your point.

Just a nit.

Re: Massachusetts to tax ride-hailing apps, give the money to taxis

#43

Post by toomuchtodo »

MicroBerto wrote: post #39

Sounds like time for some politicians to get voted out of office. Voters may not care about certain things, but they definitely care about their transportation.

Working class folks care more about their jobs than Uber's profits (rightfully so).

Re: Massachusetts to tax ride-hailing apps, give the money to taxis

#44

Post by yazaddaruvala »

maverick_iceman wrote: post #32
acidburnNSA wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mostly agree with you, and I would have wholeheartedly agreed with you 2 weeks ago, but I just read a book ("Listen, Liberal" by Thomas Frank) that makes some interesting points about how liberals have shifted from representing working people to representing professionals, and to worshiping innovation. While free trade and disruptive technology is good for the professional class, it inherently increases inequality.…

Hmm, if liberals are so pro-business then why Bernie has so many fans?

There is an argument that Bernie is a socialist and almost everyone that cares about Bernie is too. However, when it comes to American political parties, like the "modern" Sith, there can only be two!

Re: Massachusetts to tax ride-hailing apps, give the money to taxis

#45

Post by Azkar »

JoshTriplett wrote: post #23
cloudjacker wrote: post #20

During periods of extremely high surge pricing, I take regulated taxis instead. At first I think, 'wow I love competition its such a good thing this alternative service was around' but then I try to pay the cab driver, here is the experience in 2016: - The meter system is broken - The cab driver presses buttons frantically on a black box before resorting to hitting it in hopes that it responds to external stimuli - T…

> The cab driver is unsure how to process credit cards Or, quite frequently, the cab driver doesn't want to process credit cards and are you sure you don't have cash?

If the taxi even shows up at all...

Re: Massachusetts to tax ride-hailing apps, give the money to taxis

#46

Post by [deleted] »

dsacco wrote: post #42
0xFFC wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't want to see cab drivers turn into homeless drifters This is wrong. This is exactly how they want you to think. Cab drivers are not going to become homeless or jobless, they will work(drive) for a new companies(I agree if market is healthy enough, which is not).But they frame the issue kind of like "losing job" and "becoming homeless" just because they don't want to change. (I said cab drivers because it is…

It doesn't make sense to say, "Except for [subset of policy a], I am 100% in favor of [policy a], but for [subset of policy a] I am 100% in favor of [policy b]." That's like saying, "Except for my student loans, I am 100% debt free." It muddles your point. Just a nit.

[deleted]

Re: Massachusetts to tax ride-hailing apps, give the money to taxis

#47

Post by dharmon »

acidburnNSA wrote: post #14
rev_bird wrote: post #2

This is a pretty surreal move: >The law says the money will help taxi businesses to adopt "new technologies and advanced service, safety and operational capabilities" and to support workforce development... [Larry Meister, manager of the Boston area's Independent Taxi Operator's Association] said the money could go toward improving a smartphone app his association has started using, or to other big needs. I'm not an…

I mostly agree with you, and I would have wholeheartedly agreed with you 2 weeks ago, but I just read a book ("Listen, Liberal" by Thomas Frank) that makes some interesting points about how liberals have shifted from representing working people to representing professionals, and to worshiping innovation. While free trade and disruptive technology is good for the professional class, it inherently increases inequality.…

The book The Box talks about longshoremen unions fighting the age of shipping containers and the unemployment it caused by eliminating the need for manually packing ships.

The solution that worked best were unions that accepted this path was inevitable, and instead of insisting on setting fire to the ship, negotiated transition payments for soon-to-be unemployed longshoremen. Essentially phasing out their jobs, giving them time to find other jobs or what-have-you.

The worst outcomes were ports that refused to accept the inevitable and doomed not only their entire union, but often the entire port industry for their town. For example, New York refusing to play ball, giving rise to New Jersey as a replacement port.

Re: Massachusetts to tax ride-hailing apps, give the money to taxis

#49

Post by Dylan16807 »

AndyNemmity wrote: post #35
xname2 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

uber is not a taxi company

Just googled Taxi Service. Uber is the third listing under Yellow Cab, and Discount Cab. Looking at Uber's SEO, they have a lot of listings like "Request taxi cabs from your phone with uberTAXI" on their home page in the source. 52 entries. Strange for a company that isn't a taxi company to advertise their taxis.

Wanting to show up when you search for taxi doesn't tell you if it's a taxi. Like a cable company showing up when you search DSL, it's not strange at all.

UberTAXI gets you non-uber taxi cars, more or less. That's not their main service, and doesn't tell you whether their main service is a taxi service.

Re: Massachusetts to tax ride-hailing apps, give the money to taxis

#50

Post by vanattab »

acidburnNSA wrote: post #14
rev_bird wrote: post #2

This is a pretty surreal move: >The law says the money will help taxi businesses to adopt "new technologies and advanced service, safety and operational capabilities" and to support workforce development... [Larry Meister, manager of the Boston area's Independent Taxi Operator's Association] said the money could go toward improving a smartphone app his association has started using, or to other big needs. I'm not an…

I mostly agree with you, and I would have wholeheartedly agreed with you 2 weeks ago, but I just read a book ("Listen, Liberal" by Thomas Frank) that makes some interesting points about how liberals have shifted from representing working people to representing professionals, and to worshiping innovation. While free trade and disruptive technology is good for the professional class, it inherently increases inequality.…

What is so bad about income inequality? What is important is standard of living rises and there is a reasonable economic mobility.
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