Getting Over Getting Over Uber: Tim O'Reilly Does the Math

Susan Crawford yesterday published at Medium a critique of Uber and similar ride-coordinating services, in the form of a kind of paean to the American taxicab. Though she didn't start out with negative feelings for Uber, Crawford writes, her sentiment has swung away from objections to taxis (such as that they seek unfair protection from competition) to an extravagant defense, though it comes with a long list of "shoulds": "[Cities] should be focusing on making their taxi services better," she writes. "Taxis should be more accessible to everyone. Taxi fares should be low, predictable, and uniform. Taxi geographies should be wide. Taxis should be clean, fuel-efficient, driven by trustworthy, well-trained drivers, and available for frictionless electronic hailing." Even with the flaws that list implies, Crawford's description of how well taxis work now is more positive than I've found to be true: "Their rates are regulated and set; their pricing is transparent and can be double-checked (just look at the meter, which is itself regularly tested); they look like a uniform fleet; they are subject to very strict licensing and safety requirements. With rare exceptions, they don’t employ surge/congestion pricing schemes."

Tim O'Reilly has written a response, calling Crawford's arguments "puzzling and unconvincing." O'Reilly dissects some of the math behind the business of driving others for money, as it applies to both conventional taxi drivers and "gig economy" drivers, as well as some of the qualitative effects of ride-dispatch services; surely some readers will take issue with his figures and examples, but they provide a plausible case for doubting Crawford's rosy picture of taxis and dark view of modern app-dispatched rides. O'Reilly writes: "Regulation is not a good in itself. It is a means of achieving public goods. And so far, it is pretty clear that Uber and Lyft (and in particular, the competition between them) are improving the transportation options in American cities. Regulators should be using the opportunity to revisit the old way of doing things rather than trying to make the new conform to outdated rules that no longer serve their purpose."

Comments

Re: "I did not start off being anti-Uber."

[Anonymous Coward]

I didn't care about Uber till slashdot started posting stories about it for money. Now I am anti-Uber, anti-slashdot.

Re:Said it before

[phantomfive]

You shouldn't say that anymore, because taxi drivers aren't necessarily any better off. The guy in that story was on Medicaid, you were paying for the taxi driver's healthcare.

Personally, I don't think healthcare coverage should be related to employment at all. It really doesn't make sense for them to be tied together, and makes people afraid of quitting a lousy job that they hate.

"Regulation is not a good in itself."

[phantomfive]

"Regulation is not a good in itself."

I wish more people realized that. How many times have you seen people arguing, one side saying, "Regulation is bad!" and the other "Regulation is good!" It's one of the dumbest arguments ever, because both sides are wrong.

Some regulation is good, and some regulation is bad. If you want to know which is which, you need to actually look at the regulation itself.

In the US only

[aepervius]

In western europe for example, taxi are geographically widespread (for example in germany they are forced to take negative value fare in remote area), their price is regulated but uber is not and uber DO surge pricing. So taxi fare is uniform and predictable (low is a question of perspective). Taxi are driven by trustworthy driver , german regulation make sure of insurance (commercial) is there and there is a test in many country. Uber not so much. Taxi are accessible to everyone as over a zone some country imposes a minimum number of accessible handicapped taxi. All of those Uber does not really do. We even have in germany an apps on smartphone to hail taxi (at least in my region). Uber DO LIE on pretending there is driver nearby. Uber bombed with fake request their rival. Both of which would be a fraud in germany for example. take off the pink glasses in many countries in western europe Uber is not so great , it is only a newcomer which want to break laws to its disadvantage, laws mostly protecting consumer NOT taxi.

Now we know that US law are often corporate blowjobs (dealership, taxi medaillion etc..). But Uber is not so great either. What do you think will happen if taxi get deregulated ? Well i will tell you : the most common minimum denominator that's what will happen.