[berserk]

(06-26-2014 11:30 AM)rekruler Wrote:  

It shows how far general living standards have fallen when fully grown adults consider it worth their time to run part time cab service or rent out rooms in their house to strangers for some extra pennies. The next logical step is to keep a few pigs in your living room for a small subsidy from Big Agribusiness. If that sounds too much like medieval squalor, just make an app for it, and it automagically becomes cool and cutting edge rather than depressingly wretched.

I disagree completely. Try talking to a Bangkok taxi driver doing 12 hour shifts for less than a $500 monthly wage.

Our standard of living materially is vastly improved to being a taxi driver 50 years ago.

On the other hand I see services such as AirBNB and Uber as a step in the inevitable evolution away from employee status to a society of micro independent contractors, who do lots of small service and creative on the spot jobs since most production is automated.

In many ways, it is a return to people to people society, because technology has significantly limited return on size. Government, unions, big corporations have less and less monopoly on information and infrastructure.

In the future, you might not work a 'job', but do many small integrated services in your daily life and it could potentially lead people to become more trusting of each other and gain empathy.

Of course there could be the risk of a population made up of 95% in a servant class to the tech moguls, but why always take the bleak outlook?

[JayMillz]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/20/techno...ef=us&_r=0

Uber Picks David Plouffe to Wage Regulatory Fight
MIKE ISAAC ∙ New York Times ∙ AUG. 19, 2014

Uber wants your vote of support. And it has hired a campaign manager to win you over. Uber, a fast-growing start-up that promotes private car sharing, announced on Tuesday that it had hired the political strategist David Plouffe to be its senior vice president of policy and strategy. The move further signaled the grand aspirations of companies like Uber, which are challenging entrenched industries and running into resistance from some local governments.

[The Beast1]

Deflation at its finest! Economics always win out. It's only a matter of time before this all falls face flat on every sector of the economy.

[Genghis Khan]

My question is: why are taxi licenses so expensive? Is there a legitimate reason (regulation, insurance, etc.)? Or is it straight up a monopoly reason?

Also are taxi licenses expensive everywhere in the world? I like the idea of Uber/lyft as a free market alternative. I dislike the idea of giving them my credit card info and tracking my movements while in travelling in their cars.

I also wonder if cities/taxi companies will respond by cutting taxi licenses. Haha I just want cabs without having to give them personal informations.

[Menace]

Standard DC operating procedure. Hire former high level administration staffer to head up your lobbying efforts. If it was a Republican administration, they'd hire one of theirs instead. That's how this town works.

I believe taxi licenses are expensive because the government regulates it and artifically limits the number of licenses.

[DarkTriad]

(08-20-2014 10:38 AM)Menace Wrote:  

Standard DC operating procedure. Hire former high level administration staffer to head up your lobbying efforts. If it was a Republican administration, they'd hire one of theirs instead. That's how this town works.

I believe taxi licenses are expensive because the government regulates it and artifically limits the number of licenses.

Gov't limits the supply, then companies start start bidding on them. It went from being a an expensive license to something that cost $800,000 in some cities.

[JayMillz]

[Foolsgo1d]

Wait, so let me get this straight.

Each taxi in for example, NYC requires a medallion? And each medallion goes for 800k?

[Faust]

Yeah that's prettymuch it.

[DarkTriad]

(08-21-2014 03:44 PM)Foolsgo1d Wrote:  

Wait, so let me get this straight.

Each taxi in for example, NYC requires a medallion? And each medallion goes for 800k?

Well, they did cost 800K...before Uber This has knocked down the price quite a bit.

For a long time, they were something a regular working Joe could aspire to, it was like an expensive license or a really cheap business franchise. Eventually the bidding by the big taxi companies priced out all the independent drivers from being able to afford their own medallion.

[OBJ Snakebite]

(06-26-2014 07:51 AM)Roosh Wrote:  

I don't understand why taxi companies didn't innovate and provide apps for customers. Instead of protest, why not innovate? In Moscow, many taxi drivers have dashboard mounted tablets that link up to dispatching. To get a taxi, I use one app (Yandex Taxi) and it takes less than 2 minutes for a cab to be dispatched. On the app you can actually track your cab on the map to know when it will be at your building. It tells you the fare, everything.

That takes too much effort. It's much easier to get politicians you've bought to crush competition.

[reaper23]

(06-27-2014 11:37 AM)Samseau Wrote:  

(06-27-2014 09:00 AM)jamaicabound Wrote:  

I think ubers days are numbered. Dont get me wrong awesome concept but government always finds a way to hault innovation. I know chicago is wrestling with this issue right now. I hate cabs as well but they do make a good argument against uber. I used to drive a buddies cab in college for extra cash. Id do illegal airport pickups as we weren't licensed in Chicago but thats where the money was. The regulation is crazy and potential fines huge pain in the ass to get licensed but then uber drivers come in and dont have to compete in that same market so to speak.

I'm pretty sure you're right. Democrats run America and they hate free markets.

The death of Uber, Lyft, and other ridesharing applications is a great microcosm of why America is dying - Americans are being killed by their own government.

goldman sachs owns a huge part of uber.

no way the federal government does anything to mess with them.

states are free to do what they want but uber is established in many cities and winning legal battles like they did in dc.

uber's future is being on demand delivery services of EVERYTHING.

right now with the corner store feature its almost as dumb as kozmo.com. yet they are trying it.

[Ensam]

Uber's future is driverless cars. You buy a driverless car, when you're not having it drive you around you lease it out to other people using Uber. The only real hitch I can see is what happens when someone pukes in the back of your car - but I'm sure there are ways around that (e.g. start rating passengers based on the state in which they left the car).

[DarkTriad]

(08-21-2014 07:32 PM)reaper23 Wrote:  

(06-27-2014 11:37 AM)Samseau Wrote:  

(06-27-2014 09:00 AM)jamaicabound Wrote:  

I think ubers days are numbered. Dont get me wrong awesome concept but government always finds a way to hault innovation. I know chicago is wrestling with this issue right now. I hate cabs as well but they do make a good argument against uber. I used to drive a buddies cab in college for extra cash. Id do illegal airport pickups as we weren't licensed in Chicago but thats where the money was. The regulation is crazy and potential fines huge pain in the ass to get licensed but then uber drivers come in and dont have to compete in that same market so to speak.

I'm pretty sure you're right. Democrats run America and they hate free markets.

The death of Uber, Lyft, and other ridesharing applications is a great microcosm of why America is dying - Americans are being killed by their own government.

goldman sachs owns a huge part of uber.

no way the federal government does anything to mess with them.

states are free to do what they want but uber is established in many cities and winning legal battles like they did in dc.

And sometimes you don't even need to win a legal battle if it's legal to bribe the guys that write the laws.

[DarkTriad]

(08-21-2014 09:23 PM)Ensam Wrote:  

The only real hitch I can see is what happens when someone pukes in the back of your car - but I'm sure there are ways around that (e.g. start rating passengers based on the state in which they left the car).

Already being done. The worst drivers are kicked out of the system, as are the worst passengers.

[Cattle Rustler]

Re people puking, tip the drivers well so they can get their cars detailed.

My first time riding Uber I was drunk as fuck. Throw up all along the way. Tip the driver 29 bucks for the mess on the side panels and seats. The ride was 7 bucks, used a $25 off coupon for first riders.

Next time I got Uber a driver told me "You (were rated as a) 5 star passenger! That's why I came here so quick!"

Oh yeah, so I guess the whole Uber drivers speaking good English is kind of thrown out the window. 4/5 of the ones I got have strong accents and don't know their locations....then again, I judge them by their driving and vehicles.

'Burbans and Yukons fo' lyfe.

[Ensam]

Can you tip the drivers through the app or do you just do it with cash?

[Cattle Rustler]

(08-21-2014 10:32 PM)Ensam Wrote:  

Can you tip the drivers through the app or do you just do it with cash?

The first driver swiped my card and allowed me to tip him via the terminal.

The rest of the drivers have never swiped my card nor given me a way to tip them through Uber app/terminal so I give them cash.

[villageindian]

Here is a great overview on the medallion industry and what Uber is doing to it.

Basically, scarcity of taxi medallions and limits on annual permits in cities have screwed the taxi unions. The medallion was a great idea because it legitimised the drivers but subsequent policy changes (requested by taxi unions) have screwed the industry and put them in the current situation.

But the larger implications are much more than what this is. Firstly, everyone is forced to use a smartphone with location services to use the Uber app. There are already many zombies using smartphones and this accelerates the move to smartphones. Secondly, your transactions and locations become easily tracked as part of Uber because you use their services.

People call it disruption and many other terms but the bottom line is that you will be tracked going forward.

[Foolsgo1d]

You need to spend 800,000 fucking dollars to be a taxi driver in the USA? Holy shit.

My brother was a taxi driver and the only thing you need to worry about is fare dodgers, drunk slappers who puke on your seats and being insured and licensed. Which is a % of your earnings to the taxi company.

And even if you are your own taxi, an independent you do not fork out too much.

800k? Fuck that. I hope Uber crushes these guys.

[Brodiaga]

I really like Uber because it helps get rid of the cronies and outdated laws. What I'd like to see is similar apps or web sites in other sectors currently taken over by cronies. A couple of ideas:

-Health care: transparent prices, unbiased ratings for doctors, doctors competing against each other. I know the Zocdoc and even Yelp review doctors, but there is still no price transparency.

-Online car sales app/site, Tesla style, but for all cars. Rental car agencies can provide cares for test driving and make money that way, taking traditional car dealers out of the equation completely. I'd rather pay a couple of hundred bucks to Hertz to test drive a model I'm looking for than have to haggle and drive around looking for a good deal and watching out for hidden fees.

-Apartment rentals. I'd like to see AirBnb and the like expand to long term rentals and sales as well, become super popular and lower their fees to the point it becomes better for both parties to use them rather than hire brokers.

[JayMillz]

http://thehill.com/policy/technology/215...t-for-uber

RNC doubles down on support for Uber
Jesse Byrnes ∙ The Hill ∙ 08/25/14 03:39 PM

The Republican National Committee isn't backing away from its support for Uber despite the car service’s recent hiring of President Obama’s former campaign manager. "Even top Dems admit that ride-sharing can benefit all Americans," RNC Chairman Reince Priebus tweeted Monday. Priebus touted the decision by Democratic Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn to veto new regulations on the service backed by the rival taxi cab industry. Republicans have promoted their support for the Silicon Valley start-up, hoping to attract more young voters to the party's free-market message. Earlier this month the RNC launched a petition backing Uber over "taxi unions and liberal government bureaucrats.”

[JayMillz]

http://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/new...-uber.html

Taxi companies sue to stop new law on taxis, Uber and Lyft in Milwaukee

Five taxi groups are suing the city of Milwaukee, hoping to block an ordinance recently signed into law that lifts a cap on taxi permits and provides a path to legalization for mobile ride-booking apps.

In the complaint, the taxi groups make the case that a 1991 limit on additional taxi cab permits creates a value on existing permits. Ending limits on those permits decreases their value, the plaintiffs argue.

[Basil Ransom]

It's great to see MADD lining up with Uber, that should be a great boon: http://m.us.wsj.com/articles/BL-DGB-37344

Uber claims that its services have reduced drunk driving and I agree. They should fund an independent survey of its users asking if the price and convenience of uber has led them to use uber instead of driving for going out.

From what I can tell, I see a looot more ubers driving people to bars than I did see of cabs several years ago. A buddy of mine lives in a prime spot and he takes Ubers to bars all the time. When I asked him if he'd have taken a cab instead if Uber had never come about, he said no way, that he'd simply drive.

Or Uber could survey the owners of parking lots and ask them about usage, or see if parking prices have gone down. Some hotels will charge $30 a night for parking, that's a pretty big incentive to ditch renting a car when traveling.

Personally I use Lyft instead of Uber because Uber has some shady tactics, but Uber is protecting the industry from being shut down, no doubt.

[Foolsgo1d]

Conspiracy theory time.

Could the cab companies prove to the authorities that they'd lose a lot of money from a drop in DUI's? Not sending people to prison?