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https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/02/nyregion/taxi-drivers-suicide-nyc.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/02/nyregion/taxi-drivers-sui... It's easy to be caval

by door5 8y ago

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/02/nyregion/taxi-drivers-suicide-nyc.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/02/nyregion/taxi-drivers-sui... It's easy to be cavalier if you ignore the effect on Taxi workers. Ride sharing replaced a stable, unionized, middle class career with low-paying, low-benefit gig jobs. It ruined people's lives and destroyed a stable field of work. This wasn't a technological innovation -- it was a legal one, where they figured out a way to evade regulations to undercut the current system and drive down wages.

orangecat 8y ago
It ruined people's lives and destroyed a stable field of work. Telephone operators and travel agents used to have stable careers. This wasn't a technological innovation If the technology is so insignificant, why didn't taxi companies develop ride-hailing apps? Either it's actually complex, or they decided they had no need to improve service because of their oligopoly.
- tomc1985 8y ago
  Telephone operators and travel agents used to have stable careers. So you are for the indiscriminate ruining of lives because of technological innovation? Why can't any of these innovators work with encumbents to ensure happiness for all and not just enriching themselves?
  - akiselev 8y ago
    Why can't any of these incumbents work with innovators to ensure happiness for all and not just enriching themselves? I don't know if you've ever been to a medallion auction but they went for over a million dollars each in Manhattan before Uber came along. Most of the medallions were bought up by holding companies that then leased them out to drivers who paid up front and had to hope they made enough money that day to cover the fee. In San Francisco, I remember a driver told me that his up front fee was $100-200 per 8 hour shift depending on the season - that's over $100-200k per year ROI and SF's medallions were a fraction of the price of NYC. I seriously doubt many lives were ruined by the fall in value of taxi medallions. Very few are owned by actual drivers and that's where all the money is.
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- basicplus2 8y ago
  Its not comparable as Uber is running at a loss underwritten by certain Arab interests so the traditional Taxi service system cannot compete https://www.investors.com/news/uber-loss-q3-revenue-slows-uber-eats/ https://www.investors.com/news/uber-loss-q3-revenue-slows-ub...

by door5 8y ago

orangecat 8y ago

It ruined people's lives and destroyed a stable field of work. Telephone operators and travel agents used to have stable careers. This wasn't a technological innovation If the technology is so insignificant, why didn't taxi companies develop ride-hailing apps? Either it's actually complex, or they decided they had no need to improve service because of their oligopoly.

tomc1985 8y ago
Telephone operators and travel agents used to have stable careers. So you are for the indiscriminate ruining of lives because of technological innovation? Why can't any of these innovators work with encumbents to ensure happiness for all and not just enriching themselves?
- akiselev 8y ago
  Why can't any of these incumbents work with innovators to ensure happiness for all and not just enriching themselves? I don't know if you've ever been to a medallion auction but they went for over a million dollars each in Manhattan before Uber came along. Most of the medallions were bought up by holding companies that then leased them out to drivers who paid up front and had to hope they made enough money that day to cover the fee. In San Francisco, I remember a driver told me that his up front fee was $100-200 per 8 hour shift depending on the season - that's over $100-200k per year ROI and SF's medallions were a fraction of the price of NYC. I seriously doubt many lives were ruined by the fall in value of taxi medallions. Very few are owned by actual drivers and that's where all the money is.
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basicplus2 8y ago
Its not comparable as Uber is running at a loss underwritten by certain Arab interests so the traditional Taxi service system cannot compete https://www.investors.com/news/uber-loss-q3-revenue-slows-uber-eats/ https://www.investors.com/news/uber-loss-q3-revenue-slows-ub...