Re:Uber's billion-dollar losses expose the fragile state of ...
by hx87 on Friday September 16, 2016 @06:08PM
(#12517722)
> There's a reason taxi service is expensive.
For less regulated cities, sure. For the more famous ones such as NYC and Boston, it's because there are a fixed number of permanent licenses owned by rent-seekers who lobby the city government to keep it that way.
Re:Uber's billion-dollar losses expose the fragile state of ...
by Terr_ on Friday September 16, 2016 @06:58PM
(#12517991)
While there is definitely rent-seeking to combat, it's also true that the restricted-supply exists because we already tried the unregulated version and ran into problems. At one point it was creating painful costs (e.g. congestion) which were externalized onto everybody else.
http://www.politico.com/states/new-york/city-hall/story/2014...
Re:Uber's billion-dollar losses expose the fragile state of ...
by refurb on Saturday September 17, 2016 @02:09AM
(#12519374)
Hmmm... Uber is basically unregulated. Whoever wants to drive for Uber can. Why hasn't the system imploded yet? Why isn't it solid gridlock in NYC due to too many Uber cars?
Re:Uber's billion-dollar losses expose the fragile state of ...
by almostApatriot1 on Friday September 16, 2016 @09:41PM
(#12518667)
Taxis are a burden on NYC and should be charged extra to make up for it.
Re:Uber's billion-dollar losses expose the fragile state of ...
by dragonwriter on Friday September 16, 2016 @05:52PM
(#12517627)
Google already has the beginnings of that brokering service in Maps' ridesharing feature
Re:Uber's billion-dollar losses expose the fragile state of ...
by user5994461 on Saturday September 17, 2016 @03:32PM
(#12522028)
> All of this is going to drive up costs.
They're cheap enough. They can increase prices by 10-20% and still be the best AND the cheapest taxi service in the universe.
Economics are not in their favor. There's a reason taxi service is expensive. It's hard enough to provide cost-effective public transportation, much less private transport.
Once driverless cars hit the streets, then the calculus changes a bit. But that's when the competition will really begin. What's more likely is Google/Amazon will create (or acquire) a driving service broker that will automatically hail for you from whatever service will offer the ride cheapest (and probably won't even take a commission).