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Where I live the ridesharing/delivering startups didn't bring goodies, they just made everything worse. They destroyed the Taxi industry, I used to be able to

Where I live the ridesharing/delivering startups didn't bring goodies, they just made everything worse. They destroyed the Taxi industry, I used to be able to just walk out to the taxi rank and get in the first taxi, but not anymore. Now I have to organize it on an app or with a phone call to a robot, then wait for the car to arrive, and finally I have to find the car among all the others that other people called. Food delivery used to be done by the restaurants own delivery staff, it was fast, reliable and often free if ordering for 2+ people. Now it always costs extra, and there are even more fees if I want the food while it's still hot. Zero care is taken with the delivery, food/drinks are not kept upright and can be a total mess on arrival. Sometimes it's escaped the container and is just in the plastic bag. I have ended up preferring to go pickup food myself over getting it delivered, even when I have a migraine, it's just gone to shit.

sqeaky 2y ago
Add the abuse of gig workers, expansion of the toxic tipping culture, increase in job count but reduction in pay, concentration of wealth in fewer hands. These rideshare and delivery companies are disgusting and terrible.
CaptainFever 2y ago
For where I live (Asia), I disagree with both of these examples. Getting a taxi was awful before ride-sharing apps. You'd have to walk to a taxi stop, or wait on the side of the road and hope you could hail one. Once the ride-sharing apps came in, suddenly getting a ride became a lot simpler. Our taxi companies are still alive, though they have their own apps now -- something that wouldn't have happened without competition -- and they also work together with the ride-hailing companies as a provider. You could still hail taxis or get them from stops too, though that isn't recommended given that they might try to run the meter by taking a longer route. For food delivery, before the apps, most places didn't deliver food. Nowadays, more places deliver. Even if a place already had their own delivery drivers, they didn't get rid of them. We get a choice, to use the app or to use the restaurant's own delivery. Usually the app is better for smaller meals since it has a lower minimum order amount, but the restaurant provides faster delivery for bigger orders.
rty32 2y ago
"walk out to the taxi rank" I assume you are talking about airports. Guess what, they still exist in many places. And on the other hand, for US, other than a few big cities, the "normal" taxi experience is that you call a number and maybe a taxi shows up in half an hour. With Uber, that becomes 10 minutes or less, with live map updates. Give me that and I'll be happy to forget about Uber.
- chillfox 2y ago
  No, I mean when out for dinner or drinks. There used to be several taxi ranks on the streets with restaurants/bars/nightclubs, now there are none. The airport is the only place left that still has a taxi rank, and it doesn't even have taxies all the time anymore.
  - rty32 2y ago
    If drivers are actually driving people around and earning money, potentially getting more income in the end, with a trade-off of inconvenience for riders to wait a few minutes for the next ride to arrive, do you consider that positive or negative? Sounds like a much more efficient model to me.
fragmede 2y ago
taxis were the greatest example of regulatory capture. the post-event/airport Uber pickup situation is stupid and has obvious fixes, but, again, that's the taxicab regulatory capture where Uber has to thread a needle in order to not be a taxi, for them to legally operate. if we could clean slate, and make a working system, that would be great but we can't, because of the taxicab regulatory commission. I can now summon a cab from the comfort of the phone I'm holding, and know that they'll accept my credit card. I know the price before I get in and I know the route they should take. I'm not going to get taken for an unnecessary scenic tourist surcharge detour. people don't like feeling they got cheated, and pre-uber, taxis did that all the time.
alvah 2y ago
"They destroyed the Taxi industry" In every city I have lived, that is a good thing, despite all the bad things ridesharing startups may have done.

sqeaky 2y ago

Add the abuse of gig workers, expansion of the toxic tipping culture, increase in job count but reduction in pay, concentration of wealth in fewer hands. These rideshare and delivery companies are disgusting and terrible.

CaptainFever 2y ago

For where I live (Asia), I disagree with both of these examples. Getting a taxi was awful before ride-sharing apps. You'd have to walk to a taxi stop, or wait on the side of the road and hope you could hail one. Once the ride-sharing apps came in, suddenly getting a ride became a lot simpler. Our taxi companies are still alive, though they have their own apps now -- something that wouldn't have happened without competition -- and they also work together with the ride-hailing companies as a provider. You could still hail taxis or get them from stops too, though that isn't recommended given that they might try to run the meter by taking a longer route. For food delivery, before the apps, most places didn't deliver food. Nowadays, more places deliver. Even if a place already had their own delivery drivers, they didn't get rid of them. We get a choice, to use the app or to use the restaurant's own delivery. Usually the app is better for smaller meals since it has a lower minimum order amount, but the restaurant provides faster delivery for bigger orders.

rty32 2y ago

"walk out to the taxi rank" I assume you are talking about airports. Guess what, they still exist in many places. And on the other hand, for US, other than a few big cities, the "normal" taxi experience is that you call a number and maybe a taxi shows up in half an hour. With Uber, that becomes 10 minutes or less, with live map updates. Give me that and I'll be happy to forget about Uber.

chillfox 2y ago
No, I mean when out for dinner or drinks. There used to be several taxi ranks on the streets with restaurants/bars/nightclubs, now there are none. The airport is the only place left that still has a taxi rank, and it doesn't even have taxies all the time anymore.
- rty32 2y ago
  If drivers are actually driving people around and earning money, potentially getting more income in the end, with a trade-off of inconvenience for riders to wait a few minutes for the next ride to arrive, do you consider that positive or negative? Sounds like a much more efficient model to me.

fragmede 2y ago

taxis were the greatest example of regulatory capture. the post-event/airport Uber pickup situation is stupid and has obvious fixes, but, again, that's the taxicab regulatory capture where Uber has to thread a needle in order to not be a taxi, for them to legally operate. if we could clean slate, and make a working system, that would be great but we can't, because of the taxicab regulatory commission. I can now summon a cab from the comfort of the phone I'm holding, and know that they'll accept my credit card. I know the price before I get in and I know the route they should take. I'm not going to get taken for an unnecessary scenic tourist surcharge detour. people don't like feeling they got cheated, and pre-uber, taxis did that all the time.

alvah 2y ago

"They destroyed the Taxi industry" In every city I have lived, that is a good thing, despite all the bad things ridesharing startups may have done.