Thanks for this, I have thought this for a long time and the hate for Taxi drivers tends to make it not possible to really express without getting a lot of negative replies. Sure the Taxi industry is hopelessly corrupt however Uber's business model is based solely around avoiding the fees Taxi drivers have to pay.
So while I agree Taxis are a racket as another poster said, Uber just get away with flouting the rules, now they are trying to avoid treating their own drivers well, not a shock for a company that is based on cheating the system.
The reason I don't have sympathy is because the taxi industry lobbied for all the fees and medallions and bullshit, in order to drive out competition. This drives the price of taxi rides up, benefiting medallion owners and (to a lesser degree) taxi drivers, at the expense of the consumer. Now Uber has found a way to legally avoid all that crap, prices go way down, consumers benefit and corrupt taxi owners and their corrupt laws can go to hell.
[–]rob_white0 points
0 points
0 points
(+0|-0)
ago
Yeah, I'm with you on what the taxi drivers have to deal with, I'm concerned for the actually drivers that pay a fortune and are beholden to the medallion owners. The medallion owners are wealthy already, taxi drivers struggle quite often. The best thing that can come from Uber and Lyft is a reform of the taxi industry but it;s such a racket for the cities that run the scheme, I won't hold my breath.
[–] rob_white 1 point 1 point 2 points (+2|-1) ago
Thanks for this, I have thought this for a long time and the hate for Taxi drivers tends to make it not possible to really express without getting a lot of negative replies. Sure the Taxi industry is hopelessly corrupt however Uber's business model is based solely around avoiding the fees Taxi drivers have to pay.
So while I agree Taxis are a racket as another poster said, Uber just get away with flouting the rules, now they are trying to avoid treating their own drivers well, not a shock for a company that is based on cheating the system.
[–] yorc 0 points 2 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago
The reason I don't have sympathy is because the taxi industry lobbied for all the fees and medallions and bullshit, in order to drive out competition. This drives the price of taxi rides up, benefiting medallion owners and (to a lesser degree) taxi drivers, at the expense of the consumer. Now Uber has found a way to legally avoid all that crap, prices go way down, consumers benefit and corrupt taxi owners and their corrupt laws can go to hell.
[–] rob_white ago
Yeah, I'm with you on what the taxi drivers have to deal with, I'm concerned for the actually drivers that pay a fortune and are beholden to the medallion owners. The medallion owners are wealthy already, taxi drivers struggle quite often. The best thing that can come from Uber and Lyft is a reform of the taxi industry but it;s such a racket for the cities that run the scheme, I won't hold my breath.