An Uber Impact • Hacker News Board

Re: An Uber Impact

#61

Post by HistoryInAction » Wed, May 28, 2014, 11:53 AM UTC

andreasklinger wrote: post #30

In this thread everyone discusses the actual numbers. The numbers are not the interesting thing here - Uber seems to get battle-ready for lobby-work. These numbers - correct or not - will be the ammunition their PR and lobby teams will use in the next months.

Absolutely correct, which is why it looks like an infographic, not a research paper.

But those of us here can parse the language quite closely and get some actual information out of it, as well as noting the use of shadows to hide and reveal.

Re: An Uber Impact

#62

Post by asmithmd1 » Wed, May 28, 2014, 11:56 AM UTC

sbisker wrote: post #24

fishtoaster wrote: post #17

20k jobs created? Is hired car use really going up that much? If I had to guess, I'd say a handful of new jobs are created while the rest are just taken from existing taxi companies. Not that I think there's anything wrong with that. I just think the stat is pretty misleading.

Keep in mind that the number of taxis on the road - and thus the number of jobs - is limited in many cities to the number of "medallions" issued (which represents the number of taxis that can be operating in the city at the same time.) In major cities like SF and NY, the number of drivers is almost certainly actually increasing, as Uber has basically rendered the medallion (and the protection it provides) somewhere n…

Uber is a great service - head and shoulders above the entrenched taxi industry. Customers like them better, the drivers like them better; but they are lucky that Goldman Sachs had never created a medallion investment vehicle. If upper middle class doctors and lawyers had seen a drop in investment return you know Uber's "stealing" from the medallion holders would have been stopped.

"In Seattle the number of arrests for DUI to decrease by more than 10 percent." They better be careful here. If they start cutting significantly into state regulators revenue stream they will be stopped.

Uber's best bet is a "negotiated settlement" with local and state authorities to kick-back some of the cash they are diverting.

Re: An Uber Impact

#63

Post by vampirechicken » Wed, May 28, 2014, 3:41 PM UTC

90k is not much in NYC when you take into account how much a driver will need to spend to maintain a car that does livery all day long in NYC.

Re: An Uber Impact

#64

Post by avelis » Wed, May 28, 2014, 5:55 PM UTC

ehurrell wrote: post #53

avelis wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would give it up to their data science and machine learning team. They turned an idea into an executional reality and optimized it like no other. I just heard Kevin Novak (@novakkm) speak @ Geekdom SF and he shared the approach he took along their journey.

Is this talk available online anywhere? I'd love to hear it, or at least a broad-strokes summary.

Here was the event page. http://www.meetup.com/SF-Data-Science/events/183290442/

No video up yet. I think it should be up soon. If I see it come up I will link it as a new post.