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I remember the time before Uber arrived here, where ”here” obviously is not USA. I don’t mind the old ways. Taxis had apps before Uber arrived here, they had

by Y-bar 1y ago

I remember the time before Uber arrived here, where ”here” obviously is not USA. I don’t mind the old ways. Taxis had apps before Uber arrived here, they had geolocation with ETA, contactless payment, up-front pricing, and never refused service (because they were required by law to offer service to anyone anywhere). The problem probably never was incumbent taxis, it was how they were regulated (or not).

jen20 1y ago
Taxis in the US are one of the most regulated services around, and they were still utterly atrocious. Sure, they’re mandated to not refuse service, but you try getting picked up in Manhattan with a suitcase mid afternoon (when it’s obvious you’ll be taking the fixed fare to JFK in heavy traffic). To this day, the meter being “broken” is a tactic used in taxi strongholds like Las Vegas, even with this regulation. The sweet spot for taxis was London, but I will go out of my way to avoid taking one lest I get forced to listen to the drivers views on Brexit for the entire ride.
- Y-bar 1y ago
  > most regulated As in most rules on the books, not in actually enforced rules I presume?
  - paleotrope 1y ago
    Enforced when corrupt politicos wanted to squeeze medallion owners.
- appreciatorBus 1y ago
  > Taxis in the US are one of the most regulated services around, and they were still utterly atrocious. This assumes that “most regulated” correlates with less atrocious. Or that the intentions behind regulations are always good. Regulations can indeed makes things less atrocious, but other regulations can just as easily make things more atrocious. I’d argue that many taxi regulations were more the latter than the former. (I.e arbitrary limit on total number of taxi vehicles, while allowing an unlimited number of non-taxi vehicles)
- bko 1y ago
  > Taxis in the US are one of the most regulated services around, and they were still utterly atrocious. Maybe the fact that they were the most regulated services around was exactly why they were atrocious. Regulation often erects barriers to competition. It's impossible for a regulatory body to spell out every way in which a company can be exploitive and disallow it. The only thing that prevents bad behavior is meaningful competition. It was this regulatory body that limited the number of cabs that could be on the road at any given time and set "fair" meter pricing. What resulted was that if you lived in a poor isolated neighborhood, there would be no cabs willing to take you there or driving around to pick you up. Uber solved this pretty much overnight.
  - jen20 1y ago
    I did not speculate on the cause and effect - only the status quo circa ~2013-2014 pre-Uber. Today though, Uber has definitely developed anti-competitive and frankly disgusting traits - they're just different ones to the taxi industry.
wellthisisgreat 1y ago
> Taxis had apps before Uber arrived here, they had geolocation with ETA, contactless payment, up-front pricing, and never refused service (because they were required by law to offer service to anyone anywhere). I lived in NYC and other metropolitan US cities for the few years before the Uber and I don’t remember a single car service that had any of that and wasn’t a lottery of if they’ll pick up the phone in time to get me somewhere
- Y-bar 1y ago
  Sometimes it seems USA truly is the home of cutting-edge tech, yet sometimes not so much… Checking the iOS App Store reviews on the local taxi app I am currently using they go back to 2011, and that's not the oldest one. It has also been available on Android since March 2012. All prior to the dates Uber started operating here.

by Y-bar 1y ago

jen20 1y ago

Taxis in the US are one of the most regulated services around, and they were still utterly atrocious. Sure, they’re mandated to not refuse service, but you try getting picked up in Manhattan with a suitcase mid afternoon (when it’s obvious you’ll be taking the fixed fare to JFK in heavy traffic). To this day, the meter being “broken” is a tactic used in taxi strongholds like Las Vegas, even with this regulation. The sweet spot for taxis was London, but I will go out of my way to avoid taking one lest I get forced to listen to the drivers views on Brexit for the entire ride.

Y-bar 1y ago
> most regulated As in most rules on the books, not in actually enforced rules I presume?
- paleotrope 1y ago
  Enforced when corrupt politicos wanted to squeeze medallion owners.
appreciatorBus 1y ago
> Taxis in the US are one of the most regulated services around, and they were still utterly atrocious. This assumes that “most regulated” correlates with less atrocious. Or that the intentions behind regulations are always good. Regulations can indeed makes things less atrocious, but other regulations can just as easily make things more atrocious. I’d argue that many taxi regulations were more the latter than the former. (I.e arbitrary limit on total number of taxi vehicles, while allowing an unlimited number of non-taxi vehicles)
bko 1y ago
> Taxis in the US are one of the most regulated services around, and they were still utterly atrocious. Maybe the fact that they were the most regulated services around was exactly why they were atrocious. Regulation often erects barriers to competition. It's impossible for a regulatory body to spell out every way in which a company can be exploitive and disallow it. The only thing that prevents bad behavior is meaningful competition. It was this regulatory body that limited the number of cabs that could be on the road at any given time and set "fair" meter pricing. What resulted was that if you lived in a poor isolated neighborhood, there would be no cabs willing to take you there or driving around to pick you up. Uber solved this pretty much overnight.
- jen20 1y ago
  I did not speculate on the cause and effect - only the status quo circa ~2013-2014 pre-Uber. Today though, Uber has definitely developed anti-competitive and frankly disgusting traits - they're just different ones to the taxi industry.

wellthisisgreat 1y ago

> Taxis had apps before Uber arrived here, they had geolocation with ETA, contactless payment, up-front pricing, and never refused service (because they were required by law to offer service to anyone anywhere). I lived in NYC and other metropolitan US cities for the few years before the Uber and I don’t remember a single car service that had any of that and wasn’t a lottery of if they’ll pick up the phone in time to get me somewhere

Y-bar 1y ago
Sometimes it seems USA truly is the home of cutting-edge tech, yet sometimes not so much… Checking the iOS App Store reviews on the local taxi app I am currently using they go back to 2011, and that's not the oldest one. It has also been available on Android since March 2012. All prior to the dates Uber started operating here.