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Kalman posted:So a majority of the country, steadily increasing? Steadily increasing because of employer pay cards that can act as debit cards, but screw you in the rear end with fees if you use them as such. Even with employers replacing checks with pay cards, over 1/3rd of people 18-49 have no credit/debit card in the US. edit: According to this article, debit card usage is actually down in 2014, especially among families making less than $75k a year: http://www.banktech.com/payments/us-debit-card-usage-down-in-2014/d/d-id/1296759 Condiv fucked around with this message at 09:51 on Aug 6, 2014 |
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Aug 6, 2014 01:06
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api call girl posted:
Yea it looks like most drivers are really ignorant about the actual costs involved and tend to quote their hourly rate from their best drives with minimal expenses deducted (like maybe gas and that's about it). Maybe they even look at quotes for 'wear and tear' but forget that those numbers come from averages and, like you said, city driving is the worst type of driving you can do. Or they ignore that they are going to get completely wacked on taxes due to self employment. It's like pizza delivery except you need a pretty nice car, which you are going to proceed to tear to poo poo. And if they even get slightly regulated, most cities require your car to be less than 3 or 4 years old for livery or taxi. And I'm sure uberx drivers will be completely honest with the person they sell the car to about how it was driven, much like bitcoiners reselling video cards as "lightly used". Kalman posted:It's a lot easier to pretend to be a cabbie (especially before they mandated the new done lights) than it is to pretend to be the person whose car was specifically assigned to you and whose name, car make and model, and license plate you know. There are some advantages to not taking a street hail! Really? At least where I live you need to have your ID posted, the cars have a plastic barrier, and they have the lights and taxi painted on the side and poo poo. Some of the pro-uberx people must live on mars or something because I've never seen cities with the taxi systems they are describing.
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Aug 6, 2014 03:23
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Here in LA a lot of people I know are drinking and driving much less because they find Uber so convenient and affordable. I don't know if there are any statistics to back this up on a larger scale but in my opinion that has been the best thing about it. Obviously nobody should ever drink and drive but they do and it seems like the more alternatives available the better. I think we should consider that while regulations might improve public safety from the standpoint of having drivers be certified and having traffic not get out of hand, having taxis be more numerous and affordable saves lives by increasing the likelihood that someone won't drink and drive.
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Aug 6, 2014 03:30
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Kalman posted:So a majority of the country, steadily increasing? Seriously? What if you lose or break your phone? Or if your credit card gets locked out because of fraud?
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Aug 6, 2014 06:48
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Farmer Crack-rear end posted:Seriously? What if you lose or break your phone? Or if your credit card gets locked out because of fraud? Duh.
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Aug 6, 2014 08:08
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Farmer Crack-rear end posted:Seriously? What if you lose or break your phone? Or if your credit card gets locked out because of fraud? Bitcoins.
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Aug 6, 2014 12:11
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If anyone wants to follow along, the Houston City Council is taking up/discussing/voting on the new regulations to allow Uber and Lyft to operate within the city. http://houstontx.city.swagit.com There is a live stream at that link. The debate is essentially about handicap access and Uber being discriminatory, and a lobbyist battle. Sab0921 fucked around with this message at 15:14 on Aug 6, 2014 |
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Aug 6, 2014 15:10
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tsa posted:
Please come to DC and you will understand why almost no one in DC supports the cab industry. The awfulness of the DC cab industry is reason #1 that I support Uber/Lyft/anything else because the service is so appallingly bad here. I have never seen a license with a photo anywhere in a cab, there is no divider, the cabs are from the 1990s if you're lucky, the dome light never seems to be accurate, there's no uniform color scheme (allegedly we're getting one in something like 2017) and the driver will always try and take the most inefficient route to rip you off unless you actively police his driving and tell him exactly where to go. They just started accepting credit card payments in TWO THOUSAND AND TWELVE. Oh but the card reader "doesn't work" and you'll have to pay in cash and whoops I don't have any change, thanks for the $15 tip on a $25 ride! Seriously, just take one trip to DC and try to get around only using cabs. It is probably one of the worst cab systems in the United States, if not the entire world. edit: This is all probably because the DC Taxi Commission is completely in the hands of the cab industry and they don't give a poo poo about the consumer. When WUSA-9 here did an investigation in to why there were wide reports of racial discrimination but no actual filing of reports with the cab commission the conclusion was pretty much "the cab commission doesn't give a poo poo and won't fix it, why bother reporting it." They actually had to create a new program to try and convince people they'll listen to racial discrimination complaints now. http://dcist.com/2014/08/new_method_of_reporting_taxicab_dis.php DCist posted:Reports from WUSA-9 revealed that black men and women attempting to hail cabs were disproportionately passed by drivers, as Councilmember Tommy Wells wrote in a letter urging OHR to investigate the claims. The OHR launched a director's inquiry, which "revealed only a small portion of complaints filed with DCTC included allegations of discrimination." From a release: Of course this new thing is promising a laughable 6-month turnaround for investigations. axeil fucked around with this message at 15:42 on Aug 6, 2014 |
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Aug 6, 2014 15:30
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Sab0921 posted:If anyone wants to follow along, the Houston City Council is taking up/discussing/voting on the new regulations to allow Uber and Lyft to operate within the city.
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Aug 6, 2014 15:33
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axeil posted:Seriously, just take one trip to DC and try to get around only using cabs. It is probably one of the worst cab systems in the United States, if not the entire world. I also live in DC and besides the occasional closing-time dry spell I haven't had any issues. Well one time a cabby wouldn't accept credit cards so I didn't get in. Good thing I asked him first!
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Aug 6, 2014 15:50
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Necc0 posted:I also live in DC and besides the occasional closing-time dry spell I haven't had any issues. Well one time a cabby wouldn't accept credit cards so I didn't get in. Good thing I asked him first! Do you live in actual DC or in the surrounding areas in VA/MD. One of the issues I've found is that cabbies won't drive out of the city even though by law they're supposed to. The way they do this is locking their doors, asking where you're going (illegal) and if its not where they want to go they speed off (also illegal). Even if I wanted to report it, I can't because the cab is too far away for me to read the license plate.
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Aug 6, 2014 15:55
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axeil posted:Do you live in actual DC or in the surrounding areas in VA/MD. One of the issues I've found is that cabbies won't drive out of the city even though by law they're supposed to. The way they do this is locking their doors, asking where you're going (illegal) and if its not where they want to go they speed off (also illegal). Even if I wanted to report it, I can't because the cab is too far away for me to read the license plate. I take cabs all the time and this has never happened to me nor have I even heard about it happening. I've never been asked where I'm going until I'm already in the backseat. Sorry about your incredibly bad luck, I guess.
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Aug 6, 2014 15:57
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You'll find that in every city people complain endlessly about the taxis. Sometimes it's warranted, sometimes it's not. Bangkok pranks New York in terms of availability and affordability, but every time there's a survey of what's wrong with the city the taxis top the list and locals will regale you with endless tales of taxi rapists and taxis who refused to take a fare and so on. Statistical relevance is questionable, obviously. It costs about $9 to make a 30-45 minute trip to the airport and you can find someone to take you day or night, poor bastards, but it's just non-stop rape and being jilted if you listen to the locals. The reason I get pissy about Sun Belt cities in America is that they're all built to gently caress over anyone without a car. It's not the taxis' fault, but they definitely price themselves advantageously.
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Aug 6, 2014 16:26
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ReindeerF posted:
So why not just take a rental car (assuming you're not actually living there)?
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Aug 6, 2014 16:28
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That's what I tell everyone who visits, right? Why not just take a rental car. I'm from there, so I get to say this with a straight face and a very heavily informed point of view: sunbeltthinking.txt
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Aug 6, 2014 16:34
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Necc0 posted:I take cabs all the time and this has never happened to me nor have I even heard about it happening. I've never been asked where I'm going until I'm already in the backseat. I hate to break it to you, but you have incredibly good luck. (Also clearly haven't lived here that long if you haven't had credit card issues.)
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Aug 6, 2014 17:08
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Virginia has granted temporary authority for UberX to operate in the Commonwealth. source: http://blog.uber.com/VAuberX Uber posted:
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Aug 6, 2014 17:47
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I can't wait for UberGroup to come our so uber can break into the ride sharing market.
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Aug 6, 2014 17:55
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There's a bunch of IP involved in ride sharing
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Aug 6, 2014 17:59
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Surprised nobody has mentioned this, yesterday and today both Uber and Lyft announced carpooling (with strangers) for a reduced fare: UberPool, Lyft Line I figured something like this would happen eventually, although not so soon. I'm guessing this will only be practical in very dense urban areas like SF, otherwise it will be too difficult to get riders who line up both in origin and destination.
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Aug 6, 2014 18:03
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Cicero posted:Surprised nobody has mentioned this, yesterday and today both Uber and Lyft announced carpooling (with strangers) for a reduced fare: UberPool, Lyft Line They make it sound like a bus service where only some of the trip has to match: quote:The idea is simple. With UberPool, you share a ride—and split the cost—with another person who just happens to be requesting a ride along a similar route.
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Aug 6, 2014 18:04
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computer parts posted:They make it sound like a bus service where only some of the trip has to match:
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Aug 6, 2014 18:08
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WhiskeyJuvenile posted:There's a bunch of IP involved in ride sharing See https://www.google.com/?tbm=pts&gws_rd=ssl#q=ride+sharing&tbm=pts Hello lawsuits.
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Aug 6, 2014 18:08
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WhiskeyJuvenile posted:See https://www.google.com/?tbm=pts&gws_rd=ssl#q=ride+sharing&tbm=pts Haha dat claim.
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Aug 6, 2014 18:10
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Kalman posted:Haha dat claim. Either way, plenty of piranhas
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Aug 6, 2014 18:11
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WhiskeyJuvenile posted:Either way, plenty of piranhas Pretty much a given for tech companies, though. (And thank god, because I like my job.)
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Aug 6, 2014 18:22
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A local Arlington blog has published the regulations Uber must comply with in its temporary permit. Sounds like if they comply with these it'll nullify a lot of the criticism people have had around their operation. They all sound pretty reasonable. http://www.arlnow.com/2014/08/06/virginia-lifts-ban-on-uber-and-lyft/ ARLNow posted:
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Aug 6, 2014 18:38
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Ooh, that's rough. Most of the appeal of UberX/Lyft to drivers will go away when they'll need to tell them that at least of a third of their income is going straight to the tax man in April.
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Aug 6, 2014 18:42
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Radbot posted:Ooh, that's rough. Most of the appeal of UberX/Lyft to drivers will go away when they'll need to tell them that at least of a third of their income is going straight to the tax man in April. I think that combined with fixing the gap in insurance coverage is very fair for the drivers. If they're being paid as 1099 workers they need to know about all the tax liability associated with that.
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Aug 6, 2014 18:44
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The gap isn't fixed, though. Say your app is on, no one is in the car, and you're involved in a collision. Who pays? Neither your insurance or Uber will pay for damage to your car.
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Aug 6, 2014 18:47
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Radbot posted:The gap isn't fixed, though. Say your app is on, no one is in the car, and you're involved in a collision. Who pays? Neither your insurance or Uber will pay for damage to your car. Did you not read the part of the description of the new regulations that requires "liability insurance for drivers who are logged onto the companies’ software but not providing services."? That insurance pays.
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Aug 6, 2014 18:51
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I bet Big Taxi is wishing they thought of having multiple passengers.
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Aug 6, 2014 18:59
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Best Friends posted:I bet Big Taxi is wishing they thought of having multiple passengers. They tried to regulate Uber out of business by demanding things like "background checks" and "registration" and "seat belts" but guess what guys, Uber wins again, and that's good for all of us because the future of being driven by impoverished desperate people in their own private vehicles is going up up up. Taxis in DC can't take multiple passengers to different destinations so they probably do wish they'd thought of getting their regulations changed to allow it. Or, you know, not, because right now they get an extra flag drop each time they drop someone off.
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Aug 6, 2014 19:00
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Radbot posted:Ooh, that's rough. Most of the appeal of UberX/Lyft to drivers will go away when they'll need to tell them that at least of a third of their income is going straight to the tax man in April. Easy - don't tell them that. "OK, sign this 1099. That means you're an independent contractor. Look it up. Ok thanks bye!" is pretty much how it goes when I go 1099.
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Aug 6, 2014 19:03
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Kalman posted:Did you not read the part of the description of the new regulations that requires "liability insurance for drivers who are logged onto the companies’ software but not providing services."? Do you understand the meaning of liability vs. collision insurance?
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Aug 6, 2014 19:05
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Radbot posted:Do you understand the meaning of liability vs. collision insurance? Sorry, I misread your post. Liability insurance indeed generally won't pay for damages to your car. Just, you know, other peoples cars,property, and persons. I.e. the important stuff. What do you think the minimum collision coverage is for Virginia taxicabs? (I will give you a hint: Virginia doesn't even require liability insurance for private vehicles if you pay a 500 dollar fee.) Kalman fucked around with this message at 19:24 on Aug 6, 2014 |
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Aug 6, 2014 19:21
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Right, it's not important that it doesn't cover the driver's car. Gotcha.
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Aug 6, 2014 19:29
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I'm sure if someone gets a wreck and realizes the driver doesn't have liability insurance, they aren't going to just shrug and walk off. They'll just take your rear end to court.quote:minimum collision coverage is for Virginia taxicabs quote:liability insurance for private vehicles One of these things is not like the other...
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Aug 6, 2014 19:31
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Radbot posted:Right, it's not important that it doesn't cover the driver's car. Gotcha. I'm just curious why it's important for Uber but not for taxi drivers. I mean, the purpose of the regulations you want is to provide an equal requirement on Uber as on the existing oh-so-safe taxicabs, right?
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Aug 6, 2014 19:38
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ShadowHawk posted:You know, it's stories like that that really sell the idea of regulation to me. Those customers would be so much happier if they had to pay a minimum fare and were prohibited from using an app. That old woman in the snow would have had an entirely different experience if there were a strict lower limit on the number of cabs that could legally operate, and that any service she called was also one that had to accept street hails. "Sure, it sucks that the factory down the road is dumping toxic waste right into the water supply for my town in flagrant violation of pollution laws, but at least their insistence on ignoring minimum wage laws is creating plenty of jobs in the area!" enraged_camel posted:A taxi company is changing its business model as opposed to lobbying politicians to shackle Uber with regulations. Since when was "well if my competition gets to blatantly break the law and not get punished for it then I will too" a business model? This is one other unfortunate and rarely-discussed aspect of Uber's proliferation - it normalizes the idea of any random schmoe in a car being a "taxi driver", which makes it a lot easier for scammers and worse to talk or haul piss-drunk people into their car. Rather than having to fake a whole yellow cab or livery car look and have fake documentation in case someone tries to call them on it, they can just say "no worries, I'm her Uber driver" as they pull up to the sidewalk outside a bar and haul a barely-conscious drunk girl into the backseat. axeil posted:Please come to DC and you will understand why almost no one in DC supports the cab industry. The awfulness of the DC cab industry is reason #1 that I support Uber/Lyft/anything else because the service is so appallingly bad here. I have never seen a license with a photo anywhere in a cab, there is no divider, the cabs are from the 1990s if you're lucky, the dome light never seems to be accurate, there's no uniform color scheme (allegedly we're getting one in something like 2017) and the driver will always try and take the most inefficient route to rip you off unless you actively police his driving and tell him exactly where to go. They just started accepting credit card payments in TWO THOUSAND AND TWELVE. Oh but the card reader "doesn't work" and you'll have to pay in cash and whoops I don't have any change, thanks for the $15 tip on a $25 ride! So you're complaining that DC taxis don't have consistent appearance or licensing requirements, ignore laws they don't like, and go unpunished by regulators...and your solution is to bring in a service with no appearance or licensing requirements which openly states its intention to ignore any laws it doesn't like but which you want regulators to not punish? The reason the DC taxi market sucks, by the way, is almost certainly because it's composed almost entirely of small or independent operators, who are a lot more likely to openly discriminate or try to scam people, who are the biggest opponents of regulations like appearance requirements, and who are very difficult to regulate both because there's so many independent taxi businesses and because at the first whiff of a crackdown or tightening of regulations they'll go crying to voters about BIG TAXI MONOPOLIES TRYING TO PUSH SMALL BUSINESSES OUT OF THE MARKET WITH JOB-KILLING REGULATIONS AND BARRIERS TO ENTRY.
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Aug 6, 2014 19:56
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