5 ms·

Would this apply to Zimride, Riderbee, Ridejoy, etc. ?

by muzz 14y ago

anigbrowl 14y ago
Tough to say. For Ridejoy in particular, regulation could be a challenge, because it will be argued that by matching drivers with underused vehicles, there's an implicit promise that the vehicles are roadworthy and so on. Sure, you can invite users of the service to waive some of their rights or voluntarily accept a degree of risk and uncertainty to use the service, but courts sometimes view such arrangements as contracts of adhesion - tilted in favor of the offeror by virtue of the fact that a large organization has substantially more bargaining power than an individual, who is left with little choice but to accept or reject terms rather than negotiate them. I don't have a strong opinion on how this should turn out and am not an attorney. Rules that limit industry like this are sometimes the result of regulatory capture, but are equally often the result of consumer pressure following malfeasance by unscrupulous service providers some time in the past. Certainly such rules represent an increase in red tape, but that doesn't mean they're inherently bad; one might argue that they're an unavoidable corollary of a complex technological society, reflective of the challenges faced by its members - just as product liability rules are reflective of industrialization's severance of the traditional relationship consumer and producer that used to exist at the local level (blacksmiths, carpenters, et al.). Incidentally, I hope people won't interpret the CPUC's representatives mention of enforcement mechanisms as a threat. Spokespersons for public bodies like this are duty-bound to cite the way the law actually operates, rather than make policy statements about how it should operate. So discussion of enforcement mechanisms is no more than a restatement of fact in response to journalistic inquiry.
johnrob 14y ago
Possibly Riderbee, since IIRC they are similar to sidecar and lyft. Zimride and Ridejoy operate like a traditional bulletin board so they should be fine. When you're dispatching drivers in real time, just like a taxi dispatcher, the law can interpret you as one. The passenger is entrusting the service to assure the driver is safe. That's not a responsibility that the government wants to bestow upon a non-registered entity.
ridejoy 14y ago
We let drivers offer rides to places they're already heading to, and we cap pricing at the IRS reimbursement rate of about 50c/mile. This is very different from services like Sidecar and Lyft that compete with taxis, which in SF are around $3/mile and hire drivers to pick up passengers. We didn't receive a C&D from CA, and I doubt we will :)

Would this apply to Zimride, Riderbee, Ridejoy, etc. ?

by muzz 14y ago

Would this apply to Zimride, Riderbee, Ridejoy, etc. ?

Tough to say. For Ridejoy in particular, regulation could be a challenge, because it will be argued that by matching drivers with underused vehicles, there's an implicit promise that the vehicles are roadworthy and so on. Sure, you can invite users of the service to waive some of their rights or voluntarily accept a degree of risk and uncertainty to use the service, but courts sometimes view such arrangements as contracts of adhesion - tilted in favor of the offeror by virtue of the fact that a large organization has substantially more bargaining power than an individual, who is left with little choice but to accept or reject terms rather than negotiate them. I don't have a strong opinion on how this should turn out and am not an attorney. Rules that limit industry like this are sometimes the result of regulatory capture, but are equally often the result of consumer pressure following malfeasance by unscrupulous service providers some time in the past. Certainly such rules represent an increase in red tape, but that doesn't mean they're inherently bad; one might argue that they're an unavoidable corollary of a complex technological society, reflective of the challenges faced by its members - just as product liability rules are reflective of industrialization's severance of the traditional relationship consumer and producer that used to exist at the local level (blacksmiths, carpenters, et al.). Incidentally, I hope people won't interpret the CPUC's representatives mention of enforcement mechanisms as a threat. Spokespersons for public bodies like this are duty-bound to cite the way the law actually operates, rather than make policy statements about how it should operate. So discussion of enforcement mechanisms is no more than a restatement of fact in response to journalistic inquiry.

johnrob 14y ago

Possibly Riderbee, since IIRC they are similar to sidecar and lyft. Zimride and Ridejoy operate like a traditional bulletin board so they should be fine. When you're dispatching drivers in real time, just like a taxi dispatcher, the law can interpret you as one. The passenger is entrusting the service to assure the driver is safe. That's not a responsibility that the government wants to bestow upon a non-registered entity.

ridejoy 14y ago

We let drivers offer rides to places they're already heading to, and we cap pricing at the IRS reimbursement rate of about 50c/mile. This is very different from services like Sidecar and Lyft that compete with taxis, which in SF are around $3/mile and hire drivers to pick up passengers. We didn't receive a C&D from CA, and I doubt we will :)