Uber's Victims; Any Sympathy for Taxi Drivers?

[ucbalumnus]

@OHMomof2

Growing up I had to take **gypsy/b cabs because yellow cabs didn’t cruise my neighborhood (and occasionally refused to take me home as well). If I still lived where I grew up I suppose I’d use rideshare now.

Was the use of “gypsy” back then as a reference to something illegal intended to be based on an ethnic insult?

[greenwitch]

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/07/opinion/new-york-uber-problem.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region&region=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region (What will New York do about it’s Uber Problem?)

Thoughtful editorial in the NY Times:

Cities have a long history of intervening to impose order on their streets. No large metropolis can accommodate everyone who would like to drive or be privately driven around — street space is a limited resource, especially in the densest neighborhoods and at the busiest times of the day. In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, New York created its taxi medallion system because drivers looking for work flooded the streets, far outstripping demand and driving down wages for drivers. With the rise of Uber, Lyft and the like, the city is again confronting a tragedy of the commons.

At the same time, traffic has slowed to a crawl, to just 8.2 miles per hour south of 60th Street in Manhattan in 2015, down from 9.4 miles per hour in 2010, according to the city’s Department of Transportation.

While it would be impractical for the city to get rid of its existing regulations in one fell swoop, it could phase in new regulations. A more thoughtful regime would ensure that all drivers make a living wage by establishing a minimum fare for riders, and a standardized share of that fare for drivers, regardless of what kind of car they drive.

[PetraMC]

One thing I don’t get is why cab companies haven’t adapted at least a little to keep up with a changing business model and the new competition. Make their cabs cleaner, their drivers more courteous and accommodating, allow for a feedback system like Lyft/Uber.

They definitely have, at least here in NYC. There are apps like Curb and Arrow that function just like Uber/Lyft, including the rating system. Both cabs and Uber can be hit or miss in terms of cleanliness and the friendliness of the driver. I use both Uber and cabs a lot, especially since service on my subway line has been so terrible recently.

Uber used to be much faster and a little cheaper here but it’s not anymore. I generally can hail a cab much faster, and I don’t have to wait for a car to drop a passenger off first, which has been happening more and more with Uber. Maybe there are just too many users in my area? I find the service between Uber and Lyft to be interchangeable.

I don’t like it when my driver is TOO friendly. I’ve had some bad experiences there (both with Uber and cabs) and it puts me on edge. Don’t get me wrong, I’m polite and of course I like it when they are polite.

[Lennon]

I’m in NYC and other cities a few times each month and have had so many bad cab experiences-smelly, rude, getting lost or taking the long route-that I don’t have much sympathy for cab drivers. All of my uber experiences have been great-clean, considerate, tied into gps so no route confusion. I like that you pay in advance, so even if it’s trafficky-the bill has been settled. I’ve had two recent business trips to Seattle and St. Louis and found Uber very helpful there, as cabs were not easy to come by in the neighborhoods I visited.

[doschicos]

“I don’t like it when my driver is TOO friendly. I’ve had some bad experiences there”

My daughter has complained about that with Uber. Guys wanting to be uber chatty.

[deb922]

Question, no Uber where I live. In an Uber, do you sit in the back seat or upfront with the driver?

[PetraMC]

@deb922 Backseat, unless you have 4 people in your party and can’t all fit in the back. I never get the feeling they are thrilled to have you up front.

[milee30]

“I’m in NYC and other cities a few times each month and have had so many bad cab experiences-smelly, rude, getting lost or taking the long route-that I don’t have much sympathy for cab drivers.”

That’s been my experience, too. In the past couple of years I’ve taken both Uber and taxis in NY, Chicago, Washington DC, Hampton VA, LA, Phoenix and the much smaller town I live in. Without exception the taxis have been dirty and the drivers rude. None of the Ubers have been smelly and most have been very clean; the Uber drivers have been either openly friendly or quiet without being rude.

If it was a mixed experience where sometimes taxis were clean and polite and sometimes Ubers were filthy and rude, then I would have more sympathy for cab drivers. As it is, I wonder if the people who are worried about the cab drivers have spent much time in cabs and if they have why they’ve had a different experience or don’t seem to care that the quality is worse?

[greenwitch]

http://money.cnn.com/2018/05/15/technology/lyft-forced-arbitration/index.html (Uber and Lyft agree to end forced arbitration for sexual assault victims)

Previously, upon signing up for Uber or Lyft services, users had to agree to resolve claims on an individual basis through arbitration. Critics say the practice helps companies keep the issue of sexual violence quiet.

Uber, which has formally responded in court, said the women will now have the choice of bringing their individual assault claims to arbitration, meditation or open court. Uber argued that the women will have to bring other claims in the suit, including unfair business practices, to an arbitrator.

[great_lakes_mom]

Several times a year I fly into Phoenix and take a taxi to a hotel. I have great conversations with the cab drivers for the most part, as they are immigrants who have been through some amazing experiences. Last year I was with a friend who had Uber. The guy was nice enough, but got very lost going to our hotel, and it was redeveloped from when I lived there, and a bit tricky to find. I’d rather have a taxi driver who knew where to go, and had another resource to call. Online mapping was not helping either of us in our search.

As a union member whose life has been much enhanced by collective bargaining, I have mixed feelings about the sharing economy.

[LakeWashington]

The situation with taxi driver suicides may motivate (force?) the government in NY to come to the aid of the medallion taxis against Uber and Lyft. It’s awful that these drivers feel that they have no way out of a declining and disastrous financial bind, but you could see the competition coming years ago and bringing economic change with it. The medallion owners and the banks suckered these immigrant taxi drivers into paying a fortune for a horse and buggy in the new age of the Ford Model T.

https://patch.com/new-york/upper-east-side-nyc/nyc-taxi-drivers-suicide-prompts-mourning-action