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[PumpkinSpice]

16 years old and making 78k a year driving around. And he's complaining.

*53, and -31k in expenses each year = 47k with zero benefits.

 

[Neoweee]

*53, and -31k in expenses each year = 47k with zero benefits.

That's not that bad for something that requires no relevant experience, no educational requirements, and has a flexible schedule.

 

[SonicXtreme]

Uber and that rent a room in someone's house service are two things I'd never recommend to anyone who has the money to do otherwise. People who facilitate them as their major portion of their income are absolutely insane, it seems like easy money but that one time in 1000 something goes wrong you'll wish you took the crappy job as a cashier instead.

 

[El Topo]

Does anyone have some articles for me that might help me understand the utter hatred and disdain people in these threads seem to have for taxi companies?

 

[Kinitari]

Does anyone here drive for uber? I am thinking about it as I work part time as a cashier and they are reducing our hours starting this month
How risky in the GTA area??

I know one person who drives, and he likes it. He's in school and does it part time, brings in about 1k a month after gas expenses. (in the GTA)

 

[shadowkat]

Apparently I can not read. Sorry

I think you should re-read the OP.

 

[JesseEwiak]

Does anyone have some articles for me that might help me understand the utter hatred and disdain people in these threads seem to have for taxi companies?

There are plenty of bad taxi companies, but I don't get this belief shared by "liberals" who think the only alternative is to bow down to a massive corporation as it ignores regulations and basic labor laws.

I have no problem with Uber as a concept. But it's pretty simple - if you treat people as an employee, you have to treat them like an employee, not a contractor.

 

[Kinitari]

Does anyone have some articles for me that might help me understand the utter hatred and disdain people in these threads seem to have for taxi companies?

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/glob...tomer-service-not-technology/article27656590/

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/glob...behind-torontos-cab-business/article25515301/

For my return trip, I called Diamond Taxi. The driver fit a template I knew only too well. He was a middle-aged immigrant man, stuck in the cab industry because there was nothing else. He’d been at work since 6 a.m. Like almost every other driver in the city, he didn’t own his car. Instead, he rented one for $80 per day. This was for a 12-hour day shift. Another driver rented the car at night for $90.

A large chunk of these rental charges go toward leasing the Toronto cab plate attached to the car. The Diamond driver had two hours left in his 12-hour shift. I asked him how much he had grossed for the day. He pulled it up on his meter: $109.

He had to pay $80 for the day rental, plus fuel. By the end of the day, he estimated, he would net between $20 and $40. He said that he has started supplementing his income by registering as an Uber driver and doing pickups in his cab.

“Why not?” he said. “It works.”

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015/12/30/poll-finds-rising-uber-ridership-and-satisfaction.html

Forum Research Inc. has released a poll showing increased use and rider satisfaction for Uber in Toronto.
The poll asked 802 Toronto adults a variety of questions comparing the ride-sharing service to taxis.
Some 28 per cent of those polled have used Uber — up from 18 per cent in April of 2015 — and the majority of users were happy with the service they received, according to the poll results.
Ninety-three per cent of those who had used Uber said they were satisfied with the experience, far outstripping the 52 per cent who said they were satisfied with their taxi experience.
“The users… are really, really happy with Uber,” said Lorne Bozinoff, Forum’s president. “That’s what’s driving this whole usage. If people were as happy using taxis, I don’t know if we’d be seeing this kind of penetration in terms of usage.”

edit: If you wanna see the cost of being a driver

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/toronto-cab/article17498442/

 

[dantevsninjas]

Yes. We should go back to a system where they simply can't get a ride home because there aren't enough drivers out there, and instead make the dumb decision to drive home drunk.

However, a system that can raise the price of that ride from $25 to over $1k doesn't solve that problem either. A ride home that costs a few hundred bucks might as well be a system where there aren't enough drivers on the road, because the end result will be the same: people will make the dumb decision to drive home drunk. There clearly needs to be a cap on surge pricing.

 

[Mael]

Does anyone have some articles for me that might help me understand the utter hatred and disdain people in these threads seem to have for taxi companies?

It's easier to just let you go in France and experience it first hand.
Believe me you're going to love it.
You can also read this article.

Links with government have helped taxis maintain their privileges. André Rousselet, owner of Taxis G7, one of France’s largest taxi companies, was an adviser to François Mitterrand when the former socialist president was interior minister and justice minister in the 1950s. The drivers claimed they could be the eyes and ears of the police.

But they also became rude and more difficult to find. They rarely accept credit cards and invariably show up for a booking with €15 already on the meter. They can easily overcharge for rides and under-declare their income. Prof Delpla estimates that the scope for tax evasion accounts for at least half the value of a licence, and explains why prices have not fallen even more.

Government attempts to liberalise the industry have been met by threats of street protests and opérations escargots — or go slows. And politicians have caved in. The number of taxis (about 55,000 across France) could easily be tripled, says Prof Delpla. This would be also good for the environment: the supply would lower prices and residents would use their own cars less. At a time of record high unemployment, not to do so “is incomprehensible because so many jobs could be created by opening up the sector”, he says.

One way to erode taxi privileges and create jobs would be for city authorities to issue more licences, Prof Delpla says. But for fear of protests or because of self-interest, they choose not to. The situation, he says is “the quintessence of what’s wrong with France: insiders holding on to their privileges”.

they're a shitty monopoly that lobbied to get their privileges and want to keep milking their customers.
They're shit.

 

[Ken K in the Fresh!!!]

Took uber home on New Years and was charged $260 something for a 15 min ride. Not doing that again

 

[ssharm02]

I know one person who drives, and he likes it. He's in school and does it part time, brings in about 1k a month after gas expenses. (in the GTA)

thats awesome, i am student and i need the $$$ to pay bills

 

[kirblar]

Uber business model exploits drivers but only because 'Murica ties health coverage to employment. An actual social safety net would alleviate the most toxic aspect of the relationship between Uber and its drivers. Unfortunately for Uber full timers I don't see a real safety net or meaningful employment regulation affecting Uber before self driving cars make taxi drivers obsolete.

Bingo. (Well, the first part anyway.)

 

[Mael]

There are plenty of bad taxi companies, but I don't get this belief shared by "liberals" who think the only alternative is to bow down to a massive corporation as it ignores regulations and basic labor laws.

I have no problem with Uber as a concept. But it's pretty simple - if you treat people as an employee, you have to treat them like an employee, not a contractor.

There's only bad taxi companies left, they've all been bought out nowadays.
It's really 1 or 2 companies left on the market gouging everyone.

 

[Neoweee]

However, a system that can raise the price of that ride from $25 to over $1k doesn't solve that problem either. A ride home that costs a few hundred bucks might as well be a system where there aren't enough drivers on the road, because the end result will be the same: people will make the dumb decision to drive home drunk. There clearly needs to be a cap on surge pricing.

Yeah, it has problems, but you shouldn't let a 2 hour period on one day of the year act as a reflection on the other 8758 hours. It should probably be capped.

And the ride was't going to be $25. He isn't showing the original estimate. It was three drop offs all over the city off of highways, increasing the mileage and time. $25 for the direct route, but well over $100 normal for the crazy route it took, and would have been more due to the time factor during peak-traffic-but-not-surge hours.

 

[JaggedSac]

Dude is renting a car for $400 a week?

 

[entremet]

Dude is renting a car for $400 a week?

Uber has restrictions on the type of car you can use. You can't use cheap beaters.

So instead of leasing, which has mileage limits, or buying, which requires good credit and a decent downpayment, he rents.

I don't get the renting, though. That's 1200USD per month alone for that. That's a huge amount of money for his finances.

 

[Kinitari]

Dude is renting a car for $400 a week?

Yeah which is interesting, but mostly irrelevant. 400 bucks a week is a large amount of money, and it's not like it's a required fee.

 

[rokkerkory]

Can't support Uber since they want to get rid of their best asset, the drivers.

 

[FriedConsole]

Does anyone have some articles for me that might help me understand the utter hatred and disdain people in these threads seem to have for taxi companies?

Just spend a significant time relying on taxis and the hatred with come.

Took uber home on New Years and was charged $260 something for a 15 min ride. Not doing that again

I rather deal with surge pricing once or twice a year than the minimum fare of taxis from airports when I live right next to the airport which I use weekly.

Uber has restrictions on the type of car you can use. You can't use cheap beaters.

Yeah ever wonder where salvage cars go? One poor taxis driver forced to use one told me all about it. Mostly illegally.

 

[Neoweee]

Does anyone have some articles for me that might help me understand the utter hatred and disdain people in these threads seem to have for taxi companies?

From my experience, Taxis are slower to arrive when they actually do, twice as expensive, have broken billing services, have slower billing mechanics, built on shitty tip mechanics, are less comfortable than most Ubers, and are horrifying to be passengers in.


Taxi Medallion Overview Articles:
http://ij.org/action-post/taxi-medallions-in-chicago-will-cost-at-least-360-000/
http://blog.priceonomics.com/post/47636506327/the-tyranny-of-the-taxi-medallions

Can't support Uber since they want to get rid of their best asset, the drivers.

This is so dumb. Society is moving to self-driving cars, regardless of pressure from single companies. Anybody that has the slightest bit of foresight and a stake in anything car-related knows this is coming and needs to invest to get ahead of the seismic change that it will bring.

But blame Uber. Okay. Sure.

 

[Bubba T]

I don't use services that evade taxes, don't abide by labor laws and who take advantage of drunk New Year's Eve party goers

people talk about reducing drunk driving, then you get Uber drivers who take advantage of these drunk people

So what you're saying is that you don't shop at most businesses.

 

[gutter_trash]

At this point,you can't feign ignorance when this happens. It's a well known thing and the app gives you three warnings about the pricing. These people are idiots. Or just want attention.

Fleece them for all I care.



Yes there is. It's on the front of the app. It's called 'Fare Estimator'.

a 20 minute ride should not cost 1.1k

it violates consumer rights laws and takes advantage of vulnerable people who are told to not drive dunk

 

[SonicXtreme]

and the biggest problem with both services like uber and airbnb, is this

every time you call a taxi, or stay in a hotel, every worker there is putting his way to make a living on the line. very few people work those jobs that don't 'need' their job. if i have a bad day as a taxi driver, every passenger i get is putting my lively hood at risk, so the chance of me blasting out and doing something stupid is extremely low. people who work in professions where the customer needs to trust the worker, for instance to put the right levels of dangerous chemicals in a product, are getting the right levels every time because the employee on the end knows if he screws up his whole life could be in ruins.

but, with one off services like uber, you can have a zillion five star ratings, but you could flip out or treat one in 50 customers like shit and there's little chance of recourse. see when you trust an employee like a taxi driver, you're not only trusting the employee, there's the natural check of trusting everyone else in the company, because they're 'backing' the person up to some extent. if someone in a hotel is doing something fishy, like say setting up a hidden camera, he's not doing it on his own, he has to keep what he's doing secret from dozens of other employees which is a check that keeps bad events more in balance. someone contracted by airbnb for example, doesn't have to hide that activity from anyone but their one night stay guest.

when you get in an uber the driver's career isn't on the line. if he gets banned from uber for an incident, it doesn't hurt his resume. if a taxi driver gets fired, boom his resume is shot to shit and his life is in extreme trouble. but an uber driver doesn't have reprecussions like that to worry about. they likely will just keep doing their 9-5 and miss out on the extra $100 a week they were making driving. this is the main problem with services like this IMO and why they're a bad idea for the consumer in general.

they're anti consumer companies hidden in a 'pro consumer shell' (it was so cheap!) that are ultimately bad for both the customer and the 'employee'

 

[JesseEwiak]

a 20 minute ride should not cost 1.1k

it violates consumer rights laws and takes advantage of vulnerable people who are told to not drive dunk

If this were Wal Mart or Bank of America doing this, you'd get support. But, since it's an app, it's perfectly OK to do whatever you want because taxis suck and it's "disruptive" and the company is from Silicon Valley, so they can't be evil.

 

[SMattera]

and the biggest problem with both services like uber and airbnb, is this

every time you call a taxi, or stay in a hotel, every worker there is putting his way to make a living on the line. very few people work those jobs that don't 'need' their job. if i have a bad day as a taxi driver, every passenger i get is putting my lively hood at risk, so the chance of me blasting out and doing something stupid is extremely low. people who work in professions where the customer needs to trust the worker, for instance to put the right levels of dangerous chemicals in a product, are getting the right levels every time because the employee on the end knows if he screws up his whole life could be in ruins.

but, with one off services like uber, you can have a zillion five star ratings, but you could flip out or treat one in 50 customers like shit and there's little chance of recourse. see when you trust an employee like a taxi driver, you're not only trusting the employee, there's the natural check of trusting everyone else in the company, because they're 'backing' the person up to some extent. if someone in a hotel is doing something fishy, like say setting up a hidden camera, he's not doing it on his own, he has to keep what he's doing secret from dozens of other employees which is a check that keeps bad events more in balance. someone contracted by airbnb for example, doesn't have to hide that activity from anyone but their one night stay guest.

when you get in an uber the driver's career isn't on the line. if he gets banned from uber for an incident, it doesn't hurt his resume. if a taxi driver gets fired, boom his resume is shot to shit and his life is in extreme trouble. but an uber driver doesn't have reprecussions like that to worry about. they likely will just keep doing their 9-5 and miss out on the extra $100 a week they were making driving. this is the main problem with services like this IMO and why they're a bad idea for the consumer in general.

You're assuming that taxi companies are actually reputable and actually care.

The Uber rating system is a million times better than relying on the Taxi company to make it right (seriously lol).

I've taken hundreds of taxis and hundreds of uber rides. The Uber drivers are almost always far more polite and their cars are cleaner and in better shape.

99% of the people bagging on Uber have probably never used the service and/or never use taxis.

 

[Neoweee]

a 20 minute ride should not cost 1.1k

it violates consumer rights laws and takes advantage of vulnerable people who are told to not drive dunk

It was $800 in US dollars or whatever, and half of it got refunded after the complaint.

 

[Mael]

and the biggest problem with both services like uber and airbnb, is this

every time you call a taxi, or stay in a hotel, every worker there is putting his way to make a living on the line. very few people work those jobs that don't 'need' their job. if i have a bad day as a taxi driver, every passenger i get is putting my lively hood at risk, so the chance of me blasting out and doing something stupid is extremely low. people who work in professions where the customer needs to trust the worker, for instance to put the right levels of dangerous chemicals in a product, are getting the right levels every time because the employee on the end knows if he screws up his whole life could be in ruins.

but, with one off services like uber, you can have a zillion five star ratings, but you could flip out or treat one in 50 customers like shit and there's little chance of recourse. see when you trust an employee like a taxi driver, you're not only trusting the employee, there's the natural check of trusting everyone else in the company, because they're 'backing' the person up to some extent. if someone in a hotel is doing something fishy, like say setting up a hidden camera, he's not doing it on his own, he has to keep what he's doing secret from dozens of other employees which is a check that keeps bad events more in balance. someone contracted by airbnb for example, doesn't have to hide that activity from anyone but their one night stay guest.

when you get in an uber the driver's career isn't on the line. if he gets banned from uber for an incident, it doesn't hurt his resume. if a taxi driver gets fired, boom his resume is shot to shit and his life is in extreme trouble. but an uber driver doesn't have reprecussions like that to worry about. they likely will just keep doing their 9-5 and miss out on the extra $100 a week they were making driving. this is the main problem with services like this IMO and why they're a bad idea for the consumer in general.

That certainly didn't stop taxi drivers having absurdly shitty service.

As far as tax evasion goes, Uber is no angel but they're not the worse really.
to quote the earlier artice I posted.

Links with government have helped taxis maintain their privileges. André Rousselet, owner of Taxis G7, one of France’s largest taxi companies, was an adviser to François Mitterrand when the former socialist president was interior minister and justice minister in the 1950s. The drivers claimed they could be the eyes and ears of the police.

But they also became rude and more difficult to find. They rarely accept credit cards and invariably show up for a booking with €15 already on the meter. They can easily overcharge for rides and under-declare their income. Prof Delpla estimates that the scope for tax evasion accounts for at least half the value of a licence, and explains why prices have not fallen even more.

If this were Wal Mart or Bank of America doing this, you'd get support. But, since it's an app, it's perfectly OK to do whatever you want because taxis suck and it's "disruptive" and the company is from Silicon Valley, so they can't be evil.

Again, anything to put taxis out of business at this point.

 

[Exile20]

and the biggest problem with both services like uber and airbnb, is this

every time you call a taxi, or stay in a hotel, every worker there is putting his way to make a living on the line. very few people work those jobs that don't 'need' their job. if i have a bad day as a taxi driver, every passenger i get is putting my lively hood at risk, so the chance of me blasting out and doing something stupid is extremely low. people who work in professions where the customer needs to trust the worker, for instance to put the right levels of dangerous chemicals in a product, are getting the right levels every time because the employee on the end knows if he screws up his whole life could be in ruins.

but, with one off services like uber, you can have a zillion five star ratings, but you could flip out or treat one in 50 customers like shit and there's little chance of recourse. see when you trust an employee like a taxi driver, you're not only trusting the employee, there's the natural check of trusting everyone else in the company, because they're 'backing' the person up to some extent. if someone in a hotel is doing something fishy, like say setting up a hidden camera, he's not doing it on his own, he has to keep what he's doing secret from dozens of other employees which is a check that keeps bad events more in balance. someone contracted by airbnb for example, doesn't have to hide that activity from anyone but their one night stay guest.

when you get in an uber the driver's career isn't on the line. if he gets banned from uber for an incident, it doesn't hurt his resume. if a taxi driver gets fired, boom his resume is shot to shit and his life is in extreme trouble. but an uber driver doesn't have reprecussions like that to worry about. they likely will just keep doing their 9-5 and miss out on the extra $100 a week they were making driving. this is the main problem with services like this IMO and why they're a bad idea for the consumer in general.

Yet before Uber, taxis have been getting a bad rep for YEARS. I wonder why.

 

[joelseph]

Uber brings an alternative to public transportation to inner city neighborhoods, the same neighborhoods traditional taxis will not frequent. The model has it's benefits.

 

[SMattera]

If this were Wal Mart or Bank of America doing this, you'd get support. But, since it's an app, it's perfectly OK to do whatever you want because taxis suck and it's "disruptive" and the company is from Silicon Valley, so they can't be evil.

Except the alternative is to wait for 2 hours for a taxi ride.

The whole point of surge pricing is to ensure that there are always drivers on the road and always rides available. That, no matter the time of the day or night, you'll be able to get an Uber ride in under 15 minutes if you need it. Even at 2AM on New Years eve.

I really struggle to grasp how people can not understand this basic concept.

Uber has a competitor called Lyft. They're not in every city, but they're in most big ones. They cap surge pricing (I think it's 2-4X depending on the market). They also have fewer drivers and at busy times they're impossible to hail.

 

[GoldenEye 007]

a 20 minute ride should not cost 1.1k

it violates consumer rights laws and takes advantage of vulnerable people who are told to not drive dunk

How? Price gouging laws are generally reserved for disaster situations only IIRC, not someone being drunk enough to ignore the multiple warnings and agree to the high cost. Why not get a regular taxi at that point?

Anyway, I'm considering becoming a driver. Just moved to DFW. But I don't see this as an employee relationship and I don't think I would want it to be one. I have a primary job and this would be simply to pick up times here and there. I have never seen Uber as something to depend on for primary income and it isn't presented as such. If someone chooses to make it their primary source of income, I do not see what is so bad about treating them as contractors versus a regular employee.

 

[JesseEwiak]

Again, anything to put taxis out of business at this point.

Still sounds better than hypercapitalist libertarian Silicon Valley assholes in charge.

 

[SonicXtreme]

You're assuming that taxi companies are actually reputable and actually care.

The Uber rating system is a million times better than relying on the Taxi company to make it right (seriously lol).

I've taken hundreds of taxis and hundreds of uber rides. The Uber drivers are almost always far more polite and their cars are cleaner and in better shape.

99% of the people bagging on Uber have probably never used the service and/or never use taxis.

i'm not talking about the driver being nice i'm talking about the driver flipping out or doing something to put your life at risk, which is flat out a higher chance in a service like uber compared to any taxi company.

no matter how 'unpleasant' a taxi driver is, the bottom line is that his livelyhood is on the line on every ride, and an uber driver's is almost never, so your risk for a bad event is extremely more likely with a service like uber, i'm not talking about the likelyhood that your driver smells like fish or plays bad bollywood tunes

 

[Neoweee]

How? Price gouging laws are generally reserved for disaster situations only IIRC, not someone being drunk enough to ignore the multiple warnings and agree to the high cost. Why not get a regular taxi at that point?

Anyway, I'm considering becoming a driver. Just moved to DFW. But I don't see this as an employee relationship and I don't think I would want it to be one. I have a primary job and this would be simply to pick up times here and there. I have never seen Uber as something to depend on for primary income and it isn't presented as such. If someone chooses to make it their primary source of income, I do not see what is so bad about treating them as contractors versus a regular employee.

The problem in both cases is that you can't, because there aren't enough Taxis or Ubers on the ride to give everybody a ride home that wants one. Surge pricing is only there when the traditional pricing isn't high enough to get people out there to give rides.

Anything more than 5x is basically "all hands on deck" mode. I wonder if there were any certified drivers not on the road at that point. There should be a cap so that the isolated bad PR that comes from extreme circumstances shows up less often, but some surge pricing is completely justified if that is what it takes to get people home when they want to get home, and safely.

 

[diffusionx]

That's not that bad for something that requires no relevant experience, no educational requirements, and has a flexible schedule.

Maybe, but it also means that Uber has been flat out lying about how much their drivers get paid.

 

[JesseEwiak]

How? Price gouging laws are generally reserved for disaster situations only IIRC, not someone being drunk enough to ignore the multiple warnings and agree to the high cost. Why not get a regular taxi at that point?

Anyway, I'm considering becoming a driver. Just moved to DFW. But I don't see this as an employee relationship and I don't think I would want it to be one. I have a primary job and this would be simply to pick up times here and there. I have never seen Uber as something to depend on for primary income and it isn't presented as such. If someone chooses to make it their primary source of income, I do not see what is so bad about treating them as contractors versus a regular employee.

Because they're treating people as employees. Read the article - there are actual definitions for being a contractor and being an employee.

If you were a contractor for Uber, you could get the phone number from somebody you're getting a ride from and make a deal with them without going through Uber without getting deleted from Uber.

You could also set your prices if you wish.

But you can't do that.

Except the alternative is to wait for 2 hours for a taxi ride.

The whole point of surge pricing is to ensure that there are always drivers on the road and always rides available. That, no matter the time of the day or night, you'll be able to get an Uber ride in under 15 minutes if you need it. Even at 2AM on New Years eve.

I really struggle to grasp how people can not understand this basic concept.

Uber has a competitor called Lyft. They're not in every city, but they're in most big ones. They cap surge pricing (I think it's 2-4X depending on the market). They also have fewer drivers and at busy times they're impossible to hail.

We understand the concept. We just don't believe Uber is setting prices just out of the goodness of their hearts. Making only $200/ride instead of $1000/ride will not mean there are less cars on the street.

 

[Soybean]

I love surge pricing. I wish all resources could be priced that fluidly. Let supply and demand do its thing.

 

[FriedConsole]

I find it funny when people are unclear on Uber pricing. Ever read that pricing chart on the window of a taxi cab? You tell me what counts as a "municipal center"? What counts as an "extra" that the cabbie just punched in 5 "extras".

 

[Vanillalite]

Uber has restrictions on the type of car you can use. You can't use cheap beaters.

So instead of leasing, which has mileage limits, or buying, which requires good credit and a decent downpayment, he rents.

I don't get the renting, though. That's 1200USD per month alone for that. That's a huge amount of money for his finances.

Yeah which is interesting, but mostly irrelevant. 400 bucks a week is a large amount of money, and it's not like it's a required fee.

As the pther poster said they require your car to be checked before hand. It's gotta be relatively new and well kept. That means you either need to buy or own a new car from the past couple of years.

I still thinking buying would be a better way to go. Still people all of times forget since you are a contractor its on you to provide the ride. That means the ride is on you. The miles are on you. The maintenance is on you.

That's the real expense that many don't see when looking at Uber or Lyft.

 

[SMattera]

We understand the concept. We just don't believe Uber is setting prices just out of the goodness of their hearts. Making only $200/ride instead of $1000/ride will not mean there are less cars on the street.

Where did I say it was out of the goodness of their hearts? It's certainly not. They're a business like any other.

But surge pricing is a feature, not a bug. It absolutely influences the number of cars on the road. If I'm a driver, and I know surge pricing is high/will be high, I'm more likely to work because I can make more money. I'm not going to go out and drink on NYE because I can make some serious cash. If I wasn't, I'd go hang out with my buddies at a bar like everyone else. This number is different for every driver, but the higher it is, the more likely they're willing to work.

The opposite is also true. I tried to call an Uber at 1AM on NYE and saw the surge pricing was 7x. So I closed the app and walked home. I was thus removed from the pool of would-be riders.

The whole system is about having enough cars to match enough riders so that everyone who wants a ride can get one.

 

[captmcblack]

The best part of the Uber wars, at least in NYC, is that it's forced the city's taxi and limo commission to try to shape up and compete.

I use the cab hailing apps that call city taxis more than I use Uber, because they solve many of the regular taxi problems (lets me pay with cards, guarantees that my black ass gets picked up even late, guarantees I can get a car into outer boroughs) and also avoids Uber problems (no surge pricing, fare transparency, actual cab drivers, etc).

 

[esms]

Well-written article. I appreciated the input of the L&E attorneys, as it gave me a lot of insight to the situation at hand.

I'll still be taking Uber over cabs when I can.

 

[Neoweee]

The best part of the Uber wars, at least in NYC, is that it's forced the city's taxi and limo commission to try to shape up and compete.

I use the cab hailing apps that call city taxis more than I use Uber, because they solve many of the regular taxi problems (lets me pay with cards, guarantees that my black ass gets picked up even late, guarantees I can get a car into outer boroughs) and also avoids Uber problems (no surge pricing, fare transparency, actual cab drivers, etc).

Yeah, this is a big upside. Uber has kind of forced traditional taxi services to get their billing mechanics in order, and helps eliminate the blatant discrimination against minorities and neighborhoods.

 

[B-Dubs]

The best part of the Uber wars, at least in NYC, is that it's forced the city's taxi and limo commission to try to shape up and compete.

I use the cab hailing apps that call city taxis more than I use Uber, because they solve many of the regular taxi problems (lets me pay with cards, guarantees that my black ass gets picked up even late, guarantees I can get a car into outer boroughs) and also avoids Uber problems (no surge pricing, fare transparency, actual cab drivers, etc).

They finally brought back the taxi apps? I remember them rolling one out for a month or two back in '08 but they killed it since old people couldn't get a ride and not enough people had smartphones.

 

[show me your skeleton]

I don't care to victim blame, and i appreciate this is off topic, but the one time i used uber during a surge here in the UK i had to manually type in a code to accept the pricing. that an EU thing perhaps?

 

[captive]

can we stop calling them a "ride sharing service" it not a ride sharing service. Its not like i can say hey im going to the beach today, let me put out an ad and take people. That's not whats happening here. Its literally the definition of a taxi service, its just run more efficiently than traditional taxis.

 

[cwmartin]

can we stop calling them a "ride sharing service" it not a ride sharing service. Its not like i can say hey im going to the beach today, let me put out an ad and take people. That's not whats happening here. Its literally the definition of a taxi service, its just run more efficiently than traditional taxis.

*legally-cant-be-called-a-taxi-because-then-we-have-to-pay-taxes-and-follow-regulations-and-provide-health-benefits-to-our-drivers-service.

 

[GoldenEye 007]

Because they're treating people as employees. Read the article - there are actual definitions for being a contractor and being an employee.

If you were a contractor for Uber, you could get the phone number from somebody you're getting a ride from and make a deal with them without going through Uber without getting deleted from Uber.

You could also set your prices if you wish.

But you can't do that.

I don't know. There is an explicit agreement when you choose to be a driver. You don't think being able to use the Uber app backbone and resources to find a rider but not pay for the service is something that should be restricted? Of course Uber should be able to charge for using the service and block access to those that abuse it. At that point, you are more than welcome to establish your own ride sharing company and pass out business cards with your contact info to potential riders.

The setting prices is another thing I guess. At the same time, you indirectly do that by agreeing to a pickup in the first place. If it's a short trip or not during a surge event or some other situation, everyone is free to pick up or not pick up someone. No real employer would allow that level of flexibility or the ability to pick and choose pickups. Nor would they allow you to work as little as one ride or more than full-time on a whim and it be 100% your own decision.

 

[GoldenEye 007]

*legally-cant-be-called-a-taxi-because-then-we-have-to-pay-taxes-and-follow-regulations-and-provide-health-benefits-to-our-drivers-service.

Laws that taxi companies lobbied for to help cause the situation they are now in and control the market? Oh well. Not all laws should be blindly followed. A little civil/corporate disobedience is sometimes good to force changes in the worst case.

On this issue? I'm not going to cry for the taxi companies or drivers who walk into this knowing full well the options and terms.