In this scenario Uber would give endless promos pricing the trip at $2.90 until they’ve degraded the public bus service to a level where no one wants to use it. Then they jack up the prices.
So based entirely on a hypothetical that didn’t pan out with Uber’s original services.
Of course not. I'm saying (not implying) that Uber never jacked up its rates beyond what the competition, including taxis, charge.
The when is a bogeyman. It's never happened. We're trading present benefits against a hypothetical downside with easy remedies if it appears.
It’s not. That’s not Republicans’ fault, there isn’t a great reason for West Virginians to subsidise San Francisco rail.
There's not a great reason for Washingtonians to subsidize Florida's hurricane insurance, but here we are...
What are the easy remedies? Restart public transit?
Yes, it’s a market failure. The solution is not to never attempt anything that might result in market failure.
> Wait until the competition cancels your favorite air route and see what happens to the prices
Bad comparison. The locality controls the airport. Not the route. Not the destination. With Uber, the locality controls the pick-up and at least significant parts of the route. (There also isn’t any federal preëmption of ride share regulation the way there is in the air.)
> What are the easy remedies? Restart public transit?
In the event Uber bankrupts the bus system and also Lyft and Waymo? Tax them. Increase use fees. Revoke bus lane privileges.
Again, this is a bogeyman. It’s never actually happened in urban transportation in the modern era, particularly, never with Uber.
(Also, regarding Uber, how many times have they been in a market with no competition?)
> In the event Uber bankrupts the bus system and also Lyft and Waymo? Tax them. Increase use fees. Revoke bus lane privileges.
What if Uber doesn't provide equitable service? How about hospitals getting shut down by for-profit owners, leaving communities without healthcare? Businesses chase profit and cut losses - not a good choice when you need equitable servcies.
Yes for ride hailing [1]. If I recall correctly, Uber gets about 60% of that.
> their prices are a hell of a lot higher than they used to be
Inflation adjusted? And relative to TLC fares? I remember when taking a cab was a deal compared to Uber, but that hasn’t been the case for years.
[1] https://toddwschneider.com/dashboards/nyc-taxi-ridehailing-u...
Sure. I'm not saying Uber's costs didn't go up. I'm arguing they haven't gone up faster than the competition. They never cornered the market to jack up rates because they never had that much pricing power. They loss lead to get a seat at the table, not to buy the whole table.
Not the NYC I see. Plenty of cabs, can still hail one when I need one. Uber/Lyft require a longer wait, most of the time.
For what, 14 years straight they made a few hundred million dollars in the red every year?
It's the venture capitalists playbook. Don't bother designing a competitive product, just cheat and flood the market. When you're billions in debt you'll figure it out, hopefully.
“I’ve made nough money already” said no one ever. Probably they won’t on the car service but there will be jacking-up room for the bus service.