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Two thoughts: 1) Every discussion of Uber includes these anecdotal testimonials of great Uber experiences and bad taxi experiences. Anecdotes don't tell us any

Two thoughts: 1) Every discussion of Uber includes these anecdotal testimonials of great Uber experiences and bad taxi experiences. Anecdotes don't tell us anything useful, and the pattern smells like astroturfing. For what it's worth, I use taxis regularly and find them reliable, pleasant and efficient - but so what? 2) If Uber wins on 10000x better experience, why do they need to invest so much in lobbying, violating the law, and treating drivers poorly? Why are they losing money?

funkaster 11y ago
Agree. The only city that I've used uber/lyft is SF, basically because the taxi system in that city was completely broken. In all other places/cities I don't even think and just use taxis: NYC, London, Paris, Berlin, Beijing, Santiago, Buenos Aires. In all those places even though the experience is not perfect, I have to say that for some reason I prefer it to the current lyft/uber experience. (I live in SF and use uber/lyft pretty frequently)
_sentient 11y ago
Imagine a world where crony-capitalist incumbents legislate with the explicit purpose of stifling competition and protecting their monopolies. That is the world we live in. Given that fact, as Uber your potential choices are to either: 1) ignore those laws until you grow large enough to mobilize public support 2) invest in lobbying yourself as a defensive measure 3) do both. The fact that Uber is lobbying and in some cases outright ignoring laws has little to do with the quality of their product, and a lot to do with the realities of our current legal system.
- wavefunction 11y ago
  >crony-capitalist incumbents..stifling competition and protecting their monopolies That describes Uber to me, given that they call their drivers contractors yet tried to prevent them from driving for other firms. >realities of our current legal system. I might excuse this if Uber was fighting for some sort of human rights and wasn't a highly funded corporation
BurningFrog 11y ago
Taxi service is not homogenous across the planet. Taxi in SF was awful, and probably still is. But even there, there were pockets of decent service in the most profitable corners of the city. In other places it works really well. Sounds like you live in a place like that. Uber needs to fight the law because the Taxi lobby controls so much of it. In the Game of Crony Capitalism, you lobby or you die.
SilasX 11y ago
At this point, it cannot be fairly characterized as anecdotal that taxi drivers routinely a) demand more than the regulated rate ("tipping"); b) refuse service to persons of color, with disabilities, and with undesirable destinations; and c) decline credit cards despite bearing the processor's trade dress. (That's just the US, though, can't speak for France, not having researched the market there.)

funkaster 11y ago

Agree. The only city that I've used uber/lyft is SF, basically because the taxi system in that city was completely broken. In all other places/cities I don't even think and just use taxis: NYC, London, Paris, Berlin, Beijing, Santiago, Buenos Aires. In all those places even though the experience is not perfect, I have to say that for some reason I prefer it to the current lyft/uber experience. (I live in SF and use uber/lyft pretty frequently)

_sentient 11y ago

Imagine a world where crony-capitalist incumbents legislate with the explicit purpose of stifling competition and protecting their monopolies. That is the world we live in. Given that fact, as Uber your potential choices are to either: 1) ignore those laws until you grow large enough to mobilize public support 2) invest in lobbying yourself as a defensive measure 3) do both. The fact that Uber is lobbying and in some cases outright ignoring laws has little to do with the quality of their product, and a lot to do with the realities of our current legal system.

wavefunction 11y ago
>crony-capitalist incumbents..stifling competition and protecting their monopolies That describes Uber to me, given that they call their drivers contractors yet tried to prevent them from driving for other firms. >realities of our current legal system. I might excuse this if Uber was fighting for some sort of human rights and wasn't a highly funded corporation

BurningFrog 11y ago

Taxi service is not homogenous across the planet. Taxi in SF was awful, and probably still is. But even there, there were pockets of decent service in the most profitable corners of the city. In other places it works really well. Sounds like you live in a place like that. Uber needs to fight the law because the Taxi lobby controls so much of it. In the Game of Crony Capitalism, you lobby or you die.

SilasX 11y ago

At this point, it cannot be fairly characterized as anecdotal that taxi drivers routinely a) demand more than the regulated rate ("tipping"); b) refuse service to persons of color, with disabilities, and with undesirable destinations; and c) decline credit cards despite bearing the processor's trade dress. (That's just the US, though, can't speak for France, not having researched the market there.)