Re:Massachusetts to tax ride-hailing apps, give the money to...
by mac01021 on Sunday August 21, 2016 @08:33AM
(#12330690)
Sure, taxi drivers will be in trouble some day (maybe soonish, but picking up a person on a busy street seems like a hard problem) when their jobs are actually automated away by autonomous.
In the meantime, though, the issue is not one of jobs lost to automation. And I'm left with a lot of questions (some because I don't live in the city):
- If people prefer Uber/Lyft to taxis, then why don't the taxi drivers just become Uber drivers?
- Have the taxi services not yet made a ride-hailing app that you can use to summon them? Why not? They do it in China. If they did, would they be able to compete perfectly well with Uber/Lyft?
- If you used used the CallaCab app to summon a taxi from a traditional livery service which side of this new Massachusetts law would the transaction fall on?
In the meantime, though, the issue is not one of jobs lost to automation. And I'm left with a lot of questions (some because I don't live in the city):
- If people prefer Uber/Lyft to taxis, then why don't the taxi drivers just become Uber drivers?
- Have the taxi services not yet made a ride-hailing app that you can use to summon them? Why not? They do it in China. If they did, would they be able to compete perfectly well with Uber/Lyft?
- If you used used the CallaCab app to summon a taxi from a traditional livery service which side of this new Massachusetts law would the transaction fall on?