4 ms·

Uber is an amazing example of the Silicon Valley bubble trying to solve a problem that exists for them but not others. Just because taxi service was abhorrently

Uber is an amazing example of the Silicon Valley bubble trying to solve a problem that exists for them but not others. Just because taxi service was abhorrently bad in San Francisco doesn't mean it's that bad everywhere. VCs didn't really seem to know that and threw billions at them, they failed to live up to the promised growth because they ran into local competition that they didn't anticipate, so they pivoted to a margin play and are now spinning tales of how close they are to being able to fire all of their (already underpaid) contractors. Can't wait to see them crash and burn and be replaced by commodity ride-share services that have a better connection to their service area.

maverick_iceman 9y ago
Taxi service was bad everywhere if you were black.
- TeMPOraL 9y ago
  Everywhere in the 60s or everywhere in pre-Uber XXI century? Honest question; I was under the impression that most of the racism problems in the US have been solved before I was born.
  - sp332 9y ago
    It's still a big problem. https://medium.com/matter/ubering-while-black-146db581b9db https://medium.com/matter/ubering-while-black-146db581b9db http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/digital-discrimination-the-case-of-airbnb-com http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/digital-discrimination-the-case-of... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redlining#Current_issues https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redlining#Current_issues
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
  - dsp1234 9y ago
    Racism in the US is not currently solved, so your impression is incorrect. Slavery is gone, and legal segregation is gone, but racism is still alive and well. While the other comment is particularly snarky, and while modern day racism is less overt than activities like lynching, it still exists. As an easy example from recent news, a Texas judge posting on facebook that it was "time for a tree and a rope" (which is an implied lynching)[0]. [0] - http://www.mystatesman.com/news/local-govt--politics/judge-must-undergo-sensitivity-training-after-tree-and-rope-post/mmNmCgN8j5chVcqF6URaBM/ http://www.mystatesman.com/news/local-govt--politics/judge-m...
- anigbrowl 9y ago
  You know the rest of the world isn't as racist as the USA, so be a little more careful with your 'everywhere' please.
  - xaqfox 9y ago
    <quote>You know the rest of the world isn't as racist as the USA</quote> Unless perhaps, you are a Turk in Germany or a Roma just about anywhere in Europe.
    - anigbrowl 9y ago
      A reasonable point. I'd say the US is worse in absolute terms (simply on account of a much larger number of number of fatal shootings and the like), but whether that means it's more racist or similarly so and just more violent in general is tricky to analyze. It's unfortunate that we find ourselves having to make such comparisons at all :-(
- BlackjackCF 9y ago
  It's really not much different for Uber: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-31/study-finds-racial-discrimination-by-uber-and-lyft-drivers https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-31/study-fin...
rhino369 9y ago
Uber's MVP product improves upon all taxi services. Hailing a cab with an app is much better than making a call and hoping they show up. But all the extra work getting people to drive in the spare time doesn't really add much value. It's only viable because they are dumping money in the market to subsidize it. Uber could co-exist with taxis. In many cities you can hail a regulated cab with the app.
- dahauns 9y ago
  We've had taxi apps (like mytaxi and taxi.eu) long before Uber started in Europe. This really isn't anything new.

maverick_iceman 9y ago

Taxi service was bad everywhere if you were black.

TeMPOraL 9y ago
Everywhere in the 60s or everywhere in pre-Uber XXI century? Honest question; I was under the impression that most of the racism problems in the US have been solved before I was born.
- sp332 9y ago
  It's still a big problem. https://medium.com/matter/ubering-while-black-146db581b9db https://medium.com/matter/ubering-while-black-146db581b9db http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/digital-discrimination-the-case-of-airbnb-com http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/digital-discrimination-the-case-of... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redlining#Current_issues https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redlining#Current_issues
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
- dsp1234 9y ago
  Racism in the US is not currently solved, so your impression is incorrect. Slavery is gone, and legal segregation is gone, but racism is still alive and well. While the other comment is particularly snarky, and while modern day racism is less overt than activities like lynching, it still exists. As an easy example from recent news, a Texas judge posting on facebook that it was "time for a tree and a rope" (which is an implied lynching)[0]. [0] - http://www.mystatesman.com/news/local-govt--politics/judge-must-undergo-sensitivity-training-after-tree-and-rope-post/mmNmCgN8j5chVcqF6URaBM/ http://www.mystatesman.com/news/local-govt--politics/judge-m...
anigbrowl 9y ago
You know the rest of the world isn't as racist as the USA, so be a little more careful with your 'everywhere' please.
- xaqfox 9y ago
  <quote>You know the rest of the world isn't as racist as the USA</quote> Unless perhaps, you are a Turk in Germany or a Roma just about anywhere in Europe.
  - anigbrowl 9y ago
    A reasonable point. I'd say the US is worse in absolute terms (simply on account of a much larger number of number of fatal shootings and the like), but whether that means it's more racist or similarly so and just more violent in general is tricky to analyze. It's unfortunate that we find ourselves having to make such comparisons at all :-(
BlackjackCF 9y ago
It's really not much different for Uber: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-31/study-finds-racial-discrimination-by-uber-and-lyft-drivers https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-31/study-fin...

rhino369 9y ago

Uber's MVP product improves upon all taxi services. Hailing a cab with an app is much better than making a call and hoping they show up. But all the extra work getting people to drive in the spare time doesn't really add much value. It's only viable because they are dumping money in the market to subsidize it. Uber could co-exist with taxis. In many cities you can hail a regulated cab with the app.

dahauns 9y ago
We've had taxi apps (like mytaxi and taxi.eu) long before Uber started in Europe. This really isn't anything new.