from Hacker News

Uber Hit with Cap as New York City Takes Lead in Crackdown

by tiger3 on 8/8/18, 8:27 PM with 295 comments

by colinbartlett on 8/8/18, 9:13 PM
If the problem they are trying to solve is "too many vehicles" then we need a congestion tax. They should certainly not be limiting vehicles that are more likely to take multiple people with a Pool option.
If the problem they are trying to solve is "drivers aren't making enough" then they should impose a minimum wage on drivers or force an actual employee relationship.
If the problem they are trying to solve is a bail out of the failed and corrupt taxi medallion system, then maybe this will succeed. The real issue here is the cab drivers who are hurting because they provide an inferior service to a clientele who now have better options. I avoid cabs for all but the shortest trips because of the large percentage of bad driving experiences. Some solutions to improve yellow cabs like having a simple feedback mechanism for drivers could go a long way to leveling the playing field between Uber and Taxi.
by romwell on 8/8/18, 9:10 PM
Alternative title: "NYC Taxi mafia strikes back, gives Uber 12 months to come up with a large enough bribe".
Really, the life of nearly everyone (who's not a taxi driver, perhaps) improved a bit since Uber entered the city.
Even the fabled subway in its theoretical best has been dysfunctional in Brooklyn since the takedown of streetcars a hundred years ago (see how all the tracks are running towards Manhattan and very few across?).
And need anyone be reminded of the countless problems with the yellow cabs (good luck hailing one around Kings Highway!), green cabs (too little too late, same problems), car services (aka taxis you order by phone, which may or may not come to pick you up and may or may not go where you need to, and can tell you to, quote, f$#k off when they're late), etc?
Obligatorily, I have a lot of reservations towards whatever Uber is doing elsewhere - but the NYC situation looked unfixable before Uber came a long with a stick (or candy) large enough.
by pmart123 on 8/8/18, 8:55 PM
NYC is closing down the L train next year for a year at the very least. So far, the city has proposed more water taxis as the primary solution to handle rerouting the 300k daily riders. Right now, the water taxi ridership is 1370 people per day. Secondarily, the city has indicated it might make some of the bridges carpool or ride-share only. Either way, all signs point to the shutdown heading towards a painful if not disastrous scenario. Hopefully, voters will point to this type of cronyism and corruption next mayoral election.
by pavel_lishin on 8/8/18, 8:53 PM
I wonder what percentage of cars on the streets of Manhattan are Uber/Lyft, vs. taxi cabs, vs. private vehicles vs. other commercial ones.
Claiming to limit Uber license to alleviate congestion is a bullshit argument unless you can show that they make up a significant percentage of traffic.
Also, to be clear, I'm not an Uber apologist; they can go fuck themselves as quickly as they move and break things.
by cm2012 on 8/8/18, 10:09 PM
As someone who lives in Eastern Queens, Uber has changed my life. There is no other kind of reliable taxi out here, and uber lets me live without a car.
I had to take a yellow cab the other day from a dispatcher at JFK. I normally take Uber all the time. We were going literally 20 min away to Queens.
I tell him we're going to Queens. He literally screams, "Queens?!" and storms out of the car to the dispatcher. He comes back in 2 minutes and starts driving, muttering to himself for 10 minutes after I give him the address, whining like a little bitch that he didn't get to go to Manhattan.
Fuck yellow cabs.
by Agustus on 8/8/18, 8:55 PM
The best note on this was from the Republican running for attorney general in the state in that he could not believe that the city was returning to the racist system whereby blacks would be having a reduced mobility option because of the known, yet not handled, yellow cabs not picking up blacks. A better system was identified that helped fix an issue and we have a city council so beholden to the taxi network that they are willing to screw over the populous.
by Itaxpica on 8/9/18, 12:17 AM
It’s ironic that this was passed this morning, because this morning a power issue at Canal managed to knock out all service on the A/C/E line for hours... leaving me to have to get a Lyft to work. For the second time in a week. I’m all for greater regulation for ridesharing companies, but making it even harder to get around at a time the subway is in full crisis is a terrible idea.
by mkolodny on 8/8/18, 9:12 PM
It looks like the city snuck in a ride-sharing vehicles cap by pairing it with a pay floor for for-hire vehicle drivers.
"[Caption] Drivers of for-hire vehicles on Wednesday demonstrated in support of a cap on ride-hail vehicles outside City Hall."
Then the signs in the picture above the caption are all focused on the pay floor...
"VOTE yes to create a pay floor for FHV drivers"
The pay floor and the ride-sharing cap are very separate issues, but it seems like the city pulled a fast one by pairing their legislation.
With the L train shutting down for a year+, this could be disastrous for getting from Brooklyn to Manhattan.
by cwkoss on 8/8/18, 11:42 PM
Article notes he is eyeing AirBnb regs next.
De Blasio seems to really like adding regulations to industries that were largely responses to NYC (and similar large cities') regulation that strangled the previous version of that industry, leaving competition excessively expensive, inefficient and unpleasant.
Maybe there are some things he could do to make taxi's more competitive with Uber?
- Develop a cross-service hailing app including taxis?
- Regulate to prevent annoying TV screen ads
- Streamline payment process
I feel like this is a step towards Uber being regulated into becoming a clone of the poor taxi services it was rebelling against: unmaintained interiors, no customer service, unreliable hailing.
The only regulation I want to see on Uber is statutory penalties if "time to arrival" wait times consistently exceed the provided estimates. I use Uber much less now because I several times I've gotten an estimate of "3 minutes" and waited over 15. This is false advertisement.
by jeffreyrogers on 8/8/18, 8:58 PM
This benefits the drivers at the expense of consumers. Maybe that's worth doing, maybe not. I don't think there is a right answer to that since it depends on your perspective. In either case, it seems like the problem they're trying to address is congestion, which could be better addressed by taxing drivers more highly. Then only the more productive rideshare and taxi drivers would be on the streets, plus you'd get rid of a lot of the other drivers who don't value their ability to drive that highly. I used to drive into NYC fairly regularly, since I liked being able to park near where I was going, but if it cost more I would have just taken the train and the subway.
by sytelus on 8/9/18, 2:08 AM
I'd expected better from NYC. They are again trying to put back "Medallion" culture back in so that only powerful few can operate taxi business and essentially are licenced to exploit drivers from 3rd world. The city should have seen its taxi system as shameful arrangement where rich people created laws to get license for what was a slave market for all purpose and intent. People like Michael Cohen had exploited this system to make 10s of millions of dollars from the sweat of taxi drivers for practically zero effort. There are no reason to artificially limit the number of taxis. The demand and supply are far more efficient and desirable than politicians.
by tonysdg on 8/8/18, 8:56 PM
Given the problem, this seems like a reasonable action on the part of the NYC City Council. But I'm confused by section on congestion pricing:
> Many experts believe congestion pricing is the best way for New York City to fix congestion and secure the funds needed to fix the subway. Mr. Johnson supports the idea, but Mr. de Blasio has opposed it. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who controls the subway, has said he will push for congestion pricing...
Why does de Blasio oppose it? It seems like another reasonable approach to tackling congestion -- heck, it's the public version of building private toll roads -- with the added bonus of providing funds to improve public transportation.
by bumholio on 8/8/18, 9:01 PM
> The price of a taxi medallion, which is required to operate a taxi in New York, has plunged from more than $1 million to less than $200,000.
Clearly, a cap on ride hailing licenses can only mean that the already licensed drivers stand to gain a similar amount by pimping their license to various competing services until they get the best deal. It's simple economics, assuming taxis and Ubers are comparable to the average consumer.
by sebleon on 8/9/18, 12:37 AM
My suspicion is that Uber could out-bribe the taxi lobby by 10x, without moving the needle on profitability. This cap signifies that Uber either a) doesn't bribe politicians, or b) bribed the wrong politicians.
by techsin101 on 8/9/18, 5:56 AM
This is plain bribery. I live in Brooklyn. Now I'm less late because of Uber. Before I've gotten fired because of situations where I can do nothing but just let fate run it course as I'm stuck in B train. Or wait for a bus that hasn't even left the station.
I know cab drivers are behind this.
Uber pool has saved me so much money.
When is next election for NYC mayor
by fatjokes on 8/9/18, 6:12 PM
Uber and Lyft actually offered to support a $100M bribe-er, I mean, "hardship" fund to support underwater individual (i.e., not those taxi business that own multiple medallions) medallion owners, but the city refused. Which makes sense since how are the politicians suppose to get money from that?
by blondie9x on 8/8/18, 9:56 PM
Ride sharing in general is worsening traffic and causing less utilization of mass transit.
https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2018/02/ride-sharing-actua...
We have to find a way to have better more effective cities built for people that utilize walking, biking, and transit. The less cars the better: https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-05-11/fight-cli...
We have to find a way to stop the laziness/traffic/transit abandonment that spreads with ride sharing. http://devonzuegel.com/post/we-should-be-building-cities-for...
by Dowwie on 8/8/18, 11:33 PM
Congestion is only part of the story. The MTA is competing for customers and has gotten help.
by sbuttgereit on 8/8/18, 9:15 PM
Is this title really fair?
"The City Council approved a package of bills that will halt new licenses for Uber and other ride-hail vehicles for a year while the city studies the booming industry."
While yes, this does impact Uber, it also impacts Lyft, etc.
by 8bitsrule on 8/8/18, 11:57 PM
We are pausing the issuance of new licenses in an industry that has been allowed to proliferate without any appropriate check or regulation...
or graft...
by TheSpiceIsLife on 8/8/18, 9:56 PM
Are ride-hailing licenses transferable?
How much would a ride-hailing license cost to buy from an existing operator right now in NYC.
by drawersheet on 8/8/18, 9:28 PM
You know, it would be one thing if this ruling was motivated by serious labor concerns but it really has to do with a bunch of crybabies that bought medallions as financial instrument and are upset that customers are choosing a service that's cheaper, better, and more hip.