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Regulators Demanding Uber Price Increase to $75 Minimum in Vancouver

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Re: Regulators Demanding Uber Price Increase to $75 Minimum in Vancouver

#41

Post by wtvanhest »

steve8918 wrote: post #18

This is unfortunately turning into an example of "you can't fight City Hall". In a city like SF, where the taxi cab service is the worst I've ever experienced (empty taxis just driving past you, or never honoring a commitment to pick you up even if you call in), Uber is something that is necessary. But the status quo's long term experience with enforcing a monopoly through laws/regulations, etc, will make it really h…

"I'm sure there's a huge amount of interest for this in SF, and taxi service is so bad, you might even be able to make this an election issue. But other cities like Vancouver I'm sure don't have as bad of an issue, so it might be harder to make it an issue that politicians will take notice of."&

I've lived in Orlando, DC, SF (Santa Clara, but went to SF regularly) and Boston. All of those cities have major issues with cabs. My experience in NYC is better, but I have never lived there. At any rate, Uber is doing well, in part because cabs are terrible.

Re: Regulators Demanding Uber Price Increase to $75 Minimum in Vancouver

#42

Post by sillysaurus »

tomjen3 wrote: post #40

And this will go on until somebody starts to do violence in defence of these kinds of businesses. When enough taxi drivers gets shot, they will change their tone. //Legal disclaimer: the above is a disclaimer of fact and should not be read as inciting violence.

Violence begets violence. Violence doesn't solve anything unless you're an entity which can totally dominate another entity. And in this case, the entities we're talking about are (rather large) businesses. So applying violence in this domain is the surest way to undermine your own goals.

Re: Regulators Demanding Uber Price Increase to $75 Minimum in Vancouver

#43

Post by untog »

steve8918 wrote: post #18

This is unfortunately turning into an example of "you can't fight City Hall". In a city like SF, where the taxi cab service is the worst I've ever experienced (empty taxis just driving past you, or never honoring a commitment to pick you up even if you call in), Uber is something that is necessary. But the status quo's long term experience with enforcing a monopoly through laws/regulations, etc, will make it really h…

This is Uber's issue in a lot of places, I think. They're trying to apply the SF model to cities that doesn't care about it anywhere near as much. I rarely have issues getting a cab in NYC- at peak times you do have to wait, but 5-10 minutes- I doubt an Uber car would get there much quicker and would cost a ton more. I also had no issues getting cabs in Vancouver.

Re: Regulators Demanding Uber Price Increase to $75 Minimum in Vancouver

#44

Post by simonh »

anigbrowl wrote: post #37
simonh wrote: post #36

How about Uber set aside $20 per ride in a fund and issue customers with claim card, a bit like a store rewards card. If the law ever gets changed so that Uber can refund the money then they commit themselves to do so, perhaps up to a limit of 5 or 10 years. Soon the city will be full of people owed hundreds or thousands of dollars in refunds, a pretty solid reason to push for changes to the law, and demonstrate to t…

That's a clever concept.

Perhaps, but I'm not sure how practical it is. The high charges will reduce the number of people choosing Uber over their competitors, so they'd be giving up a competitive advantage and the higher margins that might offset it. On the other hand, if the legislation never gets changed they get to keep the money, hence the cut-off period.

I've not idea what the financial reporting implications of this might be.

Re: Regulators Demanding Uber Price Increase to $75 Minimum in Vancouver

#45

Post by freshhawk »

aneth4 wrote: post #29
freshhawk wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most common is fare scams (driving in circles, pricing scams and various types of extortion), assault and sexual assault. Then you have things like all the types of discrimination you can think of as well as safety issues (having seatbelts, having tires with tread on them) and so on.

Fare scams still occur on metered taxis, and these scams are any more widespread in taxis than any other industry. Nothing distinguishes transportation, from say, overpriced crappy old model cameras on Fisherman's Warf, Dead Sea cosmetics, or any other scam - other than that it's easy for the city to claim it needs to regulate. A simple licensing and complaint system is all that is necessary.

These things don't occur in a vacuum. Taxi's are more highly regulated because people demanded that "somebody do something" because things were pretty bad.

I definitely agree a better regulatory system is possible but pretending it would be easy or simple is silly.

Re: Regulators Demanding Uber Price Increase to $75 Minimum in Vancouver

#46

Post by aneth4 »

anigbrowl wrote: post #38
aneth4 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fare scams still occur on metered taxis, and these scams are any more widespread in taxis than any other industry. Nothing distinguishes transportation, from say, overpriced crappy old model cameras on Fisherman's Warf, Dead Sea cosmetics, or any other scam - other than that it's easy for the city to claim it needs to regulate. A simple licensing and complaint system is all that is necessary.

A simple licensing and complaint system is all that is necessary. That doesn't work very well for tourists, who are the most likely to be scammed, and whose money is highly desirable as it represents an input to the local economy.

It works just fine for tourists.

And regardless, creating a communist style fixed price centrally managed system is not the solution to tourists being scammed. It doesn't solve the problem, raises prices, and limits supply - it's a lose lose for everyone (except monopolists and city hall).

The regulatory framework is outdated and unnecessary.

Re: Regulators Demanding Uber Price Increase to $75 Minimum in Vancouver

#47

Post by aneth4 »

simonh wrote: post #36

How about Uber set aside $20 per ride in a fund and issue customers with claim card, a bit like a store rewards card. If the law ever gets changed so that Uber can refund the money then they commit themselves to do so, perhaps up to a limit of 5 or 10 years. Soon the city will be full of people owed hundreds or thousands of dollars in refunds, a pretty solid reason to push for changes to the law, and demonstrate to t…

Great idea. Puts the incentives in the right places.

Re: Regulators Demanding Uber Price Increase to $75 Minimum in Vancouver

#48

Post by freshhawk »

WildUtah wrote: post #30
freshhawk wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right. And the attitude that results in a taxi passenger bill of rights ( http://www.taxirights.gov.bc.ca/ ) is what makes Canada so clearly not Mexico City.

People who have read the Reglamento de Transporte del Distrito Federal would be astonished to learn that a taxi passenger bill of rights makes the difference between Mexico City and Canada. Especially astonished would be those who've read Chapter 5 Articles 33 and 34.

"the attitude that results in a taxi passenger bill of rights"

Those extra words do actually make quite a difference in what was meant. I was unclear in another way though, it's the attitude that results in both the laws being written and the laws being effectively enforced. That is an important part of the equation.

Re: Regulators Demanding Uber Price Increase to $75 Minimum in Vancouver

#49

Post by freshhawk »

aneth4 wrote: post #46
anigbrowl wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A simple licensing and complaint system is all that is necessary. That doesn't work very well for tourists, who are the most likely to be scammed, and whose money is highly desirable as it represents an input to the local economy.

It works just fine for tourists. And regardless, creating a communist style fixed price centrally managed system is not the solution to tourists being scammed. It doesn't solve the problem, raises prices, and limits supply - it's a lose lose for everyone (except monopolists and city hall). The regulatory framework is outdated and unnecessary.

New Yorkers disagree. New York's medallion system has resulted in a world class taxi ecosystem. There are other examples as well. Are there examples of equally good taxi ecosystems in cities without regulation? Or examples of negative consequences which outweigh the good but are not generally accounted for?

Evidence based arguments trump ideological arguments. You saying "it's a lose lose" or throwing the word "communist" in there doesn't tell me anything other than that I might be entering a religious argument instead of a reality based discussion.

Re: Regulators Demanding Uber Price Increase to $75 Minimum in Vancouver

#50

Post by graeham »

For those still following, "#ubervanlove" and "Uber" are trending on twitter in Vancouver right now.

Mayor Gregor Robertson (@MayorGregor) says: "Getting lots of @Uber_VAN tweets. City Hall not involved, BC govt appoints Passenger Transportation Board. #UberVanLove"

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