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Classism via Internet. When Uber and Lyft became popular and you still needed a smartphone and mobile connection to use it, it basically became a way to keep p

Classism via Internet. When Uber and Lyft became popular and you still needed a smartphone and mobile connection to use it, it basically became a way to keep poor people segregated in transportation. If you couldn't afford a smartphone, or a data plan, or only sporadically, you were relegated to the public transportation options which are slowly defunded as Lyft and Uber lobby governments to become the "more affordable" alternative to public transit. As a result, 'hacks' (illegal taxis) are widely used in many cities because you don't need a smartphone or data plan and they are cheaper, yet are more dangerous. Mega-corporations that design for "the 80% of users" implicitly make life harder for vulnerable and poor people. It's time for us to not only hold Government accountable to treat people well, we have to hold Corporations accountable to the same standards (at minimum). (as an aside: I love the Free Library of Philadelphia. they get out in the city and meet all kinds of people, help them get access, always generous with their time and friendly. they are a vital service to the community and I hope Google listens to them)

tetromino_ 4y ago
> When Uber and Lyft became popular and you still needed a smartphone and mobile connection to use it, it basically became a way to keep poor people segregated in transportation. Uber and Lyft were a massive, widely praised improvement specifically for poor people because for the first time ever, poor people got access to a taxi service that was not bigoted against them. Before Uber, bigoted taxi drivers routinely refused to pick up passengers with the wrong skin color and refused to drive to poor, outlying neighborhoods. Uber and Lyft did away with that nonsense. Doesn't matter what you look like or what you are wearing or where you live, if you can get a phone, you get a ride.
markstos 4y ago
My town now as "app-only" parking spots. (Maybe there's some fine print on the sign about another way to pay, but it's not clear from 10 feet away if so).
- jackson1442 4y ago
  All the ones I've seen allow you to call a number to pay. I'm sure the UX is terrible though.
KennyBlanken 4y ago
It's much worse than that. I signed up for Lyft, and then one day I was told that my card on file wasn't sufficient or I'd done something that had triggered some system, and I needed a second card on file. I emailed lyft support asking why this was. Never got a response. It doesn't seem to have occurred to a bunch of silicon valley techbros that lots of people only have one credit card, or only one card they're comfortable using (using a debit card for credit card transactions is a huge risk due to more direct access to money and lower fraud protections.)

tetromino_ 4y ago

> When Uber and Lyft became popular and you still needed a smartphone and mobile connection to use it, it basically became a way to keep poor people segregated in transportation. Uber and Lyft were a massive, widely praised improvement specifically for poor people because for the first time ever, poor people got access to a taxi service that was not bigoted against them. Before Uber, bigoted taxi drivers routinely refused to pick up passengers with the wrong skin color and refused to drive to poor, outlying neighborhoods. Uber and Lyft did away with that nonsense. Doesn't matter what you look like or what you are wearing or where you live, if you can get a phone, you get a ride.

markstos 4y ago

My town now as "app-only" parking spots. (Maybe there's some fine print on the sign about another way to pay, but it's not clear from 10 feet away if so).

jackson1442 4y ago
All the ones I've seen allow you to call a number to pay. I'm sure the UX is terrible though.

KennyBlanken 4y ago

It's much worse than that. I signed up for Lyft, and then one day I was told that my card on file wasn't sufficient or I'd done something that had triggered some system, and I needed a second card on file. I emailed lyft support asking why this was. Never got a response. It doesn't seem to have occurred to a bunch of silicon valley techbros that lots of people only have one credit card, or only one card they're comfortable using (using a debit card for credit card transactions is a huge risk due to more direct access to money and lower fraud protections.)