3 ms·

Uh... Did someone in the article seriously ask for Uber/Lyft to artificially limit the number of cars on the road? Isn't that one of the problems with tradition

Uh... Did someone in the article seriously ask for Uber/Lyft to artificially limit the number of cars on the road? Isn't that one of the problems with traditional taxis? They never learn. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. I'm glad to be living in a city with a functional public transit system (NYC) so I no longer have to be forced to be robbed by Uber (SF).

jrockway 12y ago
> I'm glad to be living in a city with a functional public transit system Unless you want to go to LaGuardia airport.
- bradleyjg 12y ago
  The new Q70 makes it a lot better. Between it and the existing M60 it is not much different than JFK.
  - jrockway 12y ago
    I live in Brooklyn, so it's still a choice between a 20 minute drive or an hour and a half on public transportation. Actually, I think the M60 SBS should be the actual solution to this, but I haven't ridden it yet. I fly out of JFK even if I have to connect somewhere. (That's 18 minutes on LIRR for me.)
    - bradleyjg 12y ago
      Well that makes sense then. Brooklyn to central and northern Queens is one of the worst parts of the whole system. I live in Woodside and have friends in Park Slope, so I definitely feel your pain.
waterlesscloud 12y ago
Perhaps some sort of city-sanctioned "Lyft Medallion" is the disruptive answer they're looking for.
potatolicious 12y ago
All of this has happened before, and all of this will happen again ;) This is basically a retelling of the cab industry origin story. The point is that this is an industry where the barriers to entry are so low, and the supply side so abundant (with the collapse of low skill labor economies across the US, ever more so) that the equilibrium state means everyone goes hungry. And more relevantly for us silver spoon Silicon Valley types, more and more corner cutting to eke out a profit. It's interesting watching us re-learn the motivations behind some regulations. This is why medallions were created, a far cry from the mustache twirling evil shenanigans that we'd like to paint on regulations. The medallion system emerged from real problems. It may not be a particularly good solution, but an alternative that does not address the problem at all seems equally misguided.

jrockway 12y ago

> I'm glad to be living in a city with a functional public transit system Unless you want to go to LaGuardia airport.

bradleyjg 12y ago
The new Q70 makes it a lot better. Between it and the existing M60 it is not much different than JFK.
- jrockway 12y ago
  I live in Brooklyn, so it's still a choice between a 20 minute drive or an hour and a half on public transportation. Actually, I think the M60 SBS should be the actual solution to this, but I haven't ridden it yet. I fly out of JFK even if I have to connect somewhere. (That's 18 minutes on LIRR for me.)
  - bradleyjg 12y ago
    Well that makes sense then. Brooklyn to central and northern Queens is one of the worst parts of the whole system. I live in Woodside and have friends in Park Slope, so I definitely feel your pain.

waterlesscloud 12y ago

Perhaps some sort of city-sanctioned "Lyft Medallion" is the disruptive answer they're looking for.

potatolicious 12y ago

All of this has happened before, and all of this will happen again ;) This is basically a retelling of the cab industry origin story. The point is that this is an industry where the barriers to entry are so low, and the supply side so abundant (with the collapse of low skill labor economies across the US, ever more so) that the equilibrium state means everyone goes hungry. And more relevantly for us silver spoon Silicon Valley types, more and more corner cutting to eke out a profit. It's interesting watching us re-learn the motivations behind some regulations. This is why medallions were created, a far cry from the mustache twirling evil shenanigans that we'd like to paint on regulations. The medallion system emerged from real problems. It may not be a particularly good solution, but an alternative that does not address the problem at all seems equally misguided.