Thoughts on Uber?

[Mai72]

I think the big thing uber is exposing is the taxi licensing racket the government has going on. You really think lobbying to the state will work when they are the beneficiaries of the racket? That's a huge uphill battle.

Also, you said state, but I think you mean city. I'm pretty sure taxi "licenses" are managed at the city/county/borough level not the state. The state is probably only marginally involved under DOT type rules. Good luck fighting the same battle 5000 times in every big city.

So again I'll ask these questions:

Medallions/licenses:
What current protection (from medallions and the like) are we getting by these regulations? Taxis are horrible.

Is the price society is paying for this "protection" worth it?

Is Uber screwing the customers? Do we need government protection from them?

Exactly.

What Uber is doing is forcing change. Lobbying is an uphill battle that only the few with deep pockets can do. Unless you want to spend many nights lobbying for your cause, but even then it would probably be nearly impossible. Plus, most people aren't willing to spend their nights lobbying for something they feel needs changed.

 

[EPCrew]

You ever been to the bad sections of Bridgeport or Hartford? They have gang shootouts there on a weekly basis.

Hartford is no joke... I had to help look for a lost dog that wandered into Asylum Hill a few years back. It wasn't an inviting experience.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

yeah i just park at the airport now a days when i go on trips. it's like $8/day or something so the $56 for a week is usually way cheaper than getting rides back/forth for 2 people, and more convenient.

I wouldn't mind that either if my airport parking was that cheap.... I was late for a trip once and had to hightail it to the airport and park there for the week I was gone.

Came back to a $150 bill... to park a fucking car for a week.

 

[QueBert]

I like the idea of Uber, and I love part time side jobs. I thought I wanted to do it, but of course they don't allow 2 door cars. I can understand why, but it sucks they require the driver to have a 4 door car.

 

[sourceninja]

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[purbeast0]

I wouldn't mind that either if my airport parking was that cheap.... I was late for a trip once and had to hightail it to the airport and park there for the week I was gone.

Came back to a $150 bill... to park a fucking car for a week.

yeah one of the other airports around (i have 3 major airports within like 40 mins) is like $13/day i think. kept a car there for 8 days and that wasn't quite as cheap.

 

[purbeast0]

I like the idea of Uber, and I love part time side jobs. I thought I wanted to do it, but of course they don't allow 2 door cars. I can understand why, but it sucks they require the driver to have a 4 door car.

yeah i was thinking about doing it and saw you need a 4 door. thinking of using my wifes car but it has some damage to it so i don't know if that would meet uber standards. car runs fine but it's purely cosmetic.

they have a $750 bonus if you drive 30 people in like 30 days i think. that would be worth it to me.

 

[Maximilian]

Fuck taxis, I hate them. They cost so much and sometimes the smaller companies taxis don't even turn up, they just pick and choose which passengers to pick up.

Self driving cars ftw.

 

[Phoenix86]

I used state in the general sense, meaning government. The fact remains though that a company should not willfully ignore laws because they don't agree with them. I'm glad we can have the discussion about the purpose of these laws, but until such laws are changed uber should follow the law or be punished. Will-full disobedience is a great way to raise awareness, but you shouldn't whine when you are punished, it's part of being disobedient.

This is just like Musk and his car sales problem. He is fighting it one battle at a time. If uber was running Tesla they would be opening dealerships and just telling the government to blow off.

You're pretty much right. You can willfully disregard laws, and I might support you if I think the law is unjust, but you still pay the consequences in the mean time. I don't think it'd be possible to change this without massive public support, which uber seems to have in many places.

Musk is a little different, he's fighting states, so only 50. Even then, only those with really strong dealership laws (unfortunately, like Texas), some states allowed him in w/o a fight because the laws were flimsy or non-existent and the state had no will to fight otherwise.

Uber has to deal with many time that number of governments/votes. I'm cheering for them, but I won't be surprised if the hammer is dropped on them pretty hard. Government likes it's money, yo.

 

[sourceninja]

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[Imp]

Never used Uber, but it's been making the news locally lately since the municipality tried to ban it.

The insurance thing is what bugs me the most.

It's apparently okay to not have commercial insurance but NOT okay to not have a taxi license in my area...
http://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2015/06/24/one-charge-dropped-against-uberx-drivers.html

 

[3chordcharlie]

I'm just gonna leave this here.

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015/08/16/waterloo-bylaw-would-regulate-uber-and-others.html

Sounds like a good solution. This would not affect uber's advantage in dispatch, but stops them from 'completing' by simply ignoring ordinary requirements of being in the taxi business.

 

[pcslookout]

I always wondered isn't it dangerous for Uber and Lyft drivers to be looking at their phones to see where to go ?

Recently was in Memphis, TN and had a lady Uber driver who was holding her phone the whole time to see where to go.

 

[Blitzvogel]

I always wondered isn't it dangerous for Uber and Lyft drivers to be looking at their phones to see where to go ?

Recently was in Memphis, TN and had a lady Uber driver who was holding her phone the whole time to see where to go.

That's why you use a mount that puts the phone in your immediate towards-the-road view.

Personally I say **** taxis. I've never driven anyone (yes I'm an Uber driver) that had a good opinion about them. I've only called for a taxi once, and it never showed up, after waiting well over an hour past the time I needed it to pick me up.

As for regulation, **** it too. I think as long as you're licensed to drive, self-insured as well as insured by the ride service, you should be able to operate as a taxi. All the regulatory BS is just another way to collect tax dollars and keep more politicians/civil servants employed when plenty of money is already being taken as sales tax in most cities (fuel, car care, cleaning supplies, etc). Then you have all the states with state income tax (luckily Texas isn't one of them )

Anyone with problematic driving records (excess tickets, bad police reports) can be given the boot and told to find work somewhere else. Uber riders have the ability to rate and probably report bad drivers, just like drivers can rate passengers. For the most part, passengers have been nothing but courteous and thankful Uber exist. Only once have I needed to give someone a single star, because they were drunk and couldn't navigate me to their pick up point. I ended up driving around half an hour just to finally get a bearing on where he was once he sobered up enough to be coherent.