Sorry, but as a consumer I welcome this. I will gladly pay a few bucks more or wait five minutes more for a taxi than having every industry taken over by the absentee landlord class that is the tech industry. In the case of Uber spying on their employees, having no obligations any other employer has, paying no taxes and misusing the data of their customers and drivers.
From time to time people would do well do understand that everybody is not just consumer but also a worker, or in the end you'll end up in a bad spot yourself.
One just needs to look at the fact that these businesses have customers and drivers rate each other, which is nothing but undignified and gamified surveillance. Don't give up essential freedoms for the sake of convenience.
I've got an entire city of people (Vancouver, BC) who are desperately waiting for Uber to come and save us from the ridiculous taxi situation in this city. Five more minutes? You're lucky. If you can get an Taxi in 2 hours downtown this month, you're lucky. If you can get a cab to drive you to a suburb, good luck. And we have plenty of people interested in driving for Uber when it comes here.
I welcome as much regulation as necessary to ensure that Uber is safe for consumers but beyond that I say let the tech industry come.
We have a medallion system and those medallions cost a lot of money. The taxi lobby keeps the number of medallions issued low to protect their investment. In addition, there are a number of stupid regulations and artificial boundaries that make the situation worse for everyone.
Unfortunately the government has created a situation where they've made owning a taxi medallion a huge investment and simply allowing Uber would destroy that investment overnight. The taxi industry, knowing now that they're at the mercy of the government, have started "donating" much more aggressively. At this point, the government is just trying to avoid dealing with the issue for as long as possible.
The taxi companies here in Vancouver did that themselves (ostensibly to show they weren't behind technologically in contrast with Uber). However, that in itself doesn't solve any problems. If you can't get a cab by calling dispatch, you can't get a cab using an app.
I feel the same. If only I could hail a taxi with an app instead of having to stand in the street and wave like an idiot at drivers that have riders but who have neglected to turn off their light (as they all do in my city.) And if only when I have to call for a cab I could give them my GPS location so they don't get lost and never show up and if I could provide my destination so they don't take the long way, either on purpose or accidentally. And if only there was a way to see that the cab was actually en route to my location and see an ETA.
If the cab industry could develop an app that works like Uber/Lyft I think they'd be competitive again. I use cabs when they're right there and I know the city, otherwise I reluctantly use Lyft or whatever's available.
Not sure what city you live in, but the ad on the top of the cab is not "the light". I can't imagine a fare system that is not hooked directly to the actual "driver is available for a fare" light, i.e., once the fare is underway, the light switches off. Also, there are apps now in several cities to hail cabs, and some cab companies have their own apps (kind of like Uber, i.e., you can't hail a Lyft or Via via Uber, so why should there be a universal app to hail any cab -- but that would depend on your city and how cabs operate).
Yes, I've tried the one app that I've seen available here (Boston) but it didn't work. It's been a few months, I'll try it again. Cab drivers here don't use their available light so that they can't be ticketed for not picking up minorities.
The incumbent taxi industry is way worse than you describe. Prices aren’t five bucks more, they’re often 2X, with worse drivers due to the lack of a passenger feedback loop. Not to mention that a substantial portion of those profits getting sucked up by the medallion holders, who are much more absentee landlords than Uber or Lyft.
I talked once to someone who honestly thought medallion fees went to pay for driver health insurance and benefits. The status quo was just as exploitive.
In pre-Uber/Lyft San Francisco, it was literally impossible to get a cab home on a weekend night. I would call a dispatcher an hour ahead of time, and stand about a 25% chance of a taxi actually showing up. They would expect you to be waiting at the location the entire time - the drivers would not call to let you know they'd arrived.
Sorry, but as a consumer I welcome this. I will gladly pay a few bucks more or wait five minutes more for a taxi than having every industry taken over by the absentee landlord class that is the tech industry. In the case of Uber spying on their employees, having no obligations any other employer has, paying no taxes and misusing the data of their customers and drivers.
From time to time people would do well do understand that everybody is not just consumer but also a worker, or in the end you'll end up in a bad spot yourself.
One just needs to look at the fact that these businesses have customers and drivers rate each other, which is nothing but undignified and gamified surveillance. Don't give up essential freedoms for the sake of convenience.