Comments

1
the uber drivers should...become licensed taxi drivers? This is confusing. And very annoying, they paraded past 2nd & bell, honking and obstructing traffic. Not getting much sympathy from me.
2
Hmm, maybe if they got the city to license Uber drivers then they could create a false scarcity which allowed a group of drivers to make a living at it.
3
@1 A healthy portion of Uber drivers were taxi drivers that saw the writing on the wall. They could earn more money with Uber and its surge pricing that often makes it significantly more expensive than taxis.
4
uber, a great opportunity for people to become cab drivers until they are replaced by robot cars. so hurry up and work for uber!
5
So the new libertarian paradise promulgated by the App People that was going to free us all from the tyranny of Old Thinking turns out to be yet another flush of public services and public amenities swirling down the plug hole? How surprised I am.
6
@5 Careful, Fnarf. You wouldn't want to get fired from the comment threads!
7
Poor Uber drivers, taking a mild cut per fare to keep overall profits high. Your obnoxious incessant honking seems to have pissed people off, rather than getting people on your side. If you're so sad about the 70k or so you make a year, find another job. And feel free to protest in a less illegal and infuriating way next time - I'm going back to using cabs from now on.
8
I guess I still don't understand "protests" against companies like these.

If you can do it better, get some capital, rent some cloud space, hire some developers and go make your own ______ sharing company.

It's not like back in the Carnegie era where one Greedy Capitalist owns the factory. There is no factory. Just cars and an Android app!

9
@8 You know full well what the issue is. With a functional monopoly on the market, workers have no choice but to strike sooner or later as their only response to having benefits taken away just because they can. Uber is showing their big money investors that they are willing to do anything to make it profitable, and the big money gives them the public relations clout to make it stick.

But I'm surprised they are making their "fuck-the-drivers" move so early in the overall market change process they have so far engineered by manipulating the naive public and pliant politicos, like our own Seattle City Council. These drivers are already as much independent contractors as miners or steelworkers. It's the whole App revolution fantasy that has so many of them and their customers trying to pretend it is something else.

Unfortunately, as has been endlessly pointed out, to get the monopoly on the most valuable clients, they need to destroy the competition that currently serves a wider range of citizenry.

Yeh, if you don't like the factory wages, start your own factory. Uber itself is proving that the App model works exactly the same way. Massive capitalization wins uber alles, absent some sort of resistance. The Seattle City Council seem to be a bunch of intellectually weak and politically timid buffoons. Or maybe they are just corrupt. I don't know.
10
Remember Sophia Liu.
11
My driver to Seatac last week said he made nearly $4k that month. Was very happy. This must be the loser who don't work hard enough.

Since when did 5 Pruis become 'hundreds' ?

Remember that poor woman sexually assaulted last month by a Yellow Cab driver.
12
And look - veering into the 2nd Avenue bike lane. Lovely.
13
@9,
Yes, Uber has a functional monopoly in the "car service" business..... please don't tell Lyft, Sidecar, Yellow Cab, Orange Cab, random people solicited on Craigslist, any friend with an automobile and some spare time, or the car-sharing outfits that they've got Uber over a barrel.

It's BS. I'm betting the majority of the "protesters" are cab drivers who've decided to abandon paying userious rates to the license holders/cab owner and bought new Prii with 1% financing to do this as a full time job. Maybe Uber's model is for people who own a car for reasons other than Uber and are only part-timers ?
14
@6, I hope you're not violating any kind of non-disclosure agreement there....

But if I was going to get fired from comments here it would have been six or seven years ago.
15
@9 20% price cut does not support robust monopoly hypothesis

this is the promise of transport deregulation. drivers get paid less and companies get paid less and customers pay less. there r more customers than drivers. there r more drivers (more jobs) than before

the highr the jobs:people ratio is, the highr wages get across the economy

supply of people who can drive is not low. margns should continue to get thinner and one-car, one-passngr format should b joind by altrntvs

price competition is happening in the smartphone space, too. i may even get one. but what will happen to the mall kiosk salespeople?
16
@5

Sorry, what are the "public" services and "public" amenities flushed down the drain with the advent of taxi competition?
17
I can't believe that a company founded by the 1% would try this shit. Color me shocked.
18
#UberXploits
Visit www.UberPeople.net to learn the true state of Ride-sharing Drivers
#UberXploits
19
So Goldy was fired then eh?
20
@17 Word. Yes the Stranger supports Cyrus Habib, who is a wealthy high powered attorney over Michelle Darnell in the 48th. Cyrus is an Uber Uber supporter who won't answer any questions I've posed to him about some seriously pertinent issues.

Long vid
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtKjQd5g…

Short vid
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsCLhOHg…

The Questions:
http://mortgagemovies.blogspot.com/2014/…

Sincerely,
Christopher King, J.D.
21
@17, No wonder Rodney Tom endorsed Cyrus Habib. They are both Republicans masquerading as Democrats. Last session, Habib sponsored a bill to drop Labor and Industries coverage for taxi drivers. This means that one of the highest risk occupations in the US would have no insurance for on the job injuries.

Why did Habib introduce this legislation? To help Uber cut corners in advance of regulation by the state.

Please wait...

Comments are closed.

Commenting on this item is available only to members of the site. You can sign in here or create an account here.


Add a comment
Preview

By posting this comment, you are agreeing to our Terms of Use.