Hotel Pennsylvania isn't owned by a cult, BTW -- it's owned by a real-estate conglomerate that can't decide what to do with it. But for $150/night, you can't beat the location -- near basically every subway like in the city and Penn Station as well.
You (or your customer) got ripped off. You can get under $200/night if you go for a hotel that's not a major chain (but still safe and clean, if not particularly spacious or modern).
This is one more reason to carve the subways and MTA buses out from state control and put them back under city control. There's no reason why a bunch of upstaters in Albany (including "Upstate Andy" Cuomo) need to be running the MTA.
What if the super-wealthy drive up costs of necessities like food and housing, so even with a somewhat higher income, you're less able to afford them? Money is relative, unfortunately.
NYC's street network is narrow by US standards and can't handle unlimited traffic. Rebuilding it would be insanely expensive.
Of course, the market can fix it -- if traffic slows to a sufficient crawl, people won't want to use Uber/Lyft/cabs and fewer people will be interested in driving. But traffic slowing to a crawl has other negative consequences like fire and ambulances being unable to get through and added pollution (99% of for-hire vehicles aren't electric).
If they're competing with public transit or walking, they're actually CREATING more congestion. The only time they reduce congestion is if they're competing with private cars, assuming they don't ever drive around empty looking for their next fare.
I suspect at least some Uber/Lyft trips replace walking or the subway, both of which don't congest the roads.
You're exaggerating. Housing prices in Jamaica (Queens) are pretty reasonable, and it's a 20-25 minute LIRR ride into the city, 1 hour by subway. There's also upper Manhattan and parts of the Bronx.
The problem is that the system is neglected and needs a lot of repairs, thus reroutings for construction (especially on nights and weekends) and/or making express trains local is quite common. It works well in Manhattan, since there are a few redundant lines in most areas, less well in the outer boroughs.
More expenses for Uber and drivers = higher costs. This will push some people to either walk a few blocks (OMG, the HORROR) or back into public transit. Higher costs = lower demand, therefore fewer vehicles.
$40/hr ~= $75-80 grand a year at reasonable working hours. This actually is more than the bare mnimum to live, especially if you're living outside of "trendy" areas like Manhattan below 100th St or close-in parts of Brooklyn and Queens. I'd say minimum of $15/hr is about right.
If it walks like a taxi, drives like a taxi, and quacks like a taxi, it's basically a taxi and is adding to congestion in the city. Market's saturated -- there's a reason why taxi medallions were limited in quantity by law. NYC streets can't support unlimited traffic.
This being said, public transport in the outer boroughs needs to be improved, or some system created to preferentially license rideshares in the outer boroughs (where "real" cabs are hard to get).
i.e. rplacing fossil fools with fossil farts. What the US should be doing is building nuclear power plants and electrifying roads ("Supercharger" stations every few miles) and railroads. Get rid of fossil fool use for transport.
Maybe you want to get work done while traveling and don't want to lug external crap around. Or maybe you want to sit comfortably on the couch and get work done. Or maybe it's not work at all, but you find a desktop easier to surf the web on, instead of hunting-and-pecking on a shitty touch-screen.
So basically, a clamshell iPill... I mean iPad... with two fragile/glass screens. I guess typing on it would be OK with some sort of clear overlay with squishy keys, but I still prefer a real keyboard.
Mobile-only is a bug, not a feature. Mobile apps are crap on the desktop. Frankly, not mobile-only chat apps, I'd rather either (a) use another chat app or (b) stick it in the nice, padded cell of an Android emulator.
Wireless-only charging is fucking idiotic -- you'd need to keep your phone down on the charging plate and not be able to use it while charging. Any phone that only supports wireless charging is crap, waterproof or not.
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Hotel Pennsylvania isn't owned by a cult, BTW -- it's owned by a real-estate conglomerate that can't decide what to do with it. But for $150/night, you can't beat the location -- near basically every subway like in the city and Penn Station as well.
That's one example, there are others. Kayak is your friend here. Also, there's always Yotel if you don't mind the odd hipster capsule hotel vibe.
You (or your customer) got ripped off. You can get under $200/night if you go for a hotel that's not a major chain (but still safe and clean, if not particularly spacious or modern).
This is one more reason to carve the subways and MTA buses out from state control and put them back under city control. There's no reason why a bunch of upstaters in Albany (including "Upstate Andy" Cuomo) need to be running the MTA.
What if the super-wealthy drive up costs of necessities like food and housing, so even with a somewhat higher income, you're less able to afford them? Money is relative, unfortunately.
Nothing. The city doesn't care about that kind of thing -- it's only regulating public markets.
Average traffic speed in NYC is say 15 mph -- I'm being very generous by averaging Manhattan and less-crowded parts of the boroughs here.
$13/hr / 15 mph = 86 cents/mile
86 cents + 54 cents = $1.40 per mile.
Add insurance and you're probably close to $2 per mile.
Once you add Uber's profit, their charges will need to be pretty close to the $2.50 per mile that "regular" cabs charge.
NYC's street network is narrow by US standards and can't handle unlimited traffic. Rebuilding it would be insanely expensive.
Of course, the market can fix it -- if traffic slows to a sufficient crawl, people won't want to use Uber/Lyft/cabs and fewer people will be interested in driving. But traffic slowing to a crawl has other negative consequences like fire and ambulances being unable to get through and added pollution (99% of for-hire vehicles aren't electric).
Some reason? Nah. They're fiddling with their phones looking for fares, maybe even on more than one app...
If they're competing with public transit or walking, they're actually CREATING more congestion. The only time they reduce congestion is if they're competing with private cars, assuming they don't ever drive around empty looking for their next fare.
I suspect at least some Uber/Lyft trips replace walking or the subway, both of which don't congest the roads.
You're exaggerating. Housing prices in Jamaica (Queens) are pretty reasonable, and it's a 20-25 minute LIRR ride into the city, 1 hour by subway. There's also upper Manhattan and parts of the Bronx.
The problem is that the system is neglected and needs a lot of repairs, thus reroutings for construction (especially on nights and weekends) and/or making express trains local is quite common. It works well in Manhattan, since there are a few redundant lines in most areas, less well in the outer boroughs.
More expenses for Uber and drivers = higher costs. This will push some people to either walk a few blocks (OMG, the HORROR) or back into public transit. Higher costs = lower demand, therefore fewer vehicles.
$40/hr ~= $75-80 grand a year at reasonable working hours. This actually is more than the bare mnimum to live, especially if you're living outside of "trendy" areas like Manhattan below 100th St or close-in parts of Brooklyn and Queens. I'd say minimum of $15/hr is about right.
If it walks like a taxi, drives like a taxi, and quacks like a taxi, it's basically a taxi and is adding to congestion in the city. Market's saturated -- there's a reason why taxi medallions were limited in quantity by law. NYC streets can't support unlimited traffic. This being said, public transport in the outer boroughs needs to be improved, or some system created to preferentially license rideshares in the outer boroughs (where "real" cabs are hard to get).
i.e. rplacing fossil fools with fossil farts. What the US should be doing is building nuclear power plants and electrifying roads ("Supercharger" stations every few miles) and railroads. Get rid of fossil fool use for transport.
Live a little, break some rules...
Why bother with a laptop then ... might as well just have desktops and a damned tablet aka torture device for anyone used to typing on a real kb.
Maybe you want to get work done while traveling and don't want to lug external crap around. Or maybe you want to sit comfortably on the couch and get work done. Or maybe it's not work at all, but you find a desktop easier to surf the web on, instead of hunting-and-pecking on a shitty touch-screen.
Sounds like their marketing is failing, since I wouldn't use a new MacBook even if Apple paid me to.
Apple laptops aren't designed for work anymore -- they're made for hipsters to look cool.
So basically, a clamshell iPill ... I mean iPad ... with two fragile/glass screens. I guess typing on it would be OK with some sort of clear overlay with squishy keys, but I still prefer a real keyboard.
Mobile-only is a bug, not a feature. Mobile apps are crap on the desktop. Frankly, not mobile-only chat apps, I'd rather either (a) use another chat app or (b) stick it in the nice, padded cell of an Android emulator.
Wireless-only charging is fucking idiotic -- you'd need to keep your phone down on the charging plate and not be able to use it while charging. Any phone that only supports wireless charging is crap, waterproof or not.
Most chargers have either USB-A (large) or USB-C output, with an appropriate cable to mate it to the phone, which is either micro-USB or USB-C.