Slashdot Mirror
California Becomes First State In Nation To Regulate Ride-Sharing
Virtucon writes "Ride Sharing Services such as Uber, Lyft and Sidecar received a big boost today when the California Public Utilities Commission approved rules that would allow them to continue to operate as long as they followed a few rules. This makes California the first state to adopt such rules and is expected to preempt local governments who are trying to clamp down on these services and regulate them like local taxi companies."
Legally the difference is that taxi cabs can be hailed on the street. No other type of private transportation (limos, airport shuttles, ridesharing, etc.) can be hired this way -- they require a separate, prior arrangement.
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
It's like how an SUV is called a "light truck" to get around more stringent CAFE regulations.
Actually, no.
So it's by weight. The Cadillac Escalade was intentionally redesigned to add 200 pounds to it to make it legally a "truck". And yes, it was to get around CAFE regulations, but it also reduces property taxes in most jurisdictions, since trucks are considered work vehicles. In addition, as a work vehicle, you can get a license plate as a commercial vehicle, which permits stopping/parking in loading zones.
I must be missing something about this concept. If you're getting paid (with a net profit) to drive people around, why is it called ride sharing? How is it not a taxi service?
...A ride share takes you where you want to go providing it isn't too far out of the way from where the driver was going anyway...
.
No. I've used Lyft on multiple occasions, and every single time it was exactly like a taxi--"Take me to location X". There was no waiting around for someone travelling a similar route or anything along those lines.
What I actually really like about it is the rating system. Lyft provides a "suggested donation" for the traveler. The traveler can pay as much as they want (with a minimum of $5, IIRC), but Lyft tracks the value as a % of the suggested donation (which is *always* less than the cost of a taxi). Lyft drivers, then, have the ability to look up passengers that average, say, minimum 80% of the suggested donation. So if you're continually paying very little, you're going to quickly find yourself out of a ride. And on the flip side, travelers get to rate the driver--how friendly were they, how clean was their car, etc. And living in Chicago, I can tell you that I have taken far more filthy taxi rides with complete asshole drivers (who refuse to take the route I tell them) than I care to count. So while I haven't used the other services, I have nothing but good things to say about Lyft.
Personal XP here. SF cabs will skip you for the fare they just noticed on the street. Uber (a rideshare company) will be there waiting for you at least 2 minutes before you asked for them. No, I don't own stock in Uber -- but I wish I did. They just bought 2500 driverless cars from google (approved by DOT) for their fleet.
My source says the Escalade is 7,100 pounds gross. Perhaps you have a better source that puts it above 8500 pounds?
Meanwhile this link backs up everything GP said.
The basic definition of a light truck--any truck or truck derivative with a gross vehicle weight rating of 8,500 pounds or less--allows plenty of room for family vehicles. Because light trucks is considered a separate category from passenger automobiles, vehicle manufacturers have been able to build and market SUVs and other large vehicles with a less stringent CAFE standard, currently 20.7 miles per gallon (mpg). Furthermore, most SUVs and pickups, and all vans, are currently permitted to emit 29% to 47% more carbon monoxide and 75% to 175% more nitrogen oxides than passenger cars.
The SFMTA reports that there are only twenty-nine taxi companies that legally operate in San Francisco. Those 29 taxi companies operate a total of 1,707 cabs. (One medallion allows one cab to be operated.)
I can tell you from hard, long experience that this is far too few cabs for the city.
Data source, straight from the horse's mouth: http://www.sfmta.com/services/taxi-industry/medallions/medallion-holders
There are currently 1,430 people waiting to acquire a taxi medallion. http://www.sfmta.com/services/taxi-industry/medallions/waiting-list
It is said that one is often on the waiting list for ten years. In order to acquire a medallion, you have to meet a boatload of somewhat reasonable requirements, then be able to pony up $300k. From that $300k, the city takes $100k, and the remainder is given to the previous medallion holder.
As of this moment, the city does *not* create new taxi medallions. This is the very definition of "lucrative, performance insensitive monopoly".
Wow. Let me draw your attention to a few things from the article:
July 25, 2023 — As part of its second-quarter earnings announcement today, local transportation and delivery giant Uber announced its biggest bet on autonomous vehicles yet, saying it would purchase 2,500 driverless cars from Google....
Uber has committed to invest up to $375 million for a fleet of Google’s GX3200 vehicles, which are the company’s third generation of autonomous driving cars, but the first to be approved for commercial use in the U.S. The deal marks the largest single capital investment that Uber has made to date, and is also the first enterprise deal that Google has struck for its new line of driverless vehicles.
It’s been just five years since Google announced it would begin manufacturing its own driverless cars, and just two-and-a-half years since those vehicles have hit the streets.
It's explicitly a "dispatch from the future."
"Those who consume the bulk of goods are those who make them. We must never forget this secret of our prosperity."