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Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

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Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#791

Post by kmlx »

yoelo wrote: post #584
AgloeDreams wrote: post #461

Earlier quoted context omitted.

'Ridesharing' (Which is a hilarious term for the simple fact that the ride is not being shared, the driver is not intending to go to your favorite bar. ) isn't a 21st century situation or solution. It's not a profitable or a good force in an economy, it does not pay a reasonable wage for anyone to live on, it is not environmentally friendly unless done in large quantities of people,(which is called a bus). Ridesharin…

Exactly. Uber and Lyft are a 19th century labor situation which masks itself by using 21st century technology

by giving drivers the right to turn the app off at any time?

when did that happen in the 19th century?

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#793

Post by totalZero »

electricviolet wrote: post #662
woeirua wrote: post #29

I suspect that California is going to backpedal on this pretty quickly. Uber and Lyft are popular. Going back to taxis is going to be very unpopular. IMO, if the California Republican party was smart they would make this a wedge issue in the next election. "Elect us, and we'll make it possible to use Uber again."

A couple of years ago, the Quebec government introduced additional restrictions on ridesharing companies. Uber got up on their soapbox and said they were pulling out of Quebec. The government called their bluff and basically said "Okay, bye" and Uber backpedaled. I wouldn't be surprised if the same thing happens here.

This happened in Sep 2017. Then, the transport minister for Quebec changed in Oct 2017, and Uber said later in Oct that they would not pull out because they saw an opportunity for constructive dialogue with the new transport minister. By the time Bill 17 was passed in 2019 and Uber became officially legal beyond its pilot project, taxi drivers were protesting the Quebec government's actions.

https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/uber-is-officially-allowed-in-qu...

I wouldn't describe what happened in Quebec as a loss for Uber.

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#794

Post by bgorman »

pottertheotter wrote: post #122
bgorman wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The heart of the issue is big labor unions want more power, and independent contractor status is a threat to their power.

Can you provide some sources on this? Would like to read about it.

Here is where the primary AB5 bill sponsors get their money:

https://www.followthemoney.org/entity-details?eid=37194&defa...

https://www.followthemoney.org/entity-details?eid=133178&def...

List of all sponsors:

https://legiscan.com/CA/sponsors/AB5/2019

As you can see "Labor" is by far the biggest sponsor to the politicans who pushed through this initiative.

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#795

Post by setgree »

kxyvr wrote: post #456
setgree wrote: post #383

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why I think it was a mistake for the ACA to limit catastrophic care to people under 30 (unless you get a hardship waiver [0]). That policy makes the cheapest non-job insurance that a lot of people can get cost >$500/month, whereas a catastrophic plan costs a lot less (about $120/month when I had such a plan in 2016). For a lot of people who drive Lyft, catastrophic care could be a good fit, e.g. people in bet…

Where do you see those numbers? ACA offers catastrophic plans to those under 30 and they're not nearly that expensive. I just did a quick check for someone with no subsidy in San Fransisco using the age of 25 and a catastrophic plan from Oscar showed up at $223.46/month. This includes zero subsidy. Using a $30k income and rerunning the numbers, a bronze plan form Kaiser with subsidy comes out at $47.83/month. Look, I…

Sorry if this wasn't clear -- I'm saying that I wish that catastrophic plans were available to people over 30 as well.

My numbers are based on my own experiences shopping for healthcare in an ACA exchange in NY.

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#796

Post by maps7 »

BobbyJo wrote: post #776
jedberg wrote: post #755

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You've clearly never tried to use a taxi in California.

Or anywhere, in my experience. I've never had a taxi experience that wasn't terrible. Even before Uber and Lyft came along. That includes several different cities.

In Ireland, Uber has never been allowed. Taxis are pretty good. We use an app called "Free Now" (Previously "MyTaxi", previously "Hailo") where we can book a taxi and pay through the app. It's more expensive than Uber but it's regulated so always feels pretty safe.

We also have some strict laws like a taxi must produce a receipt if you request one etc

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#797

Post by Daishiman »

bgorman wrote: post #522
Daishiman wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Labor unions in the US are comparatively powerless next to countries with actual, functional unions that are quite capable of striking, and have little lobby. No, the heart of the issue is definitely the dismal state of health care in the US.

Joe Biden, who many believe will be the next US president has stated "I am a union man, plain and simple". His whole political career has basically been bankrolled by labor unions. If that doesn't indicate the power labor unions have in the US, I don't know what else does. Teachers Unions, UAW, and the AFLCIO are pretty much the strongest lobbies in America.

The campaign contributions of many other industry interest groups dwarfs those other interests, and that is evidently obvious when looking at the policies of the Democratic party, which would not even be a center left moderate party in most EU countries with actually strong labor interests.

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#798

Post by mike00632 »

crondung wrote: post #534
tehwebguy wrote: post #460

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah I am fairly sure it's a straight up lie! Just because someone is an employee doesn't mean the employer can't give them flexible hours

if you pick your own hours and your own pickups, you are not anyone's employee -you by definition are your own boss. to be an employee, you have to have your hours and your work defined by your employer. employers tell you what work to do and when to do it. flexible hours don't work when at 4pm on tuesday dispatch yells you to pick someone up. california is forcing all rideshare contractors to be employees. that's no…

What if you can't choose the price, you don't know the details of the work before accepting and get punished for not doing enough work?

That doesn't sound very independent to me.

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#799

Post by black3r »

Not being from the US the only thing I don't understand is why does CA expect taxi drivers to be employees?

Here in Slovakia even regular taxi drivers can be independent contractors and it's perfectly OK with the law, a lot of taxi drivers here even ride for multiple companies (regular taxi dispatchers, uber, bolt, their own prices for longer trips)

Re: Rideshare operations are being suspended in California

#800

Post by paulmd »

cactus2093 wrote: post #604
AgloeDreams wrote: post #461

Earlier quoted context omitted.

'Ridesharing' (Which is a hilarious term for the simple fact that the ride is not being shared, the driver is not intending to go to your favorite bar. ) isn't a 21st century situation or solution. It's not a profitable or a good force in an economy, it does not pay a reasonable wage for anyone to live on, it is not environmentally friendly unless done in large quantities of people,(which is called a bus). Ridesharin…

I agree with you on one point, "ridesharing" is a silly word. I would call it something like an "Open Car Service". The main reason I can't get on board with the rest of this line of argument is that it ultimately just comes down to paternalistic protection of the poor disenfranchised gig workers that you clearly view as being less than capable, rational adult humans. The number of gig economy workers has been growin…

> I agree with you on one point, "ridesharing" is a silly word. I would call it something like an "Open Car Service".

Let's not beat around the bush, the appropriate term already exists, it's called a "taxi service". The fact that the taxi operators provide their own vehicles is not novel.

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