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In Brooklyn, Uber is now bigger than taxis

toddwschneider.com

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Re: In Brooklyn, Uber is now bigger than taxis

#81

Post by bogomipz »

vkou wrote: post #78
bogomipz wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed I imagine this will happen sooner than later. Taxis in New York City actually have a "rush hour" surcharge of $4.50 from 4:00PM to 8:00PM on weekdays.You will pay this for taking a taxi to the airport which is not served by any single train line. Just another example of the city sticking it to it's own citizen who already pay decent city tax.

What? Not served by any single train line? I've always taken the train to and from JFK. Also, airport-related taxes are disproportionately paid by visitors, rather than residents.

In order to take the train to the airport you need to take the E train to Jamaica station. From there you will need to exit the underground an go upstairs and buy an $8 dollar ticket on AirTran. This is a separate purchase and a separate train line. Your monthly card will not cover this "special train."

I wasn't referring to airport-related taxes, I was referring to the taxi surcharge to take a taxi to the airport during rush hours. Of course airport related taxes are disproportionately paid by visitors. Its one of the most visited places in the world. Why is that relevant?

Re: In Brooklyn, Uber is now bigger than taxis

#82

Post by ch4s3 »

hx87 wrote: post #64
TeMPOraL wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

High turnover would be my guess. The rude driver you see is on his way out, only to be quickly replaced by another one.

I wonder if it would be possible (and legal) to use machine learning algorithms to determine which driver applicants are likely to have low ratings.

You probably just discover that the key factor was how much they get paid.

Re: In Brooklyn, Uber is now bigger than taxis

#83

Post by vkou »

bogomipz wrote: post #81
vkou wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What? Not served by any single train line? I've always taken the train to and from JFK. Also, airport-related taxes are disproportionately paid by visitors, rather than residents.

In order to take the train to the airport you need to take the E train to Jamaica station. From there you will need to exit the underground an go upstairs and buy an $8 dollar ticket on AirTran. This is a separate purchase and a separate train line. Your monthly card will not cover this "special train." I wasn't referring to airport-related taxes, I was referring to the taxi surcharge to take a taxi to the airport du…

AirTrain is also responsible for getting you around the terminals. You can't expect the subway to have a stop at each terminal. $8 is steep, but it is essentially an airport fee.

Who pays airport-related taxes is relevant to this conversation - you were talking about residents getting tax-gouged when they had to go to the airport.

Re: In Brooklyn, Uber is now bigger than taxis

#84

Post by ethanbond »

vkou wrote: post #76
ThomPete wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't believe it will take that long.

Solving the self-driving car problem in busy urban centers is vastly more difficult then solving it for freeway driving. (Where this technology still manages to fail in a very spectacular way.)

Never mind solving the self-driving car problem in the thousands of legislatures throughout the US alone.

Re: In Brooklyn, Uber is now bigger than taxis

#85

Post by ethanbond »

febbered wrote: post #53
ethanbond wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The UI does show you if the driver is finishing a ride near you Ever consider what that means on the opposite end? Let's say you're an inpatient person (not a rarity in Manhattan). What happens when you call your Uber driver? Shockingly, he must now answer a call with another rider in the car. Effectively: making the ride less safe, making the ride less personal, cutting off any conversation, cutting off last minut…

All fair. Just pointing out that this: > Recommended pickup locations -> No longer door to door? is not currently true for uberX. If you're inferring that uber is headed that way, well, maybe. But it's not so presently.

No, UberX does give recommended pickup locations. It just did it to me two days ago in London and has done it several times in Manhattan. It doesn't force you to use them, but that's why I said it's a recommended location.

Re: In Brooklyn, Uber is now bigger than taxis

#86

Post by awad »

HoyaSaxa wrote: post #66

Uber really doesn't have that great of a value proposition in NYC IMHO. While Uber provides a huge value add in most markets via markedly lower rates and the convenience of not finding a taxi, this is not the case in NYC. Drivers still need to be licensed by the taxi commission so rides end up being more or less the same cost all in with the 20% tip as a normal yellow cab. More importantly, a cab is often the worst w…

Ever try to take a cab to Flatbush at 2AM?

Re: In Brooklyn, Uber is now bigger than taxis

#87

Post by vkou »

ethanbond wrote: post #84
vkou wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Solving the self-driving car problem in busy urban centers is vastly more difficult then solving it for freeway driving. (Where this technology still manages to fail in a very spectacular way.)

Never mind solving the self-driving car problem in the thousands of legislatures throughout the US alone.

I think if it can be solved in California, Texas, and at the federal level, the rest will follow suit.

Self-driving taxi legislature, on the other hand, will be a different can of worms.

In our current economic system, no city in its right mind will be interested in seeing robots funnel money directly from its residents to a VC fund.

Re: In Brooklyn, Uber is now bigger than taxis

#88

Post by sdenton4 »

jasonbarone wrote: post #50
ethanbond wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Important point: while costing to the customer the same, if not more. The result? Uber operating at huge losses. The result of that? Well, austerity measures. You can already see the signs of Uber starting to clamp down and make their service worse and worse. Recommended pickup locations -> No longer door to door? Assigning next rides before the previous one has completed -> No longer "feeling like a baller" while yo…

Fair points but let me add a few things to consider as well: "Uber operating at huge losses... service worse and worse." I don't agree here, the service is much better than before. Even with the introduction of uberpool, the service has stayed nearly the same for me in NY, and especially here in SF, while the cost has cut over 50% or more. If you follow Uber closely you can see they're investing into the company to c…

Uber is only ahead if those side bets, like Eats, actually pay off.

Also worth asking: Are the price reductions you've seen real, or the result of burning dumpsters of cash in the price war with Lyft?

Re: In Brooklyn, Uber is now bigger than taxis

#89

Post by stuxnet79 »

imagist wrote: post #74

Brooklynite here. In theory, I want to be behind taxi drivers. They're a local business owners with ties in the community, and I would rather support them than a Silicon Valley startup with a questionable stance on privacy and poor treatment of their workers. In reality though, taxis need to fix a few issues: 1. I don't need to be able to hail a cab anywhere--I can't really hail Ubers, either. But if I call a cab, I'…

> I've gotten in the habit of flagging cabs for black people, and even after the cab stops, sometimes when they realize that it's a black person getting in the cab instead of me, they drive off.

Good on you. This is terrible - I've never been to NYC but I always hear from black people down there how difficult it is to flag a cab. Wasn't aware that it was still happening to this extent in 2016. The fact that the cab stops and then it drives away right after they find out it's not you entering is disgusting. To be honest I'd rather they drive away than I give my hard earned money to a person or corporation that clearly looks down on me and hates me to such an extent that they are willing to NOT take my money. You say Uber offers a solution to this - what is it? Meh, maybe I'm pessimistic but I don't believe any company (not even AirBnb) can provide enough incentives to mitigate this kind of stuff happening.

Re: In Brooklyn, Uber is now bigger than taxis

#90

Post by theorique »

ethanbond wrote: post #28
solutionyogi wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>> Recommended pickup locations -> No longer door to door? Assigning next rides before the previous one has completed -> No longer "feeling like a baller" while your driver is fielding calls from other customers with you still in the car Above is applicable only if you use UberPool. It's a great way to save money.

Nope. I've had one of the above (or both) happen for all 5 of my most recent Manhattan UberX rides. To be clear, I'm not talking about someone joining your UberPool ride. I'm cool with that, I chose Pool after all. I'm talking about how now, Uber will assign your current driver to his next rider before your ride has ended. As in, he will drop you off and he will already have been assigned the next rider to pick up. I…

I like the optimization, I don't like the fact that then the next rider will start calling the driver asking where he is/why he's going this direction/why he's taking so long etc.

That's barely different from the usual experience where the driver is jabbering away in Kreyol or Punjabi on his headset while the customer is in the back seat trying to tune it out.

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