5 ms·

They are used to break the laws, it's called disruption, I think.

by angry-hacker 10y ago

grzm 10y ago
Disruption doesn't necessarily imply illegal activity.
- rebolek 10y ago
  But Uber does.
  - grzm 10y ago
    Then that's the point that should be made, not some vague innuendo about an aspect of entrepreneurism in general.
- mtanski 10y ago
  In fact many current industries engage in illegal activities. Most often cartel behavior and price fixing. Generally this behavior is not curbed already because it's hard to prove price fixing without having concrete information about the communication. Technically you don't need to have communication, but it's hard. Sometimes all you need is one new vendor to enter the market place and not play by the old rules.
rhizome 10y ago
As someone who was truly frustrated with the taxi system for years, to the degree of refusing to use them hardly at all, I don't mind so much Uber breaking outdated laws (I do believe some kind of taxi commission is warranted in general) so much as the results of their business model: replacing one mafia with another. That a secondary effect is to flood the streets with even more batshit-awful drivers is proof that they aren't disrupting anything but taxi management and not hacks[1] in general. 1. http://answergirlnet.blogspot.com/2007/07/why-are-taxi-cabs-called-hacks.html http://answergirlnet.blogspot.com/2007/07/why-are-taxi-cabs-...
- tajen 10y ago
  It could even be worded like this: Given most taxis across the world provide a dodgy service and hijack fees way above official metered levels (or hijack meters or add luggage fees or spend 20 minutes negociating the fare after you've made them aware you're in a hurry for a flight) to the point that most middle-class doesn't use them, ... is replacing this mafia with a batshit-awful company still a progress? As long as the middle-class now can afford taxis on a regular basis, and the offer of drivers is in an all-time high, with better control of driver and passenger identities, then it's an economical plus for the society. Of course there's Lyft and Grab too.
  - rhizome 10y ago
    Naturally, in some places the taxi service is 1000x worse than what I ever complained about, so in those places I can see the up-front pricing for Uber to be a little bit more of a revolutionary improvement. I think overall the experience of taking a taxi is not going to change that much, but there's going to be a big repricing when Uber runs out of loss-leader. I imagine the dream is for inflation to absorb most of that by the time the axe falls, but uber/lyft/taxi pricing across the board will have to find an equilibrium. Or differentiators.

They are used to break the laws, it's called disruption, I think.

grzm 10y ago

Disruption doesn't necessarily imply illegal activity.

rebolek 10y ago
But Uber does.
- grzm 10y ago
  Then that's the point that should be made, not some vague innuendo about an aspect of entrepreneurism in general.
mtanski 10y ago
In fact many current industries engage in illegal activities. Most often cartel behavior and price fixing. Generally this behavior is not curbed already because it's hard to prove price fixing without having concrete information about the communication. Technically you don't need to have communication, but it's hard. Sometimes all you need is one new vendor to enter the market place and not play by the old rules.

rhizome 10y ago

As someone who was truly frustrated with the taxi system for years, to the degree of refusing to use them hardly at all, I don't mind so much Uber breaking outdated laws (I do believe some kind of taxi commission is warranted in general) so much as the results of their business model: replacing one mafia with another. That a secondary effect is to flood the streets with even more batshit-awful drivers is proof that they aren't disrupting anything but taxi management and not hacks[1] in general. 1. http://answergirlnet.blogspot.com/2007/07/why-are-taxi-cabs-called-hacks.html http://answergirlnet.blogspot.com/2007/07/why-are-taxi-cabs-...

tajen 10y ago
It could even be worded like this: Given most taxis across the world provide a dodgy service and hijack fees way above official metered levels (or hijack meters or add luggage fees or spend 20 minutes negociating the fare after you've made them aware you're in a hurry for a flight) to the point that most middle-class doesn't use them, ... is replacing this mafia with a batshit-awful company still a progress? As long as the middle-class now can afford taxis on a regular basis, and the offer of drivers is in an all-time high, with better control of driver and passenger identities, then it's an economical plus for the society. Of course there's Lyft and Grab too.
- rhizome 10y ago
  Naturally, in some places the taxi service is 1000x worse than what I ever complained about, so in those places I can see the up-front pricing for Uber to be a little bit more of a revolutionary improvement. I think overall the experience of taking a taxi is not going to change that much, but there's going to be a big repricing when Uber runs out of loss-leader. I imagine the dream is for inflation to absorb most of that by the time the axe falls, but uber/lyft/taxi pricing across the board will have to find an equilibrium. Or differentiators.