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256 points reubensutton | 2 comments | | HN request time: 0.412s | source
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_vrmm ◴[] No.21627000[source]
I know this opinion is not popular but I'm so happy everytime I see bad news for Uber and all these companies that only exist thanks to basically exploiting THEIR workers.

Private transporting is not sustainable and it is not something that has to be affordable for everyone, even less by lowering workers wages or playing with the tariffs by demand. Taxi regulations gives us passengers safety and fair prices. There are taxi apps that work exactly like Uber's like 'Free-now' where you can see your trip, its aproximate cost, the driver's rating...

We have to promote governments that support affordable and good quality public transport, even though I love driving alone in my car.

I hope Deliveroo, Glovo and other companies are also punished for their labour rights abuses. Make sure your delivery guy is payed fairly or either go to the restaurant yourself.

So many years of labour rights fights being attacked by these startups that do not invent anything but base their business model on lower wages.

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asah ◴[] No.21627513[source]
NYer here: you should read how the taxi companies exploited their workers. And NYC was at least regulated.

Moreover, the cabs were filthy, they often refused passengers due to race, disability or other illegal prejudice, refused certain destinations, spoke little English, didn't know the city, would drive inefficiently to drive up costs and on and on.

Oh, and cellphones arrived and they did NOTHING until Uber pushed them to accept mobile payments. You STILL can't see your ETA or share the ride, and there's no ratings/reputation system.

So between the demons, I'll take the ride-sharing companies.

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AllanHoustonSt ◴[] No.21627822[source]
Also good luck getting reasonable (or any) cab service outside of Manhattan and NW Brooklyn. It was even worse pre rideshare days. Those are the areas that would need something like rideshare more since they're both less dense with less expansive public transit.

I don't know if private transport is ultimately unsustainable. That's something people much smarter than me will have to figure out how to measure. But I do know rideshare is objectively a better product for consumers across the board than the services it replaced.

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1. kingkawn ◴[] No.21628061[source]
There were black car services that covered the entire city. The further out you got the cheaper most of this services would become.
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2. AllanHoustonSt ◴[] No.21628267[source]
I still think having a network of drivers all around you and being able to track the status of your ride both pre-arrival and during the ride itself makes rideshare a better product. Depending where you are those dispatched drivers can take a while to get to you.

Of course you can just have a bunch of black car services in your phonebook that are dispersed around the city but.. at that point why not just use rideshare?