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I just moved from Philadelphia (lived there for 4 years and nearby for my entire life). I always wanted UberX in the city from a convenience perspective, but I
by habosa 12y ago
I just moved from Philadelphia (lived there for 4 years and nearby for my entire life). I always wanted UberX in the city from a convenience perspective, but I do feel bad for the Philly cab drivers here.
In my 4 years there I talked to probably 100+ cab drivers, most of the time talking about their job. I found ~95% of them to be hard-working and nice, definitely not 'corrupt' people or part of some larger scheme that needed to be disrupted. They also have it tough in a lot of ways. First of all, the medallions are very expensive and many go into debt getting them. Second of all, I've been told (can't confirm) by the cab drivers that they are forced to accept credit cards but then get hit with ~10% fees on those transactions by the processor. My only complaint with Philly cabs is that the dispatchers were generally rude and unhelpful if you were in a strange location.
So for the consumer it is great to have UberX, but I do feel bad for those cab drivers who invested in a legal system and are just trying to make a living. I guess this is just how markets work, but it seems like Uber is setting a dangerous precedent by using VC money to subvert local legislation at every turn. Sure they may be vindicated in the end, but it doesn't strike me as fair play.
- DanBC 12y ago> Second of all, I've been told (can't confirm) by the cab drivers that they are forced to accept credit cards but then get hit with ~10% fees on those transactions by the processor. My only complaint with Philly cabs is that the dispatchers were generally rude and unhelpful if you were in a strange location. There are newsreports about drivers having to accept credit cards. Here's an unpleasant one about two drivers losing their jobs: http://www.phillymag.com/news/2013/05/30/philadelphia-parking-authority-taxi-cab-police/ http://www.phillymag.com/news/2013/05/30/philadelphia-parkin... > In case you’re unaware, Philly cab drivers despise credit card payment, because they have to pay a service charge–like any business that accepts credit cards–and because they don’t get their money immediately
- habosa 12y agoThanks for the links. My sentence was poorly written, I mean't I couldn't confirm the 10% fees. I did know that cc acceptance is mandatory.
- jostmey 12y agoIt sounds to me like the Philly cab drivers would be better of as Uber drivers. You said they go into debt to pay for the medallions. Where does that money go? Do these fees collected by the city provide a service for the community or does it disappear into a corrupt government? If you want to help the drivers don't support a system that forces them into debt. Support an alternative.
- habosa 12y agoI totally agree, however in the meantime they invested in the medallion and Uber is trying to make it worth nothing. It would be nice if we could find a way to somehow compensate the drivers for that investment instead of saying "you're dumb and should not have bought into that system, now your medallion is worthless".
- hueving 12y agoYou just made a perfect argument for using Uber/Lyft. As far as I understand it. Neither of them requires their drivers to go into thousands of dollars of debt to become part of the system.
- habosa 12y agoI totally agree, I am just saying that I feel bad for the drivers who already bought into that system and will lose rides to new drivers who didn't have to. It would be nice if the cities could work out something with Uber and Lyft to help the old taxi drivers get something out of their large investment.