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What's the difference? Please elaborate. As I see it, there are only a few citizens who benefitted-- those involved in the ownership of taxi companies & medalli

What's the difference? Please elaborate. As I see it, there are only a few citizens who benefitted-- those involved in the ownership of taxi companies & medallions.

comicjk 10y ago
Other people on the road benefitted, at least in some places. A major reason for taxi regulation in NYC was to reduce road congestion - they calculated that adding more taxis would increase the average travel time. Now Uber has upended this. I think that pricing congestion directly would be better, but in the absence of that, this is an example of Uber hurting some citizens who are not taxi companies.
- Apes 10y ago
  The road congestion theory is a backwards rational -- someone was trying to come with reason for why medallions should still exist and came up with it. There's no way that anyone in 1937 had congestion in mind when they were creating the taxi medallions; to call it a "major" reason for why tax medallions were created is completely absurd. To cite road congestion as being part of the "spirit" of why taxi medallions were created leaves me with the impression of someone being disingenuous.
  - galdosdi 10y ago
    > There's no way that anyone in 1937 had congestion in mind when they were creating the taxi medallions What on earth makes you assert this? The intense and (to modern eyes) borderline insane levels of traffic congestion in NYC at the dawn of the automobile age are very well documented. There are pictures and videos you can easily find, that make today's horrible congestion look bearable and civilized. A lot of traffic rules and devices have their dawn in the same era.
aaroninsf 10y ago
Untrained Uber and Lyft drivers are all but required to violate the law and endanger others, in pursuit of "customer service." Pull over RIGHT HERE. Flip a U-turn RIGHT HERE. Customer must not walk FIVE FEET. Customer can open door RIGHT HERE. Ad nausuem. I bike commute in San Francisco and on a typical day I dodge literally dozens of illegally double-parked ride share cars occupying marked bike lanes. I have been nearly doored multiple times, nearly run into parked cars multiple times, been forced into traffic innumerable times, etc. This is not the 'fault' (sic) of individual drivers. It's the business model, and I hold Uber and Lyft accountable. EDIT: taxi drivers do this 2% as often; I've bike commuted in the city 20 years and it is apples and oranges
- galdosdi 10y ago
  Agree 100% that the experience is similar in NYC. Non-yellow cabbies in NYC seem much less experienced (I mean on average, of course) with urban traffic -- when I'm cycling, I am much warier of the black uber cars than of the yellow cabs -- the yellow cabs are aggressive too, but are very experienced and their aggressiveness is thus very practiced and predictable, easy to deal with and not really usually a danger as long as you know the drill And when I'm on the other side and need to take a cab, I much prefer to take a yellow cab, because they get there faster. Even with GPS, a dense urban environment is filled with little foibles and tricks that only experience can handle
- xapata 10y ago
  My experience in NYC was that the medallion taxi drivers were much more willing to violate traffic laws. I've been hit by a taxi, never by an Uber.

What's the difference? Please elaborate. As I see it, there are only a few citizens who benefitted-- those involved in the ownership of taxi companies & medallions.

comicjk 10y ago

Other people on the road benefitted, at least in some places. A major reason for taxi regulation in NYC was to reduce road congestion - they calculated that adding more taxis would increase the average travel time. Now Uber has upended this. I think that pricing congestion directly would be better, but in the absence of that, this is an example of Uber hurting some citizens who are not taxi companies.

Apes 10y ago
The road congestion theory is a backwards rational -- someone was trying to come with reason for why medallions should still exist and came up with it. There's no way that anyone in 1937 had congestion in mind when they were creating the taxi medallions; to call it a "major" reason for why tax medallions were created is completely absurd. To cite road congestion as being part of the "spirit" of why taxi medallions were created leaves me with the impression of someone being disingenuous.
- galdosdi 10y ago
  > There's no way that anyone in 1937 had congestion in mind when they were creating the taxi medallions What on earth makes you assert this? The intense and (to modern eyes) borderline insane levels of traffic congestion in NYC at the dawn of the automobile age are very well documented. There are pictures and videos you can easily find, that make today's horrible congestion look bearable and civilized. A lot of traffic rules and devices have their dawn in the same era.

aaroninsf 10y ago

Untrained Uber and Lyft drivers are all but required to violate the law and endanger others, in pursuit of "customer service." Pull over RIGHT HERE. Flip a U-turn RIGHT HERE. Customer must not walk FIVE FEET. Customer can open door RIGHT HERE. Ad nausuem. I bike commute in San Francisco and on a typical day I dodge literally dozens of illegally double-parked ride share cars occupying marked bike lanes. I have been nearly doored multiple times, nearly run into parked cars multiple times, been forced into traffic innumerable times, etc. This is not the 'fault' (sic) of individual drivers. It's the business model, and I hold Uber and Lyft accountable. EDIT: taxi drivers do this 2% as often; I've bike commuted in the city 20 years and it is apples and oranges

galdosdi 10y ago
Agree 100% that the experience is similar in NYC. Non-yellow cabbies in NYC seem much less experienced (I mean on average, of course) with urban traffic -- when I'm cycling, I am much warier of the black uber cars than of the yellow cabs -- the yellow cabs are aggressive too, but are very experienced and their aggressiveness is thus very practiced and predictable, easy to deal with and not really usually a danger as long as you know the drill And when I'm on the other side and need to take a cab, I much prefer to take a yellow cab, because they get there faster. Even with GPS, a dense urban environment is filled with little foibles and tricks that only experience can handle
xapata 10y ago
My experience in NYC was that the medallion taxi drivers were much more willing to violate traffic laws. I've been hit by a taxi, never by an Uber.