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Google to launch ride-sharing service "far cheaper" than Uber
- Thread starter Guevara
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LordRaptor
Member
Their business model is also likely to be very different; Uber (or anyone else) will be 'taxing' driver fees, Google will be selling premium ads to places like restaurants where your 10% off lunch coupon includes a pickup to take you there
Elfotografoalocado
Banned
Yep, unlike Uber which casualizes and makes precarious a legit job, BlaBlaCar is a good example of a sharing economy and is commendable. The same way Americans have eBay and in Spain we have Wallapop and MilAnuncios, Craiglist being the only substitute in the US. (And very creepy)
boiled goose
good with gravy
Foxy the Fox
Member
Damn, I am working on a startup that does the same thing (carpooling) but focused on colleges and universities in third world countries.
Ether_Snake
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More competition for Uber is good, and it will remove some of the regulatory pressure that is unwarranted to begin with. Drivers can use multiple apps easily too.
Hopefully all regulations regarding incentivized car pooling are eventually removed, they are a net benefit to society unlike regular car usage.
The "it's for people who just want to pick someone up along the way" thing is PR bullshit though.
Hopefully all regulations regarding incentivized car pooling are eventually removed, they are a net benefit to society unlike regular car usage.
The "it's for people who just want to pick someone up along the way" thing is PR bullshit though.
The Albatross
Member
Seems less of an Uber model (e.g., Driver & Passenger, mimicking a taxi service), and more of a group carpooling commuting community. There's definitely inherent risk involved though, but it seems clear that Google does not intend for this to be someone's job, and that the rates are low enough that you wouldn't be making any real money on this, but it's sort of a "If you're going this way anyway, why not have 2 people in the car and it'll pay for gas," sort of thing.
The risk can be high for any immature service. A successfully run program would be a legitimately huge game changer for urban travel...cutting down on traffic, pollution, reducing overloaded public transportation, etc., but I just doubt it'll ever really get off the ground.
It seems clear that Google would also be using this as a test-bed for a driverless program in the future, gathering commuter data to create a smart network of road-based commuting options. They have a lot of that data already from Google Maps, but this would reveal more potential consumer habits to go along with that data.
The risk can be high for any immature service. A successfully run program would be a legitimately huge game changer for urban travel...cutting down on traffic, pollution, reducing overloaded public transportation, etc., but I just doubt it'll ever really get off the ground.
It seems clear that Google would also be using this as a test-bed for a driverless program in the future, gathering commuter data to create a smart network of road-based commuting options. They have a lot of that data already from Google Maps, but this would reveal more potential consumer habits to go along with that data.
therealist
Member
I like how they are not paying these drivers a living wage and spin it into a positive thing.
I don't understand why anyone would want to share their car with a stranger for probably less than 50 cents on the mile. Everyone is complaining that drivers aren't vetted, but it's not like they are vetting riders. The risk as a driver is really not worth the reward.
How long is it going to take to get a ride? Uber is good for instant service. But if I feel like going to a baseball game, what are the odds that someone in my neighborhood feels like driving downtown at exactly the same time as me? This just seems to rely on highly situational coincidences. It might be useful for long road trips that you plan in advance, but I'll bet people do not have the patience to use it like Uber.
How long is it going to take to get a ride? Uber is good for instant service. But if I feel like going to a baseball game, what are the odds that someone in my neighborhood feels like driving downtown at exactly the same time as me? This just seems to rely on highly situational coincidences. It might be useful for long road trips that you plan in advance, but I'll bet people do not have the patience to use it like Uber.
Eh, this was already happening. Google is just making it easier for more people now.
There's nothing to preclude people from offering more once in person
Ether_Snake
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People are free not to "work" for them. The living wage thing is a misguided complaint; the government should be providing you with the necessary safety net. Put the pressure on the government instead.
And, you can always tip them you know, like in restaurants. /eyeroll
LordRaptor
Member
Uber is cheaper than taxis because it bypasses all sorts of legislative and regulatory requirements that traditional taxi services have to adhere to.
If you want to make a living as a taxi driver, you should probably be an actual taxi driver.
Ether_Snake
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Those dumb regulations shouldn't exist to begin with. Taxi industry is based on a very outdated model. There are too many cars now. Regulations should be for safety and the environment, same ones all drivers have. Anyone can offer anyone else a ride for free, just cause they pay you doesn't mean you should be faced with a bunch of regulations. All those regulations do is increase costs for the drivers and push them to compensate by having to do more hours.
Also, if you are a taxi driver you lose the flexibility these services give you: you can't stop to do something else such as working in a friend's business for a week, you can't stop to go see your wife because she needs help with something, you can't use your car for every day use, and if you had another job and you lost it you couldn't help make ends meet by doing a bit of driving.
Taxi drivers should be helped to move out of the trap they're in, not shove others into this awful business.
The regulations don't help the taxi driver or the consumer.
You can exploit labour for much more. Just less good paying jobs ​for all
Vetting drivers and letting people know how pricing works doesn't help the consumer?
You've just described nearly every job ever and then claimed Uber was better because you aren't guaranteed anything.... then called it freedom.
It's also the freedom not to make a living wage.
Artificially limiting the amount of taxi cab drivers via medallion's and taxi cab licenses definitely doesn't help the consumer or potential taxi cab driver. It only helped existing cab drivers historically and it doesn't help them now because now people skipped applying for a medallion's part and work for Uber.
LordRaptor
Member
Ether_Snake
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"Oh no vetting, how dangerous!"
Really? I would trust users over a corporation's own voluntary vetting of its employees. Plus with this vetting stuff, it leads directly to "no job if you had a criminal record, and we'll drug test everyone!". Give me a break, do we vet food delivery folks, UPS employees, people who do carpooling for free?
"Living wage" is a non-issue, it's for the government to do its job and guarantee everyone the capacity to not be dependent on having a job to survive. People keep shifting the blame on companies, but it's the government you should pressure.
And people always use "Uber" to make their cases, but not every other company that essentially does or are about to do the same.
Nice to see that once more competition emerges those arguments will become a thing of the past, and discussions will shift to the government's own responsibilities rather than arguing to turn everything into a full time job. If a maid could live working only 20 hours a week thanks to government's funding of the person's necessities, that would be an improvement, not a loss. You guys are arguing for the maid to work at least twice (if not more) as many hours and asking a business to pay for those necessities, making the maid dependent on a corporation. How mean.
Really? I would trust users over a corporation's own voluntary vetting of its employees. Plus with this vetting stuff, it leads directly to "no job if you had a criminal record, and we'll drug test everyone!". Give me a break, do we vet food delivery folks, UPS employees, people who do carpooling for free?
"Living wage" is a non-issue, it's for the government to do its job and guarantee everyone the capacity to not be dependent on having a job to survive. People keep shifting the blame on companies, but it's the government you should pressure.
And people always use "Uber" to make their cases, but not every other company that essentially does or are about to do the same.
Nice to see that once more competition emerges those arguments will become a thing of the past, and discussions will shift to the government's own responsibilities rather than arguing to turn everything into a full time job. If a maid could live working only 20 hours a week thanks to government's funding of the person's necessities, that would be an improvement, not a loss. You guys are arguing for the maid to work at least twice (if not more) as many hours and asking a business to pay for those necessities, making the maid dependent on a corporation. How mean.
doctordoak
Member
Agree. This whole thing seems like a legal/liability nightmare for Google
If you are arguing for a Universal Basic income, I would largely agree. However, barring that business models like Uber should be illegal, as it is today.
It should guarantee a living wage, full benefits, and they should pay payroll taxes.
When/if that happens, the argument becomes moot, because Uber is then basically just a taxi company with a nice looking app.
UnemployedVillain
Member
Won't this require people to work a specific number of hours then? I never understood the need for Uber to make a driver wide change from contractor to full employee. Maybe if it was an option, as a number of people do work a significant number of hours using Uber, but it seems like it would prevent those who only casually work from time to time to make extra
Ether_Snake
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"I agree with universe basic income, but Uber should pay a living wage, making UBI pointless."
UBI won't gonna happen if people keep pushing for companies to be the ones people have to depend on to live, like you're doing with your reasoning. You are going to ruin people's lives supporting that.
You Are Viewtiful
Member
I'd only hitchhike from people with a lot of reviews. It sounds like a great idea though. There are so many single occupant cars on the road, it was never sustainable.
UBI isn't going to happen in the next 10 years, period.
In the mean time... we should push for what we can get.
You Are Viewtiful
Member
It says Google is not earning any cut of the revenue so let's save the "exploitation of labour" junk for another thread. Cheap fares will be great for the people who can least afford it and this will be great for the environment and the planet.
jetsetnickradio
Member
Wait, is tipping Uber drivers customary like tipping servers, hair stylists, etc?
I just started at a new job last week and I've been taking Ubers home from work since it's too far to walk. This is the first I've ever used Uber and I haven't noticed any tipping options in the app; just the ability to rate the drivers.
I just started at a new job last week and I've been taking Ubers home from work since it's too far to walk. This is the first I've ever used Uber and I haven't noticed any tipping options in the app; just the ability to rate the drivers.
Coriolanus
Banned
some states managed to force that horrid custom into the thing, but mostly no.
NullPointer
Member
True, but for now I'll stick with cabs.
Cab drivers get background checks, they know the city and the streets instead of being shackled to their GPS, and at least they used to have systems in place to make it a decent career and retirement, until these new gig-based systems came along.
I used Uberpool once to give it a try with my morning commute, and it cost twice as much as a cab. Was flabbergasted.
You Are Viewtiful
Member
No, you don't need to tip on Uber (nor is it possible on the app). Some people give cash tips but it's not necessary. I think Lyft has the option of giving tips.
But that's just the problem, in the current model it makes no sense to do what you are asking. Just because someone wants to do something as a job doesn't really imply they should be paid a certain amount. If I made an app that connects people to lemonade stands and allows them to pay for it suddenly I'm on the hook to make sure you can meet your daily expenses because you quit your other job to do it full time?
Like two years ago.
D
Deleted member 1235
Unconfirmed Member
pondering my work lease car and work trips between 2 big cities....
Are you employing people to work at your lemonade stand? Then yes.
You are getting into the argument of "what is an employee".
Uber argues that it's drivers are not employees because they don't have to work at any given time or on any given day, but labor lawyers argue that they are employees, because Uber sets their wages, and demands that they do their job in particular ways.
Taken to its logical conclusion, many employers could do this and say "Jim doesn't HAVE to work here, it's not my fault he decided to work at this job for $2/hr 7 days per week".
Minimum wage laws, payroll taxes, etc imply that if you do a job, any job, you should be paid a certain amount with a certain amount of benefits.
In a simple way, I would argue you have largely conceded my point without realizing it by referring to driving for Uber as a job, rather than "becoming an entrepreneur starting your own driving business as an independent contractor for Uber". You are correct, driving for Uber is a type of job, ergo it's drivers are a type of employee, ergo they should ensure minimum wage and pay payroll taxes.
So you're cool with having a registered sex offender driving you places?
Giving users the ability to rate drivers as a form of vetting is a bad idea. What's to stop a user from discriminating against minority drivers?
Ether_Snake
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There are too many cars, and cars have a terrible ROI! You can't robotically apply the same line of thinking to everything without looking at the details. For example here a town decided to use Uber as their public transport service, because buying buses for a little town would have been inefficient. Without it, people would have had either no public transport, or would have had a very costly non-flexible service that doesn't adapt to demand and is really not tailored to the town's needs. That town is better off with Uber than without.
Streets in cities are littered from one horizon to another with unused parked cars that just stay idle often for more than 24 hours a day, if not multiple days if you don't count the occasional need to move the car to avoid a parking ticket. Let people use the damn cars for a bit of money like people can use them for free anyway!
I use it often and never actually tipped, when I attempted to the drivers always tell me nah it's fine. The app has no option for it here either.
If having a registered sex offender as a driver is an issue, shouldn't the government be the ones doing the screening and not just leave it up to corporations to do so voluntarily? Hello? If you really want proper screening, pass laws, don't randomly leave it to some businesses to determine what to do and how.
I talk to all my drivers, few do it full time, many do it before and/or after work to make extra income like that. Most of them tell me they also use Uber as passengers too. Some say there's too much competition and might stop, which when you think about it is pretty good because if they were a taxi driver they would be stuck with their jobs, here they can just stop using the app, done, and they can use it again when they feel like it. It's a real advantage and we have to stop trying to undermine that with dumb regulations that just force people to do more hours to make up for it.
Chuck Norris
Banned
Stay in your lane Google, why do you need your hands in everything?
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