Uber co-founder Ryan Graves rings a ceremonial bell for the ride-hailing company's initial public offering at the New York Stock Exchange May 10. By Megan McArdle Megan McArdle Columnist Bio Follow Columnist May 24 at 6:00 PM This week, the New York Times did something I would have thought impossible: They made New Yorkers feel bad for cabdrivers.
Uber and Lyft are discovering that the regulatory monopolies they smashed had existed for a reason. Before Uber’s 2009 launch, and Lyft’s a few years later, almost every sizable city tightly controlled its taxi market. Government commissions set fares and limited the supply of taxi licenses. Myriad justifications were offered for these regulations, but fundamentally they existed because without government intervention, no one would make any money.
Some cities did just that. But often, by the time the commissioners got around to it, Uber had acquired a rabid fan base, which the company wasn’t shy about weaponizing. Amazingly, improbably, Uber broke the taxi commissions — and then broke the people who owned those previously valuable taxi medallions, from individual driver-owners to the operators of taxi fleets.
That was the problem taxi medallions had been designed to solve. Drivers still didn’t make much money, because all you needed to get started in the business was a driver’s license. But the people who owned the right to drive were able to make a tidy living, with almost no downside risk. That’s why New York City taxi medallions got so valuable: Two decades of low-interest rates made them an attractive alternative to bonds offering yields in the low single digits.
Is the point that we should feel sorry for the medallion cartels? If so then I'm not feeling it. Try living in the suburbs of a metro area with a barely functional transit system and then tell me how we're now worse off.
Sounds like a piece from Unions
Death to uber and Lyft. Didn't your parents tell you not to get into cars with strangers.
Filing this under N, for No Shit Sherlock.
Lyft is more reliable than taxi's. I live outside the city core . Taxi drivers often dump their commitment to me for a fare closer by. So many times I've had to all dispatch a few times. Lyft always shows up. I bet I'm not the only one who never calls taxi any longer
Ask Michael Cohen.......
We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Opinion | How Uber and Lyft drivers are using the companies' algorithms against themOpinion | Sabrina Hersi Issa: How Uber and Lyft drivers are using the companies' algorithms against them. - NBCNewsTHINK THINK Yeaa😙
Source: NBCNews - 🏆 10. / 86 Read more »
Uber and Lyft to turn the wheels on car ownership: industry expertsRide-hailing apps like those of Uber Technologies and Lyft Inc are expected to a... Not unless they improve safety We’re sharing everything else, why not? Addresses the big city parking issue too. winwin
Source: Reuters - 🏆 2. / 97 Read more »
Uber and Lyft battle Los Angeles over the future of transportationScooters and electric bikes have become pawns in a power struggle between rideshare companies Uber and Lyft and the city of Los Angeles — a tug of war experts say will have far-reaching implications for quality of life in cities across the United States. Isso é uma feia bicicleta. So stupid. We need decent public transportation. Beep beep...
Source: CNN - 🏆 4. / 95 Read more »
Uber is a 'once in a generation company' but the stock is going nowhere, Susquehanna saysSusquehanna has a neutral rating on the stock and a price target of $42 per share. It was an opportunistic business that didn't try to solve a problem so much as it exploited a deficit. All businesses that do this will end in flames. Basic economic principles predicted this fate and I am dumbfounded why so much money was put into it. Stupid!!! Hey just like this generation!! Here's the simplest guide you'll ever read on how to buy stocks
Source: CNBC - 🏆 12. / 72 Read more »
Accused war criminal turned Uber driver liable in torture caseAn accused Somali war criminal who CNN reported last week was working in the US as a driver for Uber and Lyft was responsible for the torture of a man in 1988 and should pay him $500,000, a civil court jury found Tuesday. Cnn is rubish Uber no background checks? 'Please count your limbs before to jump out' uber
Source: CNN - 🏆 4. / 95 Read more »
Checkr CEO calls alleged Somali war criminal turned Uber driver an 'edge case'The CEO of the company that processes background checks for Uber and Lyft calls the alleged Somali war criminal who drove for the companies an 'edge case.' The CEO and that Co needs to Investigated and His Investors For Trying to Dupe and Harm 1000”s Of Innocents In Uber Or Lyft Jail the Ceo Or More will Suffer On the edge of what? Falling into the lake of fire where he will spent eternity? Proof: Uber/Lyft’s so-called background checks are not same as Taxi/Buses/other commercial transport. Uber/Lyft still refused to do proper checks w/fingerprinting, knowing half of their drivers will flunk. Uber/Lyft chose profit over rider safety, they normalized sexual assault
Source: ABC - 🏆 471. / 51 Read more »
Uber’s listing and a new stock exchange may herald changeA new stock exchange aims to encourage long-term thinking and give entrepreneurs stability
Source: TheEconomist - 🏆 6. / 92 Read more »
Opinion | A German Company Cashes In on Emoji ManipulationOpinion: A German company, the Emoji Co. GmbH, claims it owns the word “emoji.”Now it’s cashing in on trademarks in every profitable merchandise category Who else saw this photo and thought of lsd The word 'emoji' comes from the romanization of the Japanese word 絵文字 (which means picture character). Crazy that a Japanese company had to pay a German one to use a literal Japanese word 🤔 Oh nice. Another Acacia situation. 😤
Source: WSJ - 🏆 98. / 63 Read more »
Opinion | The Dollar May Be Knocked off Its PedestalOpinion: The U.S. dollar could soon lose its status as the world’s pre-eminent currency, writes Sahil Mahtani Corrupt, worthless $USD is nothing but the symbol of SCAM for SCAM erica- the land of the FRAUD, the home of the BRAINLESS. How the rest of the world doesn't know this is beyond me. Kings and kingdoms pass away! Winning?
Source: WSJ - 🏆 98. / 63 Read more »