Comment by manfredo | Hacker News Reader

Comment by manfredo | Hacker News Reader

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You're applying double standards here. If Expedia is not an airline, then Uber and Lyft aren't taxi companies. Uber and Lyft buy the services of independent drivers and resells them to customers. If the ultimate commercial relationship is between you and the hotel or airline when you book through Expedia, then it's just as fair to say that the ultimate commercial relationship is between the passenger and Uber/Lyft driver. Just like how Expedia's role is connect a customer with an airline and handle the payment transaction, Uber/Lyft's role is to connect a passenger with a driver and handle the payment transaction.

Crucially, your statement that the commercial relationship only exists through Uber is patently false. Drivers can, and do, driver for different ride sharing companies. A passenger could hire a driver through Uber on one day, and hire the same driver through Lyft on the next.

> If the ultimate commercial relationship is between you and the hotel or airline when you book through Expedia, then it's just as fair to say that the ultimate commercial relationship is between the passenger and Uber/Lyft driver.

When I book a flight through Expedia I enter a contract of carriage with the airline, not Expedia. This is a contractural matter, not just an abstract concept of "commercial relationship."

And when you take an Uber, you enter a contract of carriage with the Uber driver. Uber drivers have to have contract of carriage permits for this reason.

You do not enter into a contract of carriage with the Uber driver. At no point in using Uber or Lyft does the app have you agree to a specific contract with the driver, which is required for the contract of carriage to apply...

(In contrast, with taxis, signage in the vehicle indicates that proceeding with a ride does indicate acquiescence to the standard terms locally governing taxi services.)

So Uber requires it's drivers to have contract of carriage permits for no reason at all? No, you are entering a contract of carriage with Uber driver when you schedule a ride.

Taxi services and medallions specifically allow drivers to be hailed from the street. Uber and Lyft drivers don't get hailed Dr the street and thus don't need taxi medallions. This isn't something new, services like Super Shuttle operate in the same way. Uber drivers don't have such signage because they're not taxis, they're like super shuttle. You didn't hail them from the street you booked a ride through a service.

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