Uber uber alles

[grump]

The old Grump finally tried out Uber while on a trip to NYC last week. As I'd posted it's a rewrapped cab company. My driver actually complained that with Uber, Lyft, Juno (a local service provider, I guess) and all the yellow cabs there are too many cabs in Manhattan. I found that I actually waited longer for pickup with Uber than I would've waited for a street hail. And from what Ive read Uber is bleeding $$. This is bit surprising since it was discovered that the company was cheating its drivers out of millions in commissions. Uber paid a $98,000 fine for failing to disclose its expenditures for lobbying in NY...expenditures totaling $6.3 million. And their CEO sent out a company wide email explaining the protocols for employees to have sex with each other at the company annual meeting. Glad he clarified that.

[leftWNYbecauseofBS]

The old Grump finally tried out Uber while on a trip to NYC last week. As I'd posted it's a rewrapped cab company. My driver actually complained that with Uber, Lyft, Juno (a local service provider, I guess) and all the yellow cabs there are too many cabs in Manhattan. I found that I actually waited longer for pickup with Uber than I would've waited for a street hail. And from what Ive read Uber is bleeding $$. This is bit surprising since it was discovered that the company was cheating its drivers out of millions in commissions. Uber paid a $98,000 fine for failing to disclose its expenditures for lobbying in NY...expenditures totaling $6.3 million. And their CEO sent out a company wide email explaining the protocols for employees to have sex with each other at the company annual meeting. Glad he clarified that.

Uber is running into some issues but it's not a rewrapped cab company. Way too many differences.

[WNYresident]

It's a nationwide type cab company. You have people (cabbies) taking people from one location to another. Only difference I see is how payment is accepted.

[leftWNYbecauseofBS]

It's a nationwide type cab company. You have people (cabbies) taking people from one location to another. Only difference I see is how payment is accepted.

This is incorrect.

[WNYresident]

So why is the service different?

You make a call... ask for a ride...someone shows up... you get into a car....you get dropped off. That is basically the functionality of the service.


One difference can be you use the uber app to get a ride where as you can call a cab company to schedule a ride. Right?

Maybe another is you are just in a normal car versus a "cab" and payment is handled on the Uber app. In the end the payment is the payment. That's a wash.

I do know with Uber the drivers are rated as are the passengers. I guess a rider can call the taxi company to complain or praise a driver. Right? Are cab companies forced to give a ride to anyone no matter how difficult the client is? If I was a cab driver I wouldn't want to pick up drunks that vomit each time they are in a cab. That wouldn't be fun.

One item which is not the fault of the cabbie are the regulations they follow. "Government" basically gives a monopoly to the cabs that buy medallions to operate. I can see Uber taking a revenue stream away from local governments.

[WNYresident]

I just read this.

Uber fluctuates pricing depending on rush hour, weather and/or holidays. They do this to entice uber drivers to get involved.

[WNYresident]

If one argument against Uber is not to screw with the cab industry in NYS I would say that carries no weight. With all the BS that comes out of Albany that bones businesses I can't see that being used as a reason.

[WSFirst]

Uber, lyft, and ford's end game, is to be your public transportation company with no driver. Uber's finances are similar to Amazon, to kill the competition while making no profit and be the only game in town in 5 years or so. Amazon is literally killing brick and mortars. I think Amazon was only company to exceed their sales expectations on Black Friday.

The Uber, lyft drivers are replacing taxi drivers but will all be replaced by anonymous drivers shortly.

I started another thread about anonymous garbage trucks, let's save some money.

[leftWNYbecauseofBS]

So why is the service different?

Labor force
Bandwith
Barrier to entry

[WNYresident]

Labor force = Drivers. Cab Driver or Uber Driver = Driver

Bandwidth. A progressive cab company could easily run it's "drivers" on an app.

Barrier to entry. You have me there. "Government" is good at creating small monopolies of service providers. If they limit how many people can drive people around they are creating a monopoly for a small group of people.



I'm fine with Uber. There is nothing stopping a cab company from becoming a "uber" ran company. Create an app that allows a person to request a ride versus calling on the phone/waving one down. Stop calling yourself a cab company and stop paying the bill for a "taxi medallion"

Why would any taxi company pay for a "taxi medallion" the moment uber is allowed.


Go watch this video


Once a sure bet, taxi medallions becoming unsellable

Until recently in America's big cities, purchasing a taxi medallion—the city-issued license to operate cabs —was about as sound of an investment as they come.

But with the rise of Uber and other ridesharing services, the value of taxi medallions are plummeting, leading cabbies and fleet owners throughout the USA worried that their industry will be decimated if local and state government doesn't intervene.

"I have had a pretty successful thing," said Gary Karczewski, 65, a Chicago cabbie who inherited his medallion from his father 28 years ago and earned enough to purchase two homes and help send his two daughters to college by driving the equivalent of 80 times around the world. "My hope was to wind down soon and give whatever I could sell the medallion for to my mother. But I am not confident there's a market now."

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...hare/27314735/

[grump]

One thing I did note was that Uber cars carry a license plate with the Taxi & Limo commission identification on them so they must be issued with some connection to the TLC. There's nothing unique that Uber does that can't be replicated by others or Lyft and Juno wouldn't exist.

[leftWNYbecauseofBS]

One thing I did note was that Uber cars carry a license plate with the Taxi & Limo commission identification on them so they must be issued with some connection to the TLC. There's nothing unique that Uber does that can't be replicated by others or Lyft and Juno wouldn't exist.

There is very little difference between Uber and Lyft but that ≠ Uber and Lyft being a rewrapped cab company.

I know a designer that we contract with from time to time. She drives for both Uber and Lyft. Working from home can be tedious so she will this job as an excuse to get out of the house. Some days it's just for an hour. Some days it no time at all. Some weekends it long days.

These ride-sharing programs are a part of the 'new' share economy. You can drive a car with Uber. You can do shopping for others with TaskRabbit. You can pet sit for others at Rover. The list goes on.

But this really is not a 'new' economy. It's always existed. My mother used to pay a girl up the street to drive me to practice when I was a kid. I used to do grocery shopping for my grandpa when he couldn't. I have paid the neighbor to watch my dog. It's all the same execpt technology has provided the framework to connect and validate those you do not know.

[WNYresident]

One thing I did note was that Uber cars carry a license plate with the Taxi & Limo commission identification on them so they must be issued with some connection to the TLC. There's nothing unique that Uber does that can't be replicated by others or Lyft and Juno wouldn't exist.

Because in the very end the end service is the same. Person is picked up from point A and dropped off at point B. The vehicle may not be yellow, you might not pay the driver but the final service is the same.

You could say a taxi company might guarantee a better driver but do a search for "Taxi driver rape" you'll see that always is not the case.

[grump]

Leftie, you're right there is nothing new about it. It's all just part of the service economy. The fact that you pay for a ride with your phone instead of a credit card or cash is totally immaterial. You're paying someone to drive you from point A to point B. If it makes one feel somehow superior or avant-garde to pay with a phone then right on! But don't pretend paying someone else to drive you someplace is somehow revolutionary or avant-garde. As for WNY's comments about cab driver rapes there have been instances of Uber driver assaults as well. No surprise since Uber's president sent out ground rules for having sex at the company's annual meeting. There's always some risk whenever you climb into a car with a total stranger, whether you're hitching or riding Uber.

[grump]

I found another reason to be dissatisfied with Uber. Occasionally, their drivers are accompanied by a "companion" who provides the driver with a hummer...and I don't mean the oversized SUV. But they don't share the service with their customers! What a slap in the face.