Do Digital Platforms Reduce Moral Hazard? The Case of Uber and Taxis
pubsonline.informs.org
pubsonline.informs.org
-In SF got shouted at because I calculated wrong the tip
-Seoul a driver told me I owed him 10x what was agreed with other drivers joining in (scary)
-In Lisbon the famous "this restaurant is closed today I will take you to another one" (from what I understood they get commission) got me twice
-Barcelona the driver "hid" a high bill and told me I gave him 5€ bill instead (I showed him the receipt from the ATM where I just took the money before paying him since his machine "did not work")
Since ride sharing apps became a thing? Way fewer problems and a way for me to influence positively/negatively a ride.
I agree.
> If society lets taxi drivers steal from people because they are taxi drivers, where do you draw the line for expected fair treatment of everyone? Do only rich people have the expectation of behaving correctly?
I think this is where you missed the point. It’s an empathy exercise. Where do _you_ think that taxi driver is, right now? What do you think their home looks like? Are they pleased with having pulled one over on that foreigner fare?
Their actions don’t have to be morally correct or even morally justifiable to be understandable.
Creating a sad story to explain motiviations shouldn't be an exercise one does in a situation like this.
But the bargain was never 2-way in practice, the high fares stayed but the refusals remained.
For example, in Paris, it was pretty common for taxi drivers to refuse to take you somewhere, even though there's a "starting fare", which is quite high, and you'd think that only that could make it worth their while. This would especially happen late at night, when public transport is basically non-existent.
But taxis aren't just any random person with a car willing to drive people around. For example there are all kinds of arrangements done for them, such as dedicated lanes or authorization to use bus lanes. They have dedicated parking spots all over the city, etc.
So if we, as the public in the city, make those concessions to them, I'd expect something in return. To me, they're a public service much in the same way the metro or the bus service. Sure, they cost a lot more, but that's because I can get them to come exactly where I am, when I want, and drop me exactly where I want to go. I'm not sure people would be so understanding if a bus driver refused to drive because he didn't feel like it / the weather was bad / it was too hot / etc.
In London taxi drivers are notorious for never wanting to venture south of the river, but that is a matter of personal safety, that they are a public service doesn’t give anyone the right to compel them to do something ill-advised.
I even remember telling him that this was the amount of cash I had up front, which was a little more than the quote and he was okay with it. That's how much i'd give him for the ride.
Only to get to the airport and have him getting cross because the amount I was going to give him wasn't going to cover some tip after I told him exactly how much I would be able to give him. A tip for a taxi? The American begging industry has to die.
I hadn't been so spesific though to point out that this was all dollars I had left.
I can't imagine having a builder perform some tasks on my house, only for them to tell me afterwards that the price we agreed wasn't going to cover it because actually it's not enough to feed their family.
In all those stories the drivers are preying on the weaknesses of the passengers. It’s like a bully berating someone at lunch in kindergarten. The answer is the same, you yell right back at them. Assuming you’re not stupid enough to pay up front you still hold the cards as you can refuse all payment as well.
the sharing economy slave labor where people need 3 jobs just to pay the rent is part of that problem. minimum salaries (or the lack of) is what separates barbarian societies from civilized ones.
Denmark has a $16 per hour average minimum wage and Finland and Sweden has a collective bargaining rule, even if you are not a union member and it is illegal to do anything anti-union.
The person you responded to talked about minimum salaries which those places absolutely do have, even if they don't have a minimum wage.
Landing in Cairo, step one was to buy a local sim and check the price for a ride into town. When the local taxi tout quoted me triple that price, I showed him the app and said I’d pay that. He pulled out a laminated card with his tourist rate printed on it explaining that this was the “official price” and that here was no way anybody could get a cheaper one.
50 feet further toward the exit, he tried pulling out a different laminated card, explaining that it contained the “old price”, which was now only double ubers price. So I hit the “go” button on the Uber.
He never went lower double Ubers price, and followed me all the way to my driver before giving up.
It’s the ultimate travel “screw remover”.
This kind of thing doesn't tend to happen with uber drivers, but it does seem that taxi driving attracts a certain type all over the world. Of course, I've had plenty of taxi rides with lovely friendly drivers too.
Being a taxi driver in Nice is like being part of an organized crime ring (petty crime for sure but still crime). It's "organized" because they even has/had lobbyists engaging in local politics.
Not sure if Uber actually fixed this problem in the region but I recall when the first Uber's started driving they would sometimes end up in physical fights with the taxi drivers who unlike Uber drivers were in radio contact with each other and happy to help fight an unruly customer (or competitor).
They're so convinced that they're entitled to this scam that reasoning with them is impossible. I ended up with an argument at 2 AM because the taxi driver refused to acknowledge that he was actually manipulating the meter. That was even after I showed him the wiring and the button with which he did it. I made the same trip many times so I knew the fare was ~€65 but certainly not €250 (!!).
From all the sh1tholes I've visited and been ripped off by taxi drivers in 5 decades on this planet nothing has ever come close to how blatant they go about it in the South of France. :chefs_kiss:
Or the stress of driving a taxi drives people insane.
"if you say you're English these days, you'll be arrested and thrown in jail" ?
What do you mean by this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZG-Ig3M7r4 (it's restricted outside of UK unfortunately)
an earlier variation of the same that talks about homosexuality / morality: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4n-UGQcG3Jw
Both "Stewart Lee's Comedy vehicle" and his more recent "Content Provider" are excellent.
For example their main airport (SJO) blocks Uber access on their WiFi network by dropping packets and serving bad DNS records.
Normal tourists don't realize this is done in purpose, and they'll stand puzzled checking their phone screens unable to open Uber.
The official airport taxi price is three times more expensive than a normal taxi or Uber.
Ended up using only yellow cabs since this was not an isolated incident. Taxis ended up saving us $3-5 on each ride over Uber and the drivers were not hopelessly dependent on google maps.
I found out later in Las Vegas, the taxi drivers are required to take the shortest route unless the passenger requests for another route.
Well played, sir.
When we got near the destination, the machine was broken. I said, no problem, stop the meter drive me to my bank's nearest atm so I don't have to pay fees (10 minutes out of the way), or stop the car and let me out here.
The machine started working again, all of a sudden.
I've had enough share of rigged taxi meters that clock faster than normal, getting the runaround to a longer route, and lots of other tricks they have.
But I noticed the other day that takeaway.com, one of the major delivery food service in my country, is now adding a ”would you like to tip the delivery man ? +1 +5 +10” question after I have already paid. In a country with a better social protection than the US and better low-wages too. I don't like this trend, it has to be fought back.
In the Uber app it shows up after the trip / rating. I think the options are +1, +2, +5. Maybe there's a custom, I don't remember.
However, what surprises me, is that for example on Uber Eats, they ask for the tip before the delivery, at the end of the order. The way I see it, even in the US, the tip is supposed to at least take into account the quality of service. How can you judge that before you've been served?
Anyways they just need to get rid of tipping and bake it into the price already. I think the whole world is tired of it.
It's disingenuous, and I hate it. I'd MUCH rather they have a delivery fee of $6 (or whatever it needs to be to pay the driver fairly) and no tip instead of advertising $2 delivery and then come running back post-order asking for tip.
In our case things were fine but I couldn't help but think that that's definitely cost lives before.
Uber contractors are much more wholesome people, I had zero bad experiences and my wife trusts them enough to sit into their car alone. That would not be the case with old Prague taxi service.
* Taxi drivers are not really known to be earning well
* Taxi drivers cheat to increase their earnings
* Uber is cheaper than taxis
How does that work?
2. Accountability. Uber tracks things properly.
Ita no different to the $10 PayPal gave people for signing up or the $7 of BTC Coinbase give to referrals really.
A good report on why Uber is not profitable: https://www.cbinsights.com/research/report/how-uber-makes-mo...
1. VC Money
2. Will collapse unless they put the price up
3. In America there was some crazy medallion system
4. VCs are selling off their shares before the whole thing collapses
No one runs away without paying at the end of the journey.
You never get robbed because you have no cash.
Very few people will vomit etc all over the back seat or damage the vehicle costing the driver. When they do, you've covered.
Insurance is handled before you're paid, so you get a bulk discount, pay with pre-tax money and only pay for the insurance you need.
The flexibility means you only have to work when there is actual demand and it suits you to. No more sitting alone in a cab with nothing to do for hours between rush hours, you can work a 9-5 and drive for uber on the weekends etc. Earning well is a lot less when it's a top-up on your other job than when this is all you have.
I did have one taxi driver (thanks Denver, CO!) alter the terms of the deal on me at payment time. When I questioned why the fare was higher than expected (since it was supposed to be a flat rate from the airport) he asked me how he was supposed to make money if he charged the agreed-upon rate. One of the most idiotic things I've ever heard someone in a business transaction say, and I almost told him to take a hike right there. But, my company was paying, so I figured it wasn't worth the trouble…
I don't think I've really ever had any issues with Uber/Lyft, aside from I wish I could rate drivers honestly without worrying about ending their career. They're honestly not that different from taxis…
Strong disagree. Uber is better in pretty much every way over taxis. It's hard to overstate how much better Uber is compared to taxis. It's (generally) cheaper, cleaner, more predictable, and more pleasant.
- Outside of major cities, you can order a pickup but there's no guarantee that anyone will show up. I've had taxis cancel after waiting for 40 minutes.
- Cleanliness in taxis ranges from meh to horrifying.
- Manipulative techniques like pretending that the credit-card machine stopped working to force a cash transaction.
- In Vegas taxis, there's an obnoxious screen 3 inches in front of your face.
> I don't think I've really ever had any issues with Uber/Lyft, aside from I wish I could rate drivers honestly without worrying about ending their career.
The big difference between uber and taxis is that uber drivers have a direct incentive to improve via ratings. The incentive for taxi drivers to improve is much more indirect.
I'm not sure this is true. There's a limit to how well any driver can perform their job; unless a driver is rude to me or drives unsafely, I rate them five stars every time because I can't think of any legitimate reasons to rate them lower. When minor annoyances do occur, my desire not to disrupt another person's livelihood pressures me to let it go and rate 5 stars anyway. If they went above and beyond, I'd still rate them 5 stars. For me, that means the rating system tends to homogenize all service quality ranging from average to amazing.
My impression is that the incentive is more fear-based: even a brief period of below-average performance might cost you your job.
If your taxi doesn’t use a visible nav then I’d understand prefering an Uber. But this hasn’t happened to me for many years. How do taxi drivers get away with taking detours when every passenger has had their own navigation system in their pockets - which includes live traffic info - in their pocket!?
And what makes Uber drivers less likely to pull the same stunt? Your taxi should be gps tracked, app-booked and fares prepaid or at least pre-agreed/estimated in the taxi company’s app. I don’t want to negotiate prices with taxi drivers I want it clear in the taxi company’s app what I’m paying.
Unfortunately, this is likely true on average, but the western value system says it is too high a price to pay for freedom.
I wonder how this will play out over the next century.
Are you saying unlike USA?
> the western value system says it is too high a price to pay for freedom
Except we do have 100% surveillance in the US and equivalent programs in all the 5 eye countries. I assume you're aware of PRISM? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRISM_(surveillance_program)
Seems we're quick to point out "moral hazards" in other cultures and just as quick to forget the obvious ones in our own.
Uber drivers might be more honest for now because they haven't figured out how to fiddle the system, what they can get away with, or would get lost if they strayed from the directions given by Google Maps.
But I've read about plenty of fiddles involving the decision of whether or not to pick up a customer, based on neighborhood, destination, whatever. So they might just be using a different fiddle -- one that is easier to hide.