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You're definitely misremembering history, then. Hailing is certainly a "category definer", but what Uber was doing in the beginning was definitely not kosher in
by kelnos 2y ago
You're definitely misremembering history, then. Hailing is certainly a "category definer", but what Uber was doing in the beginning was definitely not kosher in many US jurisdictions.
Ordering on-demand in an app was seen by regulators as much more taxi-like than scheduling a black car for a particular date, time, and place.
Uber was originally called "Ubercab", and changed their name specifically to attempt to distance themselves from traditional taxi service.
- Manuel_D 2y ago> Ordering on-demand in an app was seen by regulators as much more taxi-like than scheduling a black car for a particular date, time, and place. Regulators tried to reinterpret existing laws to placate an interest group. Most cities has explicit laws around this: responding to someone hailing on the street required a medallion. Scheduling a ride via the internet did not. This is why they had to pass new laws to try and stamp out taxi's competition.
- tbrownaw 2y agoBut is it really "scheduling" a ride if the target time is "right now"? It sounds to me like what they cared about was the distinction between "now" and "plan for later", and the way this was actually implemented in the laws turned out to be based on inaccurate assumptions.
- Manuel_D 2y ago> But is it really "scheduling" a ride if the target time is "right now"? The ride is usually at least a few minutes from the present time. And again, the medallions are only required to respond to people hailing on the street. This is why cities trying to obstruct Uber had to pass new laws, not just enforce existing ones.