Ensuring a Level Playing Field for Rideshare
blog.lyft.com
Ensuring a Level Playing Field for Rideshare
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Re: Ensuring a Level Playing Field for Rideshare
#2The "gig economy" bites back. For those wondering, here is a breakdown of the TLC's implementations[1]. Without a doubt, Lyft is bemoaning "Minimum Driver Pay" where "Each app company will have its own rate, which will be set by TLC and adjusted periodically, and those with lower utilization rates will have to pay their drivers more per trip than companies with higher utilization rates."
While it's true that higher-utilization apps (like Uber) will have to pay their drivers less, this puts drivers in a position of power and Lyft in a position of higher driver demand. I think this is a good thing both for drivers and consumers. Drivers get to arbitrage working for either Uber or Lyft -- depending on the utilization/pay scale -- while being protected financially by the TLC's policies.
Lyft can cry wolf all it wants, but it's not as "small a player" as it makes itself out to be. By the way, this also protects new players in the space. These rules only apply to businesses doing, on average, 10,000 dispatches a day.
[1] https://www.chauffeurdriven.com/news-features/in-this-issue/...
Re: Ensuring a Level Playing Field for Rideshare
#3The "gig economy" bites back. For those wondering, here is a breakdown of the TLC's implementations[1]. Without a doubt, Lyft is bemoaning "Minimum Driver Pay" where "Each app company will have its own rate, which will be set by TLC and adjusted periodically, and those with lower utilization rates will have to pay their drivers more per trip than companies with higher utilization rates." While it's true that higher-u…
As a former driver I have to say lyfts logic is accurate. Also, why should a company with less dispatches be subjected to different rules from those that don't?? That's extremely anti-driver.
Re: Ensuring a Level Playing Field for Rideshare
#4The "gig economy" bites back. For those wondering, here is a breakdown of the TLC's implementations[1]. Without a doubt, Lyft is bemoaning "Minimum Driver Pay" where "Each app company will have its own rate, which will be set by TLC and adjusted periodically, and those with lower utilization rates will have to pay their drivers more per trip than companies with higher utilization rates." While it's true that higher-u…
This seems specifically targeted to give Uber an advantage over Lyft especially with the 10,000 dispatches rule. I’d also keep an eye on where the TLC commissioner ends up now that she’s resigned. Given all the corruption in NY, it wouldn’t surprise me at all to see her end up at Uber in the next few years.
Re: Ensuring a Level Playing Field for Rideshare
#5The "gig economy" bites back. For those wondering, here is a breakdown of the TLC's implementations[1]. Without a doubt, Lyft is bemoaning "Minimum Driver Pay" where "Each app company will have its own rate, which will be set by TLC and adjusted periodically, and those with lower utilization rates will have to pay their drivers more per trip than companies with higher utilization rates." While it's true that higher-u…
I don’t think Lyft is disputing some form of incentive to increase utilization. I think Lyft is asking a fair question: what’s the point of an incentive for utilization?
If the goal is to better society, in this case to better NYC congestion, then wouldn’t it make sense to incentivize companies to meet a single standardized level of utilization that is related to traffic patterns and congestion analysis?
In what way is a custom utilization rate based price good for the city? It would seem to build in a margin advantage to which ever company is already the volume leader, even if that company’s actual utilization in real terms is not at a level that meets society’s goals.
It feels honestly very much like Uber pulled strings for regulatory capture.
Re: Ensuring a Level Playing Field for Rideshare
#6The "gig economy" bites back. For those wondering, here is a breakdown of the TLC's implementations[1]. Without a doubt, Lyft is bemoaning "Minimum Driver Pay" where "Each app company will have its own rate, which will be set by TLC and adjusted periodically, and those with lower utilization rates will have to pay their drivers more per trip than companies with higher utilization rates." While it's true that higher-u…
I don’t think Lyft is disputing some form of incentive to increase utilization. I think Lyft is asking a fair question: what’s the point of an incentive for utilization? If the goal is to better society, in this case to better NYC congestion, then wouldn’t it make sense to incentivize companies to meet a single standardized level of utilization that is related to traffic patterns and congestion analysis? In what way…
Interesting timing on this related article: https://angel.co/blog/why-you-should-join-a-regulated-startu...
> In a recent talk at Columbia University, entrepreneur Steve Blank, along with Bradley Tusk, Uber's first head of policy, and Evan Burfield, author of Regulatory Hacking, discussed how some of the most exciting unicorns of the last 10 years have been launched in heavily regulated markets—and why they think that trend will only accelerate.
> ...
> Tusk—who'd made a career in New York politics working for Chuck Schumer and Michael Bloomberg—was experienced with these regulators. He leveraged his knowledge of NYC politics, along with Uber's massive user base, in what he gleefully described as “a vicious f$&@ing campaign” to flip the city council and halt regulation blocking Uber.
Re: Ensuring a Level Playing Field for Rideshare
#7The "gig economy" bites back. For those wondering, here is a breakdown of the TLC's implementations[1]. Without a doubt, Lyft is bemoaning "Minimum Driver Pay" where "Each app company will have its own rate, which will be set by TLC and adjusted periodically, and those with lower utilization rates will have to pay their drivers more per trip than companies with higher utilization rates." While it's true that higher-u…
Why can't the rate requirements be consistent city-wide and still have similar effect? Or, if the concern is really a flooded supply, have an incubation period that doesn't favor incumbents? Surely it's clear that a law favoring the more popular company based on demand alone is actually worse for drivers and consumers by reducing choice for both of them.
Re: Ensuring a Level Playing Field for Rideshare
#8The "gig economy" bites back. For those wondering, here is a breakdown of the TLC's implementations[1]. Without a doubt, Lyft is bemoaning "Minimum Driver Pay" where "Each app company will have its own rate, which will be set by TLC and adjusted periodically, and those with lower utilization rates will have to pay their drivers more per trip than companies with higher utilization rates." While it's true that higher-u…
As a former driver I have to say lyfts logic is accurate. Also, why should a company with less dispatches be subjected to different rules from those that don't?? That's extremely anti-driver.
The general logic is that larger players have more economies of scale so making regs apply to all makes it even harder on the small guys.
Re: Ensuring a Level Playing Field for Rideshare
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
As a former driver I have to say lyfts logic is accurate. Also, why should a company with less dispatches be subjected to different rules from those that don't?? That's extremely anti-driver.
The general logic is that larger players have more economies of scale so making regs apply to all makes it even harder on the small guys.
Except in this case it’s the reverse. The larger players, which have it far easier in terms of utilization rate, are rewarded more than smaller players working their tails off to reach better, but not best, utilization.
So it’s even worse than applying a single rate to all and tacitly advatanging larger players. It’s actively basing that advantage on largeness.
Re: Ensuring a Level Playing Field for Rideshare
#10> Examples of this back and forth that have benefited drivers include Lyft’s pioneering in-app tipping and instant payments for drivers, features Uber has since copied.
In—app tipping is the worst thing that ever happened to ride share services.