4 ms·

I dislike Uber but worse than taxis? I don't know which area you've had experience with but taxis have been consistently terrible in my experience. It's the per

by klabb3 5y ago

I dislike Uber but worse than taxis? I don't know which area you've had experience with but taxis have been consistently terrible in my experience. It's the perfect scam: price is mostly determined at the end, no repeat customers, the majority of customers lack the ability to tell if they were scammed (this has gotten a bit better since gps/maps).

kelnos 5y ago
> I dislike Uber but worse than taxis? I don't think that's what the parent said.
skylanh 5y ago
Taxis in my areas are a municipally regulated monopoly on fare-for-(uncontracted)-hire services. There are a lot of reasons why they devolved to the level of service that we associated with them: 1) lack of competition 2) internally there is no reward for excellent service 3) as a regulated industry, the internal players will try to stretch the margins to make it more profitable to address either a) greed, b) actual operational needs--cash only, "my terminal is offline", fake terminals, tourist routes Most of this points to failings with how the models are implemented: - diffuse reward system that doesn't account for fare-taker's feedback - slow, high-effort negotiation modification to a) fares, b) license / medallion holder needs, c) driver's needs, d) fare-taker's needs and feedback Consider the differences between Uber and Taxi: 1) feedback is tied directly to driver and passengers 2) feedback is instant 3) Uber dictates pricing and can do so based on a regional, time, legal games, and overall load basis on a low latency regional authority's direction (one person could make that decision based on their local knowledge of upcoming concerts and NFL games, or the status of their application for licensing with the city) 4) individual drivers are now the liability / cost holding party One thing that I think should be in your mind is "who is losing in either model and why?"
senectus1 5y ago
its not the service that i fear will get worse, its the government backing and taxpayer funded side that will get worse.

by klabb3 5y ago

kelnos 5y ago

> I dislike Uber but worse than taxis? I don't think that's what the parent said.

skylanh 5y ago

Taxis in my areas are a municipally regulated monopoly on fare-for-(uncontracted)-hire services. There are a lot of reasons why they devolved to the level of service that we associated with them: 1) lack of competition 2) internally there is no reward for excellent service 3) as a regulated industry, the internal players will try to stretch the margins to make it more profitable to address either a) greed, b) actual operational needs--cash only, "my terminal is offline", fake terminals, tourist routes Most of this points to failings with how the models are implemented: - diffuse reward system that doesn't account for fare-taker's feedback - slow, high-effort negotiation modification to a) fares, b) license / medallion holder needs, c) driver's needs, d) fare-taker's needs and feedback Consider the differences between Uber and Taxi: 1) feedback is tied directly to driver and passengers 2) feedback is instant 3) Uber dictates pricing and can do so based on a regional, time, legal games, and overall load basis on a low latency regional authority's direction (one person could make that decision based on their local knowledge of upcoming concerts and NFL games, or the status of their application for licensing with the city) 4) individual drivers are now the liability / cost holding party One thing that I think should be in your mind is "who is losing in either model and why?"

senectus1 5y ago

its not the service that i fear will get worse, its the government backing and taxpayer funded side that will get worse.