• paultimate14@lemmy.world
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    4 days ago

    Uber is too expensive these days

    That was always the goal. Uber and Lyft prices were heavily subsidized early on. Their investors poured billions into them in order to not just establish market share, but tk drive existing taxi services out of business. Taxi services that had things like: fleets of company-owned vehicles instead of personal vehicles, commercials grade maintenance schedules, stricter licensing requirements for drivers, unionized employees instead of independent contractors, etc

    Uber and Lyft just plain ignored a lot of existing regulations by saying “those don’t apply because this is an app” to legislators who were too old to know how to turn on a smart phone. They got the public on-board by temporarily offering artificially low prices and high payouts to drivers. Now they have established themselves and removed the competition, so the payouts are going down and the prices are going up.

    There are still some US cities that do not allow Uber or Lyft to operate, and there are other countries in the world that do the same.

    • The_Terrible_Humbaba@slrpnk.net
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      2 days ago

      It’s still miles better than Cabs, I can’t believe this even has to be argued! When was the last time anyone here defending cabs/shitting on Uber actually took a cab somewhere?

      The few times I had to/decided to take a taxi, I got absolutely ripped off. And with an Uber, even if it’s expensive, you at least know before hand how much you’re paying. You can decline if you think it’s too much. Good luck trying that with taxis.

    • makeshift0546@lemmy.today
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      4 days ago

      I couldn’t give a fuck any the regulations. They sucked and did nothing. Cabs were broken and Uber fixed that shit right up.

          • mabeledo@lemmy.world
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            3 days ago

            It’s funny you say that, because I couldn’t tell you how many times I’ve been cancelled on by Anglo uber drivers.

                • The_Terrible_Humbaba@slrpnk.net
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                  2 days ago

                  Uber is still objectively better than cabs. You agree on the price before hand. With cabs sometimes there’s no meter, and even when there is one, good luck knowing if you’re being ripped off when you don’t know the streets.

                  • mabeledo@lemmy.world
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                    2 days ago

                    I’m sorry you live in a place where cabs aren’t regulated, I guess. Because where they are, meters are mandatory.

                    good luck knowing if you’re being ripped off when you don’t know the streets.

                    How is Uber any better on this regard? Agreeing on a price beforehand doesn’t mean that it is a fair one, at all. Surge pricing is a thing.