Comment by wayn3 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by wayn3 | Hacker News Reader

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if taxi protectionism led to better drivers, id agree.

but it does not. taxi drivers are mega sketchy, to the point where id be very worried if my gf or future children had to deal with them.

beyond their sketchyness, they act entitled to a point that is just not respectable.

apparently, you think their pricing is regulated, which its not. whats regulated is their pay per time. to jack prices up, they take bullshit routes, which not only wastes my money but my time on top of that.

if surge pricing guarantees that i will get a ride (at a higher price) then im all about that. sure, it incites peasant rage when other people have to not compete for rides becuase theyre priced out of it. big deal.

uber and travis may be a shitstack, but theyre a shitstack thats vastly less shitstack-y than the taxi industry.

edit: this is actually about background checks? well then, how many uber drivers have rape-murdered passenger so far? how many taxi drivers did?

the price gouging bit is entirely retarded. surge pricing happens to control the demand. when i need a ride and cant get one because the comic con happens and a million teenage weebs need a ride, i like having the option of getting one guaranteed - at a higher rate.

So yet again, America tries its own specific brand of something, yet again with minimal meaningful regulation, watch it turn to shit when the "market" acts on profit goals alone, and then claim it's a terrible idea that can never work.

This brings us to: health care, banking, mobile phone networks, electoral systems, and now taxis.

Meanwhile the civilised world has regulated taxi systems that work, where you know what you'll pay, regardless of what's going on, and you don't have a company with a penchant for being shit lords knowing every trip you make, and doing shit like charging you more because your phone battery is low.

> surge pricing happens to control the demand.

Are you delusional? Increased wait times would be sufficient for that, and would make sense: yes we can take you but there is a queue. Those who don't want to wait will find alternatives, and the demand reduces.

> when i need a ride and cant get one because the comic con happens and a million teenage weebs need a ride, i like having the option of getting one guaranteed - at a higher rate.

But it isn't just "an option" it's the only option.

Edit: clarified

> Are you delusional?

you are delusional. i want a ride. when i want a ride, i want a ride. what i dont want is to sit in a queue. uber provides that service by pricing people who are less well off out of taking a ride that they can give to me, while making more money off of me that they would make off of a queue.

they prioritize the customer that spends more money with them, over the one who would spend less money with them. our business objectives are aligned.

sure, a queue would be more fair. the idiot over there pressed the button first so he gets served first. because thats fair.

FAIR. FAIRER THAN FAIR.

go read some more marx.

and dont compare taxis to healthcare. different issues.

btw, i was talking about the german taxi market. which is scary as fuck. dont want any of my loved ones ride one of those taxis.

> But it isn't just "an option" it's the only option.

Its not the only option. There are taxis. Cant afford uber, get a fucking taxi. I dont care. Get into a queue. Huddle under the taxi stand while the rain pours down on you waiting for a taxi. Meanwhile I surge price home.

Youre only pissy because peasants get priced out of a service that is scarce. go read some more marx.

Not sure why they don't offer an express option. There's alot of people that will say fuck it and shut the app down and figure out an alternative or get pissed and never rely on uber again. offering a low priced queue would keep them.

they could offer a VIP button that's 10x as much for the same service too for people like you that like to flaunt your wealth.

> Meanwhile the civilised world has regulated taxi systems that work

There isn't a one-size-fits-all solution. In London, or example, the best taxi drivers are going to be better than the best Uber or Lyft drivers. It's a difficult city to navigate. When I'm there, I'm not even going to consider using Lyft.

Most American cities are much easier to get around in and there I think the lower barriers to entry make sense. When ride hailing services came to Sarasota, Florida, the taxi companies complained and the city did something interesting. Rather than try to regulate the new companies, they dropped regulations on the old companies with the idea that if they find regulations are needed, they will bring them back. It's several years into this experiment and so far it's working well. I think more cities should try a similar experiment.

Mostly, I think the market does pretty well in the hire-a-ride business.

I was in Las Vegas all week and we used both Lyft and taxi cabs. The Lyft rides were the clear winner in every respect. The Lyft cars were newer and cleaner and the drivers were friendly and offered us water and other things. The taxis were older, more run down, and the drivers were aggressive and not very friendly.

In London, professional drivers win on their efficiency and expertise.

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