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Very well written. The thing that scares me about this thing in particular is what happens if Uber stops subsidizing the drivers after one year and says they ne
by snarf21 10y ago
Very well written. The thing that scares me about this thing in particular is what happens if Uber stops subsidizing the drivers after one year and says they need to increase prices by 75% moving forward. In all of these things there is a switching cost. Would the city be able to switch back? What if Uber drivers unionize or stop driving if their wages drop too low? Uber has to hope new drivers sign up and the city can do nothing about this. I think the big thing the the city is losing is control and that may easily be worth the money. It is also quite possible that some efficiencies in the busing program could pay higher dividends. I also fear that decisions like this are being done to be cool not because they are best for the community.
- lhorie 10y agoI think in this case, it's not that big of a deal. We're talking about a town where the primary transportation method now is cars. If the Uber partnership goes south, there are a number of other options for residents (basically whatever they do to get around now), it becomes mostly a matter of convenience/cost. The town is basically just subsidizing a small-scale private service that would probably exist anyways to cater to a small portion of the already small population. To put it in perspective how puny this program is, look at the cost: 225k over a year or so. That's less than it costs to run a single bus.