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Comment by jfrunyon | Hacker News Reader

> One of the reasons why all these SV tech business got away with it is the fact that they are all located in US

Well, they could still be (at the very least) prohibited from operating in your country.

Sadly, most of these services (Airbnb, Uber) were also illegal here in the US, but for "some reason" (aka lots and lots of $$$), no one ever bothered enforcement against them. Eventually they spent enough money on bribes^H^H^H^H^H^H lobbying to legalize themselves.

(Then, of course, at least in the case of Uber and friends, once they were established they quietly raised prices and reduced driver income, which were the very reasons the short-sighted public liked them so much.)

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In defense of the short-sighted public (me), I don’t know the operating costs, profit requirements, accounting model, etc of a hired car service. I can’t assume any time the price of a product goes down, that someone is trying something shady.

I can say I loved Uber et al primarily because unlike any experiences I ever had with calling a taxi, a car actually showed up to bring me to my destination.

If I correctly interpret your definition of “the public” to mean “the common men and women using these services”: it’s a bit unfair to give them the blame, rather than pursue a failure of regulators or regulations.

Everybody forgets that this is why Uber did so well in SF. The cabs are complete garbage - they don't come when you call, their credit card machines are always "broken" and the drivers are screaming at people on their cellphones for the whole ride.

Before UberX was a thing I was paying more for Ubers than for cabs because I would get actual, quality service that way. The SF cab industry abused its regulatorily privileged position. If that industry (or their regulators) had enforced even basic decency and respect for their customers, there would've been no need for Uber in the first place.

If you didn't know that Uber was skirting regulations to offer their cheap prices, then you literally weren't paying any attention and I don't know how you even knew Uber existed.

> Eventually they spent enough money on bribes^H^H^H^H^H^H lobbying to legalize themselves.

It worked for the hotel and taxi industry, seems a logical way to succeed for Uber and Airbnb in the same domains.

Huh? The regulations on the hotel and tax industry are exactly what Uber and Airbnb succeeded by evading.

The thing is, lots of people like Uber and Airbnb. Any action against them is unpopular.

I'm curious if Uber/Lyft is going to last in SF. It does not take more than one $90 for 3 mile ride experience for me and my friends to never want to count on Lyft again.

The way it works is, you think I'll just Uber/Lyft to meet my friends. So you order one say 20 minutes before you're supposed to meet only to find an extremely high price. You pay it so you're not late but then you also vow to plan ahead so you never have to take it again. I haven't taken one since I was burned in June. Another friend got burned last month and I'd guess he's likely to not take another either.

I mean, the $90, 3 mile experience doesn't happen as a surprise occurrence... you agree to the price upfront, so you must have really needed to get somewhere 3 miles away as fast as possible. The price being high is just a function of there not being as many drivers available (its especially bad these days as many drivers have moved on to better jobs or not engaged in the workforce or don't want to do this job during covid times)

To your second point, there are still scheduling options, "wait + save" where they do offer pickup 20 min from now and locking in your price, but... if you are using those features couldn't you also use the bus?

I don't see any of your problems steering you back towards taxis, especially in SF where they were AWFUL (can't say if they have improved in the last 7 years)

I noticed this too. When I was in the bay area previously (temporarily) before moving out here permanently, about 2 years ago, I was able to uber places like the grocery store due to not having a car. Flash forward to today and I actually opted to buy my own car because uber and lyft have become ridiculously expensive

> You pay it so you're not late but then you also vow to plan ahead so you never have to take it again.

This is (usually) a better situation than when you're burned by phone dispatched taxi than never comes. At least you got where you were going.

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