Of course it was. For NYC, it's even publicly downloadable, ride by ride: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7896537
Depending on where you live, cabs are not always something that is just as easy or reliable as Uber/Lyft/Sidecar/etc. When I'm unable to get home for whatever reason, I need a service I can rely on.
I have never felt as though I couldn't get a cab in Chicago. Not during rush hour in the loop (when I could easily be passed for a well-off guy in a suit thirty paces down the line). Not at 3am when the bar is closing and there exists a line of upper middle class to upper class drunks failing over themselves for a cab. Not on Michigan at lunch. Endless opportunities to not pick up a ragged homeless guy, and money always plays.
Edit: Have a beard, unfortunately not an ursine.
"an untrimmed bear"
The cabbies must be really service oriented to drive you with your unkept ursine buddy ;)
If it's a rainy night and no cabs are available, the effective price of a cab is infinity dollars. Uber's surge pricing reduces infinity to a mere 1.5-5x.
I can appreciate your interest in the anonymity provided by cash, but study some economics :P.
Try these two EconTalk episodes:
- http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2006/04/ticket_scalping.htm... - http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2007/01/munger_on_price_1.h...
If that system would be used in regular cabs, all sorts of folks would have issues. Like the elderly, disabled or injured people who need a ride and don't have other means of transportation.
An elderly, disabled, or injured person is poorly served by unavailable services.
They're the new "IT" tech startup, and they're getting similar negative press that other companies in their shoes got (FB and Google employees are excited that someone new has taken the press pressure of them).
Uber is a company who is changing the way people get around as well as the way that people get jobs (they'll likely create more jobs next year than the sum of all other startups combined). It sounds like you've already made up your mind, and that's fine, but you might have trouble convincing other people of your point of view if you continue to use strong language and a lack of facts.
None of the good things that Uber are doing came from uber. Those were all things that non-biased third parties said. Are any of them not true? Is Uber not actually creating more jobs next year than the sum of all startups combined? Are they not saving lives from DUIs? Are they not (and have they not) done a significant amount for charity from their on-demand charity events?
Maybe I'm missing something here. I'm open to a different take on those points. Those appear to be significant points in favor of Uber. I'm open to a conversation on the pros/cons though. Maybe you can change my mind.
I wonder how you define 'fair.' Prices should rise in response to demand, in order to ration scarce resources—resources like cars and roads.
I'm not hugely fond of Uber rides being logged, OTOH I can see that rider rating are a huge win for drivers, who perceive themselves to be much safer than they would be as taxi drivers.
As for receipts, Uber has them too, even for old rides: https://support.uber.com/hc/en-us/articles/201890996-How-can...
I agree with your point. Here though is how a typical person thinks from what I have found and observed.
1) It's ok to offer a discount off the "regular" price for any reason. That's always a positive.
2) It's almost never accepted to charge more than "normal" or you appear to be "ripping off" or taking advantage" or possibly "gouging".
This has to do a great deal with people's expectations as far as "what is typical and normal" not so much with economic rationality.
For example if you went to a restaurant that had very fairly priced food but they charged you for the napkins you'd probably think that was "messed up". You wouldn't even really care if the price of hamburgers was 20% less than a competitor. All you would think is "wow that's screwed up look they are charging me for napkins!".
Now part of this also comes from many people who comment who possibly never have run a business ever and are consumers. Not that people who run businesses don't have their own thoughts. To that point I think someone who is narcissistic would tend to have a harder time with this than someone who is not. (Speculation on my part). Because they only believe that they have a right to make money not someone else.
I personally think it makes sense to charge more during peak times and when they can. That ends up subsidizing times (in theory) when they can't make money. And keeps them in business.
I do some consulting on the side. For arguments sake I should be charging, (let's say) $3000 for "$x" amount of work. However I get clients that can't afford that so I charge them (let's say) $1000. To make up for it I now have to charge some clients $5000 (because they can afford that and agree) and so the $5k clients end up subsidizing the $1k clients. If everyone had to be charged the same exact price I wouldn't be able to offer consulting at all because there wouldn't be enough customers at a fixed rate like that.
Lyft and Uber will both tell you if the price for the ride you're requesting will be higher than usual so in that sense their prices are just as knowable.
I think a fair price would be one that an informed and unencumbered buyer and seller reach. One reason why it can be hard to get a Taxi in New York if you're trying to leave Manhattan is because the prices aren't always fair and that drivers would rather seek a fairer transaction (in contravention of regulations).
Error: 'fair' is undefined.