Uber?

Quote: Evenbob

Exactly what i said would happen is happening.
Too many drivers and not enough fares. In a
real cab co, they might have 50 cars and drivers
because that's all they need for everybody to
make money. With no lid on it, like with Uber,
you have 200 drivers fighting for fares that
50 can handle. So Uber drivers are making squat
in some places, and it will only get worse.

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2016/06/23/leaked-documents-show-some-uber-drivers-barely-making-ends-meet/

Shrug
Let the free market do its thing

Quote: terapined

Shrug
Let the free market do its thing

Brilliant! That's exactly what I said a year
ago and I was laughed at. There are only
so many people who want rides, it's
a finite number. It doesn't grow just because
more cabs are on the road, like y'all
said it would. Now Uber drivers are living
the cab drivers nightmare in some places.
Sitting for an hour with no fare. The only
way you make money is to never stop
moving, you sit you die.

From my apartment to the office or back, Uber charges me 90-95 pesos per segment. The taxi base near my place charges 120. This means that up to around 1.4X surge pricing, Uber is preferable.

Why? seatbelts. The cabs may or may not have seatbelts in the back seat. Uber cars always do. (I don't like to ride in the front, because then the driver will try to chat and I can't listen to an audio book --hey, drive time is a big part of when I study history and science).

On the trip back home, I'll stand Uber up to 1.6X because invariably they show up faster.

Uber Pool is always cheaper, but I've had bad experiences using it. Two drivers bluntly refused to pick me up. Two others did, but then we wasted nearly 40 minutes each time picking another passenger. the cabs near my place show up sooner than that.

Quote: Evenbob

Brilliant! That's exactly what I said a year
ago and I was laughed at. There are only
so many people who want rides, it's
a finite number. It doesn't grow just because
more cabs are on the road, like y'all
said it would. Now Uber drivers are living
the cab drivers nightmare in some places.
Sitting for an hour with no fare. The only
way you make money is to never stop
moving, you sit you die.

Eventually it will even out. Uber and similar services are here to stay. Deal with it. I can get uber anywhere with the app and estimate my fare. Cabs can't or don't do that. Cabs are the record store in 1999.

Uber and Uber Wannabees are similar to discount airlines ... they offer CHEAP and refuse to take an honorable stance and say to a airline passenger WE CAN NOT FLY YOU SAFELY AT THAT PRICE. Pay our higher price and Fly SAFE.

Its the same way with Uber.... we will skim the cream and passenger safety be damned as well as Driver's Living Wage be damned. If our drivers go home broke, so what? If our passengers get home broke, that is what lawyers and insurance companies are for.

Its the tragedy of the algorithms.... they slice pennies and seconds and they fail to consider the long term consequences.

I remember when Mrs. Ramsey called the cable company to interject her opinion on what a guest had just said about the murder of her daughter. Since almost any female any where in the world could have been making the call, they asked her a few questions. The response that MOST convinced them of the legitimacy of her identity was that when the cable company had previously picked her up at her hotel, the taxicab was a piece of crap that shouldn't have been on the road at all. The cable company employee said 'Yes, that's us....they are too cheap around here to hire a decent cab. Thank you for calling Mrs. Ramsey, I will put your straight through now."

Now you may think the above Trivia is somewhat humorous but face it.... it does reflect the situation as the employee promptly admitted.

Quote: AZDuffman

Eventually it will even out. .

What will eventually happen is supply will
meet demand. It always does. There will
be just as many Uber drivers as are needed
for the fares provided. Remember when
there was literally a gas station on every
corner of every major intersection? People
drove huge gas guzzling cars. Uber will just
be the new cab co, it will be just the same
as the old cab co. Uber drivers sitting around
for hours breathlessly waiting for a fair won't
last, it can't last. Supply and demand, the idle
drivers will look elsewhere for a job.

The cab business is set in stone because you
can only make money if there are X amount
of cabs for X amount of fares.

NOTE:
In response to an upstream post.

Versed is an often used initial substance to put someone under.

Remember that 'short term memory' does NOT mean impairment for a short time period. It can mean impairment that is permanent and involves the capacity to store short term memories: ie, you happilly read the same 'morning paper' for years and years and do not recall whether you've had morning coffee or not. Each headline is "new" to you since you can not store any memory into permanent recall.

Versed does have side effects and some of them can be very severe but overall it is 'fairly safe' for most people.

If any procedure is going to make you woozy.... get a trusted friend or a Medical Transport Company to pick you up. I think Lyft is stronger in Phoenix than Uber but I would not trust some random Lyft/Uber driver not to roll a "drunk" who is on Versed. Remember to 'blow air out your mouth' frequently or your body will reabsorb the Versed. In the 'average' ride from teh recovery room to the main entrance you should fully expel air from your lungs and breathe deeply at least ten times and keep it up for five minutes every half hour for two hours. Else you are self administering Versed.

Quote: Evenbob

What will eventually happen is supply will
meet demand. It always does. There will
be just as many Uber drivers as are needed
for the fares provided. Remember when
there was literally a gas station on every
corner of every major intersection? People
drove huge gas guzzling cars. Uber will just
be the new cab co, it will be just the same
as the old cab co. Uber drivers sitting around
for hours breathlessly waiting for a fair won't
last, it can't last. Supply and demand, the idle
drivers will look elsewhere for a job.

The cab business is set in stone because you
can only make money if there are X amount
of cabs for X amount of fares.

I think you got it all wrong. I mean, you're right if looking at it as a type of cab co, but I guess I never looked at it that way.

I always saw it as a thing someone like AZD or I might do. It's not "our job", it's just another of a half dozen hustles strung together. I wouldn't sit around all day waiting for a ding, but like right now. I'm just sitting here rappin' with y'all. No reason not to put my flag up and have it there waiting. Someone dings, I go run em, there's $10 (or whatever) I didn't have a moment ago.

As a cab co, I'm with you. Never work. But I think it'll work because it's not a cab co.

Quote: Face

As a cab co, I'm with you. Never work. But I think it'll work because it's not a cab co.

As with all things, it will work till
the drivers realize they aren't really
making any money. That their time
is more valuable than making below
minimum wage and using their own
cars to do it. It's a pyramid scheme,
like Amway. It's kept afloat by new
suckers coming aboard all the time
as sellers. It bottomed out in the US
decades ago, Amway's big market
now is Asia. That will bottom out too,
but not for awhile. Uber and Lyft
depend on the constant influx of new
drivers when the old fed up drivers
leave. They will run out of new suckers
eventually.

Quote: Face

I think you got it all wrong. I mean, you're right if looking at it as a type of cab co, but I guess I never looked at it that way.

Uber often argues in court that they are NOT a cab company they are an INFORMATION company, similar to a physical ride board at a college. They put together buyers and sellers as an information broker.

The comparison of Full Time Uber Driver versus Part Time Hustler Uber Driver may be apt, but the result is the same. If the algorithms slice the pennies too thin, neither a full time driver nor a part time hustler can survive.