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The title is misleading; the author was using a ride sharing app, not a cab.
by icyftw 8y ago
The title is misleading; the author was using a ride sharing app, not a cab.
- el_cujo 8y agoYeah I'm not sure why the author chose that title, it makes you think its going to be a "pro-ride sharing/anti-traditional taxi" piece. I wonder if this is a click-bait strategy.
- d0gsg0w00f 8y agoI see they changed the title now.
- sthgrau 8y agoIf you wanted ride sharing to be treated the same as traditional taxis, you could erase the difference in people's minds by referring to them as the same thing.
- rjf72 8y agoCould be an allusion to the fact that the driver was a licensed taxi driver.
- mikeash 8y agoI don’t know about Bloomberg specifically, but typically authors don’t write the headlines in media.
- pwagland 8y agoThere is a deliberate attempt to conflate the two, since they are essentially the same service, and many people want them regulated the same. There is a correspondingly deliberate attempt to ensure that the two remain separate in peoples minds, to ensure that Grab, and the other "* sharing" apps, don't get the same regulations applied to them as the industries that they are trying to disrupt. But make no mistake, the services that Grab/Uber/Lyft/other "ride sharing apps" provides is for 99.99% of consumers a direct, possibly cheaper, replacement for a cab service.
- dahart 8y ago> the services that Grab/Uber/Lyft/other “ride sharing apps” provides is for 99.99% of consumers a direct, possibly cheaper, replacement for a cab service. I think that, reading between the lines, this article is talking about that point. I know cab services are crappy most places, but ride sharing apps are cheaper precisely because they’re trying to build a market without any regulation and they’re undercutting cabs in part because cabs cost more. The business innovation of ride sharing apps is in externalizing the costs of ride sharing, from the maintenance costs of cars onto the drivers, to the lack of unions & benefits, to the “disruptive” startup mentality where Uber justifies breaking laws because it’s good for business, to lower regulatory oversight and fees.
- icebraining 8y agoTaxi drivers in the US, where Uber/Lyft started, were already considered contractors without unions & benefits, and they paid to rent the cars with medallion from cab companies (they started each day over $100 in the red).
- Legogris 8y agoIn Singapore, Grab drivers need a commercial license. The driver in this case had a taxi license. I'd argue that "cab" is not a misnomer here.
- jtms 8y agoIn Singapore, at least while I was living there, Grab taxi was used to hail actual taxis. Think traditional taxi company, but happens to have a mobile app that (mostly) works well. I guess now that they bought up Uber’s operations it’s a mixture of traditional and Uber style freelancers.