Gold Dome Bill Proposes Control over Uber and Lyft (Atlanta: to rent, car insurance)

[magnetar]

Just your average small government legislation. Taxes and regulation are bad, unless they're protecting your funders' interests.

[Mishap]

Originally Posted by sedimenjerry

If you had to apply for all the licences, serving permits, taxes and deal with HR responsibilities while the other burger joint could just start serving food without doing the same you'd be crying foul, no?


Exactly , Uber and Lyft don't have to play by the same rules. If anything they're the ones getting Gov't protection by not being required to jump through the same hoops as taxi cabs.

If technology made the food safe, captured the taxes, and did far more than the licensing board what precisely is the difference other than paying for excess bureaucracy?

I rotate between taxis and Uber (logistics to/from the airport) and I fear for my life every time I get into a cab. Between the decrepit Crown Vics that they drive (latest one had all the check engine lights flashing between the cluster intermittently going black) and the drivers being unable to comprehend basic English instructions or common driving rules, there's the whole fact that they insist on using archaic paper credit card solutions while stopped on the middle of Peachtree and cars are blocked up b/c the guy can't understand the words "pull over there". Next time you see a cabbie driving 50mph in the HOV lane without their lights on in the rain at 11PM at night swerving all over the place, that's probably me in the back on the most dangerous part of my weekly commute.

I'll pay the premium for a black car(who get all the same licenses of cabs) just to avoid stepping foot inside of another smelly Crown Vic w/a driver that yells at me over paying via credit card.

[LovelySummer]

I think Red is explaining that these arguments you are using could be utilized by many different types of employers. Would you like it if you employer went to a model of only hiring contractors instead of employees so as to not have to provide insurance, sick days, etc.? Oh wait. That's already happening. For the mean green CEOs are selling out the everyday worker and making money hand over fist. Worker exploitation is real. It's happening in law, computer science, etc. It's a money maker - for the execs, that is....

Originally Posted by onemanarmy

If Uber hired you as an employee, they would need to add a payroll, HR, and a host of over departments and host of other overhead issues with employees which would drive up cost, passed directly to the consumer. Now as an employee, if my car is malfunctioning is that sick leave? , Oh wait I'm required to work a set schedule, but I work 9-5 m-f. I'm retired, but I now have to work 12am-4am.

The beauty of the Uber system is it allows drivers to come and go as they please as well as supply riders the ability to do the same. If drivers want better rates, tips, etc..... They are in direct opposition to what riders like myself are looking for, which is cheap reliable alternatives to yellow cabs.

[LovelySummer]

These posts are hilarious!! Ha. Hilarious. Where are you guys finding these cabs? I've never heard of such crazy scenarios!!! Lolol

Originally Posted by Mishap

If technology made the food safe, captured the taxes, and did far more than the licensing board what precisely is the difference other than paying for excess bureaucracy?

I rotate between taxis and Uber (logistics to/from the airport) and I fear for my life every time I get into a cab. Between the decrepit Crown Vics that they drive (latest one had all the check engine lights flashing between the cluster intermittently going black) and the drivers being unable to comprehend basic English instructions or common driving rules, there's the whole fact that they insist on using archaic paper credit card solutions while stopped on the middle of Peachtree and cars are blocked up b/c the guy can't understand the words "pull over there". Next time you see a cabbie driving 50mph in the HOV lane without their lights on in the rain at 11PM at night swerving all over the place, that's probably me in the back on the most dangerous part of my weekly commute.

I'll pay the premium for a black car(who get all the same licenses of cabs) just to avoid stepping foot inside of another smelly Crown Vic w/a driver that yells at me over paying via credit card.

[LovelySummer]

Only...how do you know it's safe if no one is checking/regulating it? Am I to undetstand that Uber has some way of figuring out whether the cars being driven are always clean, not outdated, maintained and the driver knows the rules ofthe road and knows a sufficient amount of English? Surely, Uber is not doing this level of oversight bc it hurt the business model significantly.

So is it possible you could get the same quality car, same quality driver - in a personal car providing service under thr Uber banner?

Originally Posted by Mishap

If technology made the food safe, captured the taxes, and did far more than the licensing board what precisely is the difference other than paying for excess bureaucracy?

[sedimenjerry]

Originally Posted by LovelySummer

Only...how do you know it's safe if no one is checking/regulating it? Am I to undetstand that Uber has some way of figuring out whether the cars being driven are always clean, not outdated, maintained and the driver knows the rules ofthe road and knows a sufficient amount of English? Surely, Uber is not doing this level of oversight bc it hurt the business model significantly.

So is it possible you could get the same quality car, same quality driver - in a personal car providing service under thr Uber banner?

Exactly, there's a reason there are health inspections at restaurants. Most of the time it's fine but sometimes you find out a place failed, and you wouldn't even know it if not for the regulations.

Besides, this isn't about regulations and their effectiveness on safety, this isn't some free market debate. It's about Uber and Lyft not having to go through the same processes as cabs (which is why they are so profitable).

[Mishap]

Originally Posted by sedimenjerry

Exactly, there's a reason there are health inspections at restaurants. Most of the time it's fine but sometimes you find out a place failed, and you wouldn't even know it if not for the regulations.

Besides, this isn't about regulations and their effectiveness on safety, this isn't some free market debate. It's about Uber and Lyft not having to go through the same processes as cabs (which is why they are so profitable).

Go to the airport and inspect the cabs that pull up. How many of these would pass a cab "health inspection"? Cabs in 3rd world countries are in better shape. At least in NYC, the excuse is the medallion costs a quarter million so the car is working 24/7...the ones here are literally their rejects.

I absolutely believe there should be some level of inspection/process to Uber/Lyft but that doesn't mean that we should follow the cab model. Does anyone honestly believe that cabs are safer than riding in a random stranger's car? If cabs are so hamstrung by bureaucracy, why don't they unplug the meter and pick up an app?

Having ridden in far too many Atlanta cabs, I can expertly attest to the total lack of inspections and disregard for basic safety. I've had cabs w/ missing seatbelts, different color doors (and pricing from NYC still on it) and even one w/ an Igloo cooler as a center console. The smell of unburned exhaust w/ guys too cheap to turn on the AC or malfunctioning lighting is pretty much a given. It seems no matter what the vehicle, they find a way to make it dangerous, uncomfortable, and then put the most inept driver behind the wheel b/c the bureaucracy and taxi cartels squeezed all the profit from finding competent/semi-cleanliness conscious drivers.

I've used Uber in close to a dozen cities now without issue. If Uber needs some level of regulation, then we probably need to regulate all cars more closely b/c their drivers have minimum car requirements that quite a lot of people would never qualify for.

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by sedimenjerry

The more I hear about Uber the more I dislike it.

Why? I and friends of mine that use it are quite satisfied. The playing field is already level, and the taxi companies are deservedly losing. Now they want to co-opt government to gain an advantage.

[red92s]

Can't wait for the day my employer makes me buy my own computer, licenses me the right to sit at a desk in their building, strips my benefits ,takes away workers comp protection, removes my ability to unionize, and can fire me without providing cause . . .but gives me the option to work whatever I see fit.

[Cameron H]

Originally Posted by red92s

Can't wait for the day my employer makes me buy my own computer, licenses me the right to sit at a desk in their building, strips my benefits ,takes away workers comp protection, removes my ability to unionize, and can fire me without providing cause . . .but gives me the option to work whatever I see fit.

Hey, that was my first job out of college! It was called "stock broker."