News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Uber Plans Millions in Back Pay After Shortchanging NYC D... by cgag on Tuesday May 23, 2017 @03:45PM (#14404575)
what about uber/lyft is worse for the roads than taxis?
Re:Uber Plans Millions in Back Pay After Shortchanging NYC D... by cozzyd on Tuesday May 23, 2017 @03:54PM (#14404662)
Taxis often have extra taxes/fees/tolls that theoretically go into maintenance (though I'm sure they may not in practice).
Re:Uber Plans Millions in Back Pay After Shortchanging NYC D... by gaius on Tuesday May 23, 2017 @04:00PM (#14404723)
The fact that they contribute so little to the public purse: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jan/29/londons-b...
Re:Uber Plans Millions in Back Pay After Shortchanging NYC D... by mrbabbage on Tuesday May 23, 2017 @04:01PM (#14404745)
At least in San Francisco, there's far more of them. The extra wear and tear on the roads ends up as a road repair bill that taxpayers pick up.

If the TNCs were a 1:1 replacement for traditional taxis, this wouldn't be a legitimate argument, but the evidence out there suggests that TNCs have grown the size of the car hail market at the expense of off-peak transit, so the TNCs really are putting more cars on the streets.

Re:Uber Plans Millions in Back Pay After Shortchanging NYC D... by nradov on Tuesday May 23, 2017 @05:04PM (#14405336)
Road wear is exponentially proportional to vehicle weight. Almost all of the wear is caused by large commercial trucks and other heavy vehicles such as buses. Passenger cars cause very little road wear. TNC drivers are mostly using lighter vehicles.

https://www.vabike.org/vehicle-weight-and-road-damage/

Re:Uber Plans Millions in Back Pay After Shortchanging NYC D... by mrbabbage on Wednesday May 24, 2017 @01:11PM (#14411584)
Your link supports the claim that "trucks cause exponentially more road damage than passenger vehicles"; it does not support your claim that "almost all of the wear is caused by large commercial trucks" or "passenger cars cause very little road wear".

In San Francisco, the Treasurer estimated 45,000 TNC vehicles in operation compared to just 1,800 taxis. That's an enormous increase in car hail traffic, and one that I claim has a substantial maintenance impact absent evidence to the contrary.

http://www.sfexaminer.com/45000-uber-lyft-drivers-may-now-op...