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Precisely, because you don't pay the guy that gives you a lift when you hitchhike, but you do pay to an Uber driver. Once there's money involved, we are no lon
by probably_wrong 11y ago
Precisely, because you don't pay the guy that gives you a lift when you hitchhike, but you do pay to an Uber driver.
Once there's money involved, we are no longer talking about an agreement between gentlemen, but about a commercial transaction, and those require regulations because the incentives are different, and money does weird things to people. A driver maximizing profits has no incentive in, say, checking his brakes regularly (money spent + car immobilized for some time), while a random driver does ("yeah, I'll take a cab for a couple days, no biggie").
- SilasX 11y agoYour general point is sound, about the profit motive leading to riskier behavior, but the application to that specific case is questionable. Drivers have the right incentives on brake checks, regardless of profit, by virtue if the fact that they're in the car and would lose control! It would be more correct to say that the incentive problem here lies in uncompensated danger to other drivers, which for-profit drivers may be willing to ignore when tempted by money.