4 ms·

you ever called a taxi service while in the middle of a suburb at 1am?

by pyvpx 10y ago

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
kinkdr 10y ago
Do you mean that this is a classic case of supply and demand? I don't see a problem with this. But I don't think this is what was mentioned in the article.
taxicabjesus 10y ago
Ride sharing has probably really hurt people who need a ride in the middle of the night. There used to be a whole crew of taxi drivers who preferred working the night shift. They'd make most of their money from the bar traffic. It'd get slow after 2am (last call), then people would start waking up to go to work at 4am. Sometimes I'd get a fare between 2am and 4am, depending on if I was taking a break in the right place. The fares that popped up on our electronic dispatch "board" in the middle of the night would usually get snapped up quickly, by someone. Then the vultures skimmed off a lot of the "easy money" bar traffic (7pm-2am). There are now only a fraction of the cabs on the road in the middle of the night as there used to be; I'm certain that "ride share cars" have not replaced all the cabs that used to be available at 3am. Towards the end of my taxi driving career, there was a fellow trying to go home from work at 10pm, from his restaurant at the edge of the map. He'd mostly switched to using the vultures' phone app, but there wasn't a "ride share" available. So he called Phoenix's legendarily-reliable taxi cab company, and I got him home. It was a few dollars more than getting a "ride", but at least he didn't have to walk.
- vonklaus 10y ago
  not to be rude, but this makes no sense to me. I would be a customer so that is the lens I am viewing this from but my interpretation was: * I liked working nights until the "vultures" allowed other people to work nights which increased supply and lowered prices. * One time, I picked up a guy who had trouble getting home because there wasn't always a vulture nearby. It cost him more money. * 7pm-2am on weekends are high volume times edit: I think the point was that because ridesharing typically knocks off at 2am or 3am there is a hole between 3am and 5am or something. However, taxi rates are pretty murderous at this hour at least when I've paid them. Regardless, between a taxi, lyft and uber someone needing a ride will be better off at all times of day.
  - taxicabjesus 10y ago
    Thanks for your comments. There are fundamental problems involved in transporting people from place to place that are not solved by the new entrants to the industry. The only innovation offered by "ridesharing" is having a more flexible workforce. While this helps with periods of high demand (drinking holidays, etc), the ridesharing model is not sustainable. I mean to reconstruct my kuro5hin blog [1], but haven't gotten to that project yet. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11612648 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11612648
srtjstjsj 10y ago
you ever plan a round trip instead of winging it?

you ever called a taxi service while in the middle of a suburb at 1am?

by pyvpx 10y ago

you ever called a taxi service while in the middle of a suburb at 1am?

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

kinkdr 10y ago

Do you mean that this is a classic case of supply and demand? I don't see a problem with this. But I don't think this is what was mentioned in the article.

taxicabjesus 10y ago

Ride sharing has probably really hurt people who need a ride in the middle of the night. There used to be a whole crew of taxi drivers who preferred working the night shift. They'd make most of their money from the bar traffic. It'd get slow after 2am (last call), then people would start waking up to go to work at 4am. Sometimes I'd get a fare between 2am and 4am, depending on if I was taking a break in the right place. The fares that popped up on our electronic dispatch "board" in the middle of the night would usually get snapped up quickly, by someone. Then the vultures skimmed off a lot of the "easy money" bar traffic (7pm-2am). There are now only a fraction of the cabs on the road in the middle of the night as there used to be; I'm certain that "ride share cars" have not replaced all the cabs that used to be available at 3am. Towards the end of my taxi driving career, there was a fellow trying to go home from work at 10pm, from his restaurant at the edge of the map. He'd mostly switched to using the vultures' phone app, but there wasn't a "ride share" available. So he called Phoenix's legendarily-reliable taxi cab company, and I got him home. It was a few dollars more than getting a "ride", but at least he didn't have to walk.

vonklaus 10y ago
not to be rude, but this makes no sense to me. I would be a customer so that is the lens I am viewing this from but my interpretation was: * I liked working nights until the "vultures" allowed other people to work nights which increased supply and lowered prices. * One time, I picked up a guy who had trouble getting home because there wasn't always a vulture nearby. It cost him more money. * 7pm-2am on weekends are high volume times edit: I think the point was that because ridesharing typically knocks off at 2am or 3am there is a hole between 3am and 5am or something. However, taxi rates are pretty murderous at this hour at least when I've paid them. Regardless, between a taxi, lyft and uber someone needing a ride will be better off at all times of day.
- taxicabjesus 10y ago
  Thanks for your comments. There are fundamental problems involved in transporting people from place to place that are not solved by the new entrants to the industry. The only innovation offered by "ridesharing" is having a more flexible workforce. While this helps with periods of high demand (drinking holidays, etc), the ridesharing model is not sustainable. I mean to reconstruct my kuro5hin blog [1], but haven't gotten to that project yet. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11612648 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11612648

srtjstjsj 10y ago

you ever plan a round trip instead of winging it?