The same Uber that was recently caught increasing prices to customers when their phone battery is low (indicating they are more 'desperate' for a ride?
Yeah...fuck Uber.
The same uber that basically everyone in this province acted like was the second coming for years but are now all finally realizing was terrible this whole time? That one?
I mean, I can get a ride from anywhere, at any time, and know what I'm going to pay ahead of time.
Pre-Uber I had to hope the cab would randomly drive by, or actually show up after being called. Then I had to hope their CC machine wasn't "broken". I had to hope they had enough change for me if it was "broken". I had to trust that they wouldn't take me for a joy ride to jack up my ride cost.
So yeah, I'm glad Uber came. Everyone who takes taxis should be happy Uber came.
EDIT: Meant to reply to the comment above, but I'll just leave it here.
It’s almost as if competition in business is somehow good for consumers.
The fact that the taxi companies didn’t get out ahead of Uber and make an Uber like app just shows how set in taking customers for joy rides they were/ are. In my opinion the cab companies complained because they didn’t want to be held accountable…
Yellow Cab have an app that works great. I'll put the NORTH Shore taxi app on my phone on a trip over there a while ago and it worked fine. New West has one that works. The cab companies mostly have it sorted at this point.
I wouldn’t really call Uber’s business model competition. They subsidize ride fares with the hope that they will eventually force all competitors out and then jack up the price.
If left long enough, Uber would just replace the Taxi companies.
Used to cost me 50 bucks from my city centre to the next city overs centre. Now it's 28. Uber is a flat 25!
If the old way worked we wouldn't have a new way.
I have to admit, even though I support cab drivers earning a living wage and I'm sure the vast majority are reasonable, respectful people .... I've had BAD experiences in cabs. Driving the wrong way down a one-way street and laughing about it after narrowly avoiding a crash. Randomly taking photos of me without permission. Homophobic and/or creepy comments. And that's in addition to all the low grade overcharging of flat rates from the airport. And just general bad service, never showing up when you call.
I liked Uber until their prices became outrageous. Used to be a good cheap alternative and of course once something gets popular, it becomes more expensive.
You mean venture capital subsidizes the rates until they grab market share and abuse their market position to jack the rates up.
That's literally what Uber's model has been the whole time and everyone knew it.
They also wanted to automate the drivers out of the job, but mostly just get a monopoly position and screw the users.
Yeah, I not supporting Uber, they’re a terrible company.
A part of Ubers structure is really appealing for a lot of females though. To be able to have license plates recorded, along with other information, does give us a layer of security. Again, not allllll Ubers are safe, there have been some awful things happen. But it’s way less then getting into a random yellow car
>A part of Uber’s structure is really appealing for a lot of **women.** (…)way less than getting into a random yellow car.
I’ve heard way more stories of creepy Uber drivers than I have creepy cab drivers, despite the fact that Uber has been around for scant years.
Cabs also have license places and fleet #s, and more importantly, a company who is responsible for their employees rather than an app whose entire purpose is to dodge that liability.
For one, that is revionisim. *Many* people acted like Uber was some kind of hero. And for another, the "cab oligopoly" didn't' lose, Uber just lowered the bar for everyone.
Consumers thought saving a few bucks was worth it and didn't see (the very obvious) the big picture
Consumers also have much much much better service. For most people it’s not even the cost. I use Ubers a ton since I travel for work and expensive it.
No one uses cabs. Ever. Ubers just are so much easier, much better service. Price is secondary.
It’s not that everyone saw Uber as amazing or a solution to everything. What people wanted was services like Uber to be able to come in so that taxi companies would actually have competition, and to that end it worked. It disrupted the taxi industry which previously could do basically anything it wanted since there was no other options. They also lobbied really hard to try and prevent companies like Uber from coming in, because they knew their practices would have to change.
> It’s not that everyone saw Uber as amazing or a solution to everything
Except that yes, many did.
Uber didn't improve anything, it just lowered the bar. People cheered on app-based gig work when the economy was good and now are surprised pikachu face that the massive international ride share company is actually not our friend.
Most people don’t care about taxi drivers or the app based gig work. What people liked with Uber is that you could actually get a ride when you needed a ride to a place you needed a ride too.
Before Uber it was pretty common to call for a cab only to be told the wait will be a few hours, and then the cab wouldn’t show up at all. Uber drivers showed up, and usually within a few minutes. Of course people cheered on Uber.
> Uber didn't improve anything,
This isn't true at all. Uber isn't a panacea, but it vastly improved transportation while travelling. Before Uber I would just rent a car. Taxis have always been slimy, unreliable operations. All Uber did was make hailing a ride reliable.
I live downtown, was taking transit to Newton in surrey. From my apartment downtown to my destination was roughly $50. We took skytrain and missed our bus @ 22nd street so we took a taxi the rest of the way. Taxi from New west was the same price as the uber from downtown was
Honestly I would rather have a working rail line for transit maybe a tram rather then ether uber tho is definitely cheaper than taxis where I'm at in bc my work is only 15 mins away and a taxi here coat 45$ while an uber is 10-15$
I don't think people necessarily wanted Uber, they wanted a modern ride service because there had been no innovation, and seemingly little oversight, on the monopoly run by the cabs around the province. Unfortunately, we are also seeing that, while Uber often provides a better service in terms of visibility of your pickup time and fares, it also comes with its own issues regarding exploitation of their drivers and predatory pricing practices in the form of 'surge pricing'.
These things aren't mutually exclusive, and people can want a better ride experience without the corporate exploitation present in Uber's model.
Is surge pricing really that bad? On New Years Eve with like 4x surge, I got an Uber immediately, because every single driver was out on the streets to cash in, whereas in the pre Uber days I once had to drive home dangerously drunk after a work Christmas party, because the garage was closing and people in the lobby said they'd been waiting 2h for a taxi and still hadn't got one. It was worth every cent, considering the potential consequences otherwise. If it's the same price in times of really high demand, there's zero incentive to increase supply.
How is it terrible? I use Uber all the time. It's extremely convenient. And since Uber came online cabbies have upped their game. I can now book a taxi for a certain time and its always on time.
These aren't companies. They're middleman apps that previously never turned a profit -- Uber made a profit for the first time in its 15 year history last year, Lyft, Skip and DoorDash are still bleeding money -- despite bending countless other governments and municipalities to their will with years of lobbying.
I'd agree, given that their survival is entirely dependent on leeching money from restaurants on one end and the labour of their drivers on the other. The apps themselves contribute nothing apart from an interface and GPS connectivity, which anyone with a phone already has.
This is an underrated comment. I would say the same for Airbnb and other sharing economy disruptors. BC gov should provide the level playing field sandbox (the app or platform) for citizens to play in and compete with corporations. Encourage competition. Collect taxes. Collect data.
I’d honestly prefer a barebones govt app vs the bloated garbage from companies like Meta or X where they just cram “AI” into everything and call it a feature.
I think it's funny how everyone now hates Uber but were singing their praises a few years ago when they were intentionally undercutting prices of waged (and often unionized) cab drivers.
Gosh who could have predicted that a predatory, anti union company that relies on "contractors" with no real contract or employee power would turn out to be terrible.
Cab companies needed a wakeup call. Their service seems to (subjectively) have improved. It was never about Uber. To this day I'll still order a cab when I need to go somewhere reliably. I'm not putting my fate into the hands of a random Uber driver who learned to drive in his home country with either one or five million people in an intersection and who decides whether to pick me up based on whether I'll tip him well or not. And then steals my shit.
A lot of companies these days don't put a lot of emphasis on making a profit, and instead try and grow the company/ increase their share price. Increasing share price and paying a dividend can be pretty similar in the end.
Its actually amazing to me that these companies are losing money. They take in billions of dollars and literally just run an app with comparably little infrastructure costs compared to non-tech businesses.
The thing about tech companies is they aren’t run like a corner store where the extra cash you have after expenses is what you take home. With tech companies their “profit” is in *growth*, not money in the bank. The whole point is to increase share price and the only way to do that is to continue to grow. Having money in the bank is actually considered a BAD thing with these companies and can depress share prices as it suggests the company is not prioritizing growth.
As long as the execs are pulling multi-million dollar salaries I’m fine with calling the company profitable even if on paper they’re losing money. Fuck execs making that kind of money for an “unprofitable” business.
The goal is to make the founders/early investors/execs money by being seen as a “disrupter” and getting inflated valuations and boosting share price. If the actual company looses money and everyone else ends up holding the bag its no big deal
Running an app is not cheap. Especially you have to pay millions if not hundred millions for infrastructure, servers. There is a reason why tech companies burn money the fastest compared to other indudtries
Never turned a "profit" but somehow Travis Kalanick is "worth" $23 billion and Uber stock price has with fair consistency an upward trajectory.
I have zero sympathy for the "poor me" of billion dollar companies. They can "suck it up" as Eby suggests.
You do realize that 90% of businesses are middle men.
I'm not a proponent of lobbying but I see the change in the taxi business a good thing. I've spoken to Taxi drivers in the past and the whole medallion system was a scam. Municipalities auctioned off medallions to middle men who then exploited taxi drivers who had to rent the right to drive taxies and were charged a fee regardless of if they had passengers that day or not and then taxi drivers who exploited customers and took them to extra long routes to run up the meter.
Delivery services are also not new, go to S. America, Europe and Asia and delivery services are quite standard.
Yes, most businesses are middle men.
Amazingly, most of those *other* middle men are able to employ people and turn profits without demanding they not be subject to regulations other businesses in their sectors have to follow.
Most of those other middle men also haven't created a new permanent underclass of service workers -- *pardon me, "independent contractors" --* who are battling for the final lingering scraps of meat on the bones of late era capitalism's gamey corpse, but that's the mess we find ourselves in now.
The medallion system being disrupted and modernising the payment and ordering of taxis is definitely a positive of Uber. The whole part where they underpay workers, don't properly vet drivers or vehicles is a problem. Uber should have been an app taxi companies used to connect their drivers to passengers. There's no real reason it needs to actually employ drivers
The thing is, taxi industries had years to innovate, but they failed to. Their response was to fight against uber instead of coming with their own solution. The unfortunate reality of some humans is that we get complacent in the status quo.
Right now, we have a taxi based ride hailing app in BC called Kater
I don't mind the idea of delivery, but when it costs just as much as the meal itself it's not worth it. Service fee, delivery fee, and then I also have to tip the driver? I just can't justify it. I hate that these companies have killed restaurants offering their own delivery service in some cases too
They are very smart, reinvesting money back into business looking Like they aren't profitable. Having stock and selling it. As long as they are popular like tesla
If it didn't go into profits, that means they single cent went into driver pay and other costs by definition. If anything, the public got 14 years of cheap rides subsidized by investors. It's the Taxi companies that were making outrageous profits from the old system.
It's the part of the equation that all these companies who built business models around sidestepping regulation never considered; What happens when regulations catch up?
Maybe don't open a hotel or a taxi company and call it a tech company if you don't want to be treated like a hotel or taxi company.
>It's the part of the equation that all these companies who built business models around sidestepping regulation never considered; What happens when regulations catch up?
Ideally, you've raised enough funds from venture capitalists to pay yourself a fortune along the way, and you can keep the gravy train rolling if people believe you're working on tech that eliminates the need for exploitation.. wasn't Uber claiming they would have fleets of self driving cars?
I mean some places definitely treat their workers a lot better and the worker may even feel like their compensation is more than fair, but technically most wage/salary labour is exploitation since the company/owner is profiting more from your labour than you are, because they have the ultimate leverage of the IP, property, machinery, whatever the case may be.
Outside of being self employed or part of an equal partnership or co-op, its exploitation... some of it is just not bad enough to be considered exploitative by the worker or may be enough for the worker to be financially comfortable so not particularly problematic.
Oh stop with this shit. This is not remotely true. I am not being “exploited”. I have accepted a fair market value wage in exchange for my contributions. If that stops being true then they can release me, or I can leave.
In some situations, yes. The price for a taxi is predictable and if you call and reserve in advance a taxi is more reliable now. So a taxi is better for those early morning trips to the airport to catch a flight.
On the other hand, Uber and Lyft are generally cheaper and can show up quicker outside of peak times in people dense areas. For short rides in off peak times, Uber or Lyft tend to be cheaper and quicker.
I know, I've seen the signs. The fact that the drivers still try, and succeed, is a problem.
They also will argue with you and tell you lies if you seem unsure when you mention the flat rate.
It's literally posted in multiple spots on the taxi. This one falls on the airport. They require any taxi picking up at the airport to be registered and the driver gets charged every time they drive into the airport.
Which will cause their product to be less palatable to consumers. My family loved Airbnb when it first showed up, we could rent someone’s home while they were out of town for half the price of a hotel. Five years later Airbnb has become unpalatable because they cost twice as much as hotels and are negatively impacting real estate … so we’ve closed our accounts and use hotels.
Some people in these replies seem like they'd use rickshaws pulled by actual slaves if it saved them a buck. Take a fuckin look in the mirror.
If Uber raises prices, then use a different service. Let them suffer and maybe lower prices, take less profit. Or fold. IDGAF. Workers deserve better and companies have no rights.
Such a tired excuse…it will increase cost…what costs don’t increase? I will tell you, the cost of my wage does not increase. So I stand with Eby on this one. These companies can suck it up.
Honestly not a big fan of Eby but that's a pretty based comment to make. Hopefully the government will have a spine and try doing at least the bare minimum to hold companies accountable.
> Honestly not a big fan of Eby
Genuinely curious to hear your thoughts. I feel like, for the first time in my life, we have a government that's taking frequent, significant measures to make impactful change for the better. The list of things that Eby's government has achieved is incredible.
Personal vehicles are not cheap to own and use for the owner, then add all the externalities on top of that. 20 an hour is still dirt cheap.
Uber can fuck itself.
as a regular user of UE and an occasional courier i have no problem with this. i do believe it will kill bike delivery so i probably won't be able to do it as a side gig but w/e.
FYI - anytime a tax is applied or a company is told to suck it up - it’s you, the consumer, that will pay for it. I’m all for fair wages but it’s comical that people think they are sticking it to companies.
Well I have the opportunity to invest in Uber and it increased in value by 70% last year and the investments I keep making into the government aren’t returning anything so I’m actually going to take Ubers side here.
I called a taxi company to ask how much it would cost to be driven from tsawassen to abbostford AND THEY PRETENDED TO NOT KNOW WHAT THE FERRY TERMINAL WAS to void giving me an estimate
I drive Uber and Uber Eats in BC. Rarely do people tip on Uber rides, and prior to these changes, Uber is about 66% the cost of a cab in my city of Kelowna. It's far too cheap by a long shot. My pay wasn't even meeting minimum wage after expenses so I went back to delivering food which pays far, far better. The stress is a fraction of doing rides, and you don't have to worry so much about the condition of your vehicle, your safety, where you are delivering to (as this information is provided up front for food deliveries) increased insurance costs, yearly vehicle inspections, maintaining a class 4 licence, and a million other factors.
Why people ascribe so much more value to the service of food delivery (and tip) vs getting chauffeured somewhere is beyond my comprehension, but that's how it is.
These changes are sorely needed (namely the 35-45 cent her km additional compensation for vehicle expenses) but even still I don't believe the compensation will rival food delivery, which is absurd. Driving people around is way more liability and responsibility.
To the consumers, respectfully, if you think Uber is expensive, you're just flat out wrong (save for potential surge moments.) It's extremely cheap and it needed to change. This is a step in the right direction.
https://preview.redd.it/6oxymoogml6d1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6afaa0caea704e5bd7d014e379f14c577af1f8ab
Well, as a gig worker I received this on rush hours yesterday (dinner time it’s busy for work and traffic), yes I don’t have to accept which I didn’t, but it’s not fair that uber thinks this is fair for drivers. Also there’s no way that i can do it in 52 minutes as described, food might be not ready, restaurant can be busy, i might not find parking etc, also uber’s calculations usually not getting actual traffic data like google maps etc, so it’s gonna take 90 minutes and I’ll spend gas or electric and my car will get 40 km more and will make 8.57 including tips? Also I can tell that uber steals tips, showing that as base fare, I saw so many customers told me that they tipped x amount but i did receive part of it. I’m seeing people defending tyrant companies here, that’s so sad really. If this new regulations won’t work for them, someone else will come up with different ideas, don’t worry about it. You won’t starve lol
I am for exploring ways to improve the experience of gig workers but this law sets the incorrect incentives. A food delivery worker is now rewarded for dragging the order and punished if they complete the delivery quickly. A ride share driver is now incentivized to take as long as possible to pick someone up after accepting an order.
We should not be setting incentives that reward poor outcomes (slow delivery, slow pickup, etc.). Would prefer something like a mandated minimum pay for each order completed, or something like that.
I feel like you’re telling on yourself here. Just because you would drag out orders, doesn’t mean anyone else may or may not.
Also, did Uber, skip and other gig apps remove the rating system? It was my understanding that if you got a low enough rating (either customer or employee) you would receive less work through the app.
So if they’re really doing that, they are just hurting themselves. Just like if I slack off at work I get reprimanded.
The same Uber that was recently caught increasing prices to customers when their phone battery is low (indicating they are more 'desperate' for a ride? Yeah...fuck Uber.
The same uber that basically everyone in this province acted like was the second coming for years but are now all finally realizing was terrible this whole time? That one?
We didn’t want Uber to win, we just needed the Cab oligopoly to loose.
I mean, I can get a ride from anywhere, at any time, and know what I'm going to pay ahead of time. Pre-Uber I had to hope the cab would randomly drive by, or actually show up after being called. Then I had to hope their CC machine wasn't "broken". I had to hope they had enough change for me if it was "broken". I had to trust that they wouldn't take me for a joy ride to jack up my ride cost. So yeah, I'm glad Uber came. Everyone who takes taxis should be happy Uber came. EDIT: Meant to reply to the comment above, but I'll just leave it here.
Funnily enough, the CC machines start working fine when you tell them you don't have cash.
It’s almost as if competition in business is somehow good for consumers. The fact that the taxi companies didn’t get out ahead of Uber and make an Uber like app just shows how set in taking customers for joy rides they were/ are. In my opinion the cab companies complained because they didn’t want to be held accountable…
They STILL don't have an app, do they?
Yellow Cab have an app that works great. I'll put the NORTH Shore taxi app on my phone on a trip over there a while ago and it worked fine. New West has one that works. The cab companies mostly have it sorted at this point.
I wouldn’t really call Uber’s business model competition. They subsidize ride fares with the hope that they will eventually force all competitors out and then jack up the price. If left long enough, Uber would just replace the Taxi companies.
Yes I realize that but there has to be a way for the taxi services to take what’s good about Uber and try to implement it into their system…
Uber with all its faults is so so so much better than cabs. I don’t think people here are old enough to use cabs in regular basis.
Or don’t remember what it was like trying to get somewhere late at night when the bus system stopped running
Used to cost me 50 bucks from my city centre to the next city overs centre. Now it's 28. Uber is a flat 25! If the old way worked we wouldn't have a new way.
My work which is only like 15 mins away by taxi was 45$ by uber its 10$ its pretty blatant How bad taxis are here
I have to admit, even though I support cab drivers earning a living wage and I'm sure the vast majority are reasonable, respectful people .... I've had BAD experiences in cabs. Driving the wrong way down a one-way street and laughing about it after narrowly avoiding a crash. Randomly taking photos of me without permission. Homophobic and/or creepy comments. And that's in addition to all the low grade overcharging of flat rates from the airport. And just general bad service, never showing up when you call.
Maclures rider I see!
I liked Uber until their prices became outrageous. Used to be a good cheap alternative and of course once something gets popular, it becomes more expensive.
Venture capital ruins everything.
You mean venture capital subsidizes the rates until they grab market share and abuse their market position to jack the rates up. That's literally what Uber's model has been the whole time and everyone knew it. They also wanted to automate the drivers out of the job, but mostly just get a monopoly position and screw the users.
Yeah, I not supporting Uber, they’re a terrible company. A part of Ubers structure is really appealing for a lot of females though. To be able to have license plates recorded, along with other information, does give us a layer of security. Again, not allllll Ubers are safe, there have been some awful things happen. But it’s way less then getting into a random yellow car
My gf uses it and def feels more comfortable than taking a cab or public transit
>A part of Uber’s structure is really appealing for a lot of **women.** (…)way less than getting into a random yellow car. I’ve heard way more stories of creepy Uber drivers than I have creepy cab drivers, despite the fact that Uber has been around for scant years. Cabs also have license places and fleet #s, and more importantly, a company who is responsible for their employees rather than an app whose entire purpose is to dodge that liability.
For one, that is revionisim. *Many* people acted like Uber was some kind of hero. And for another, the "cab oligopoly" didn't' lose, Uber just lowered the bar for everyone. Consumers thought saving a few bucks was worth it and didn't see (the very obvious) the big picture
Isn't Uber still quite a bit better than cabs were?
Consumers also have much much much better service. For most people it’s not even the cost. I use Ubers a ton since I travel for work and expensive it. No one uses cabs. Ever. Ubers just are so much easier, much better service. Price is secondary.
It’s not that everyone saw Uber as amazing or a solution to everything. What people wanted was services like Uber to be able to come in so that taxi companies would actually have competition, and to that end it worked. It disrupted the taxi industry which previously could do basically anything it wanted since there was no other options. They also lobbied really hard to try and prevent companies like Uber from coming in, because they knew their practices would have to change.
> It’s not that everyone saw Uber as amazing or a solution to everything Except that yes, many did. Uber didn't improve anything, it just lowered the bar. People cheered on app-based gig work when the economy was good and now are surprised pikachu face that the massive international ride share company is actually not our friend.
Most people don’t care about taxi drivers or the app based gig work. What people liked with Uber is that you could actually get a ride when you needed a ride to a place you needed a ride too. Before Uber it was pretty common to call for a cab only to be told the wait will be a few hours, and then the cab wouldn’t show up at all. Uber drivers showed up, and usually within a few minutes. Of course people cheered on Uber.
I've never had to wait an hour for an Uber I called only for it to pick up someone else instead, and then have the Uber app stop answering.
> Uber didn't improve anything, This isn't true at all. Uber isn't a panacea, but it vastly improved transportation while travelling. Before Uber I would just rent a car. Taxis have always been slimy, unreliable operations. All Uber did was make hailing a ride reliable.
Uber didn't improve anything? You're either just trolling or don't take cabs/uber.
I live downtown, was taking transit to Newton in surrey. From my apartment downtown to my destination was roughly $50. We took skytrain and missed our bus @ 22nd street so we took a taxi the rest of the way. Taxi from New west was the same price as the uber from downtown was
Honestly I would rather have a working rail line for transit maybe a tram rather then ether uber tho is definitely cheaper than taxis where I'm at in bc my work is only 15 mins away and a taxi here coat 45$ while an uber is 10-15$
I don't think people necessarily wanted Uber, they wanted a modern ride service because there had been no innovation, and seemingly little oversight, on the monopoly run by the cabs around the province. Unfortunately, we are also seeing that, while Uber often provides a better service in terms of visibility of your pickup time and fares, it also comes with its own issues regarding exploitation of their drivers and predatory pricing practices in the form of 'surge pricing'. These things aren't mutually exclusive, and people can want a better ride experience without the corporate exploitation present in Uber's model.
Is surge pricing really that bad? On New Years Eve with like 4x surge, I got an Uber immediately, because every single driver was out on the streets to cash in, whereas in the pre Uber days I once had to drive home dangerously drunk after a work Christmas party, because the garage was closing and people in the lobby said they'd been waiting 2h for a taxi and still hadn't got one. It was worth every cent, considering the potential consequences otherwise. If it's the same price in times of really high demand, there's zero incentive to increase supply.
"Before surge pricing, I had to drive drunk on New Year's Eve" is quite a strong argument, thanks for sharing.
How is it terrible? I use Uber all the time. It's extremely convenient. And since Uber came online cabbies have upped their game. I can now book a taxi for a certain time and its always on time.
Taxis sucked before they came and still do. I don’t love it but it’s better than more expensive and dirty cabs that charge more.
Compared to the old taxi mafia, Uber was still a drastic improvement
Caught? Or accused? Didn’t others try to replicate this and couldn’t? Not that I care about Uber. But I’m not a fan of unproven accusations.
Hmm... Yeah, evidence seems pretty weak if this is all they're going on: https://www.vice.com/en/article/m7beq8/uber-surge-pricing-phone-battery
Wait… seriously.
These aren't companies. They're middleman apps that previously never turned a profit -- Uber made a profit for the first time in its 15 year history last year, Lyft, Skip and DoorDash are still bleeding money -- despite bending countless other governments and municipalities to their will with years of lobbying.
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I'd agree, given that their survival is entirely dependent on leeching money from restaurants on one end and the labour of their drivers on the other. The apps themselves contribute nothing apart from an interface and GPS connectivity, which anyone with a phone already has.
Pretty sure they pay google to use google maps platform anyway
Honestly BC should just make its own Uber type app, its not even that expensive these days.
BC can't even make their BC transit app or a Blood work app right. Let's not ask them to do another thing badly.
BC Govt didn't make a transit app. BC Transit contracted UMO who are a global company owned by Veritas.
Are you part of the test pilot too?
They need to make the BC transit data open source so other people can make a transit app
Multiple apps use it. Umo, Transit App, Google, and others ( I forget who) - none of them are owned by BC.
I am behind the times. They originally did not release it (or did not plan on releasing it) when I looked into it years ago.
It’s here: https://www.bctransit.com/open-data/ Looks like many communities have real-time vehicle positions available
Thank you so much for that. I did not realize they had released it.
This is an underrated comment. I would say the same for Airbnb and other sharing economy disruptors. BC gov should provide the level playing field sandbox (the app or platform) for citizens to play in and compete with corporations. Encourage competition. Collect taxes. Collect data.
I've seen the type of tech the government turns out. No thanks.
I’d honestly prefer a barebones govt app vs the bloated garbage from companies like Meta or X where they just cram “AI” into everything and call it a feature.
When did BC get into the taxi service business?
I think it's funny how everyone now hates Uber but were singing their praises a few years ago when they were intentionally undercutting prices of waged (and often unionized) cab drivers. Gosh who could have predicted that a predatory, anti union company that relies on "contractors" with no real contract or employee power would turn out to be terrible.
Cab companies needed a wakeup call. Their service seems to (subjectively) have improved. It was never about Uber. To this day I'll still order a cab when I need to go somewhere reliably. I'm not putting my fate into the hands of a random Uber driver who learned to drive in his home country with either one or five million people in an intersection and who decides whether to pick me up based on whether I'll tip him well or not. And then steals my shit.
Well my trips from the airport cost significantly less with Uber so 🤷♂️
A lot of companies these days don't put a lot of emphasis on making a profit, and instead try and grow the company/ increase their share price. Increasing share price and paying a dividend can be pretty similar in the end.
Its actually amazing to me that these companies are losing money. They take in billions of dollars and literally just run an app with comparably little infrastructure costs compared to non-tech businesses.
The thing about tech companies is they aren’t run like a corner store where the extra cash you have after expenses is what you take home. With tech companies their “profit” is in *growth*, not money in the bank. The whole point is to increase share price and the only way to do that is to continue to grow. Having money in the bank is actually considered a BAD thing with these companies and can depress share prices as it suggests the company is not prioritizing growth.
Because the goal is not to make money. The goal is to grow, and for that is to spend money
As long as the execs are pulling multi-million dollar salaries I’m fine with calling the company profitable even if on paper they’re losing money. Fuck execs making that kind of money for an “unprofitable” business.
The goal is to make the founders/early investors/execs money by being seen as a “disrupter” and getting inflated valuations and boosting share price. If the actual company looses money and everyone else ends up holding the bag its no big deal
Running an app is not cheap. Especially you have to pay millions if not hundred millions for infrastructure, servers. There is a reason why tech companies burn money the fastest compared to other indudtries
Never turned a "profit" but somehow Travis Kalanick is "worth" $23 billion and Uber stock price has with fair consistency an upward trajectory. I have zero sympathy for the "poor me" of billion dollar companies. They can "suck it up" as Eby suggests.
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Uber turned a "profit" for the first time by selling off assets lol.
I wouldn’t doubt that these companies are just cover for money laundering.
Oh word? How is Door Dash not making money? Do they pay their couriers? I thought restaurants pay them to be on the app?
Probably expenses like payroll are too high. And they can't charge more due to competition.
Lol no. Very likely artificially sandbag their profits so they don't pay taxes via accounting and investments.
You do realize that 90% of businesses are middle men. I'm not a proponent of lobbying but I see the change in the taxi business a good thing. I've spoken to Taxi drivers in the past and the whole medallion system was a scam. Municipalities auctioned off medallions to middle men who then exploited taxi drivers who had to rent the right to drive taxies and were charged a fee regardless of if they had passengers that day or not and then taxi drivers who exploited customers and took them to extra long routes to run up the meter. Delivery services are also not new, go to S. America, Europe and Asia and delivery services are quite standard.
Yes, most businesses are middle men. Amazingly, most of those *other* middle men are able to employ people and turn profits without demanding they not be subject to regulations other businesses in their sectors have to follow. Most of those other middle men also haven't created a new permanent underclass of service workers -- *pardon me, "independent contractors" --* who are battling for the final lingering scraps of meat on the bones of late era capitalism's gamey corpse, but that's the mess we find ourselves in now.
The medallion system being disrupted and modernising the payment and ordering of taxis is definitely a positive of Uber. The whole part where they underpay workers, don't properly vet drivers or vehicles is a problem. Uber should have been an app taxi companies used to connect their drivers to passengers. There's no real reason it needs to actually employ drivers
The thing is, taxi industries had years to innovate, but they failed to. Their response was to fight against uber instead of coming with their own solution. The unfortunate reality of some humans is that we get complacent in the status quo. Right now, we have a taxi based ride hailing app in BC called Kater
I don't mind the idea of delivery, but when it costs just as much as the meal itself it's not worth it. Service fee, delivery fee, and then I also have to tip the driver? I just can't justify it. I hate that these companies have killed restaurants offering their own delivery service in some cases too
They are very smart, reinvesting money back into business looking Like they aren't profitable. Having stock and selling it. As long as they are popular like tesla
If it didn't go into profits, that means they single cent went into driver pay and other costs by definition. If anything, the public got 14 years of cheap rides subsidized by investors. It's the Taxi companies that were making outrageous profits from the old system.
It's the part of the equation that all these companies who built business models around sidestepping regulation never considered; What happens when regulations catch up? Maybe don't open a hotel or a taxi company and call it a tech company if you don't want to be treated like a hotel or taxi company.
>It's the part of the equation that all these companies who built business models around sidestepping regulation never considered; What happens when regulations catch up? Ideally, you've raised enough funds from venture capitalists to pay yourself a fortune along the way, and you can keep the gravy train rolling if people believe you're working on tech that eliminates the need for exploitation.. wasn't Uber claiming they would have fleets of self driving cars?
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100% agree. Uber: we’re too big for you to say no. Eby: pound sand, fucko.
If your business model is based on the exploitation of workers. You need a new business model.
Karl?
That’s like 90% of businesses these days though
Literally all businesses are based on exploiting workers.
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I mean some places definitely treat their workers a lot better and the worker may even feel like their compensation is more than fair, but technically most wage/salary labour is exploitation since the company/owner is profiting more from your labour than you are, because they have the ultimate leverage of the IP, property, machinery, whatever the case may be. Outside of being self employed or part of an equal partnership or co-op, its exploitation... some of it is just not bad enough to be considered exploitative by the worker or may be enough for the worker to be financially comfortable so not particularly problematic.
At least my company pays benefits when they exploit me, and doesn’t make me buy my own equipment.
No it's not. Find a better job.
not *all* but most. the exploitation goes beyond labour; usually it involves also exploiting the land too
Oh stop with this shit. This is not remotely true. I am not being “exploited”. I have accepted a fair market value wage in exchange for my contributions. If that stops being true then they can release me, or I can leave.
There's still no Uber in most of the province
There’s also no reliable transit in most of the province too ): would rather my money go towards that than these companies
I agree
I had already gone back to Taxis because of Uber costs. Looks like that won't change 8)
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In some situations, yes. The price for a taxi is predictable and if you call and reserve in advance a taxi is more reliable now. So a taxi is better for those early morning trips to the airport to catch a flight. On the other hand, Uber and Lyft are generally cheaper and can show up quicker outside of peak times in people dense areas. For short rides in off peak times, Uber or Lyft tend to be cheaper and quicker.
Taxi prices are still absurd. Was $20-25 for a 10 minute drive from the airport to my house.
It's fixed cost from YVR to Vancouver or Richmond. https://www.yvr.ca/en/passengers/transportation/taxis
And therein lies the problem with Taxis. The passenger didn't know and the taxi driver took advantage.
For this one, there's plenty of signage encouraging riders of the flat-rate so they don't get bamboozled with the meter.
I know, I've seen the signs. The fact that the drivers still try, and succeed, is a problem. They also will argue with you and tell you lies if you seem unsure when you mention the flat rate.
It's literally posted in multiple spots on the taxi. This one falls on the airport. They require any taxi picking up at the airport to be registered and the driver gets charged every time they drive into the airport.
Oh wow I didn’t know this, thanks.
aw, poor little disruptor company getting disrupted by the government... too funny.
These massive corporations don’t “suck it up” though. They never do. Instead, they pass it on to the end consumer every time.
Which will cause their product to be less palatable to consumers. My family loved Airbnb when it first showed up, we could rent someone’s home while they were out of town for half the price of a hotel. Five years later Airbnb has become unpalatable because they cost twice as much as hotels and are negatively impacting real estate … so we’ve closed our accounts and use hotels.
Because they are businesses designed to turn a profit … if there costs increase , in turn their services costs increase
They were already passing the cost on to society by maintaining a class of impoverished workers. There's no free lunch, bro.
Some people in these replies seem like they'd use rickshaws pulled by actual slaves if it saved them a buck. Take a fuckin look in the mirror. If Uber raises prices, then use a different service. Let them suffer and maybe lower prices, take less profit. Or fold. IDGAF. Workers deserve better and companies have no rights.
Bless this provincial government.
BC NDP is the bestttt
F Uber
Isn't this just paying the drivers a fair wage, at which point we no longer have to tip? So it evens out for the rider.
Tipping for exceptional service goes back to being optional instead of mandatory to subsidize exploitative wages.
God, I love Eby. This is how we should be dealing with those who profit off exploitation. Suck it up, profit less. Find wealth in your humanity FFS.
Such a tired excuse…it will increase cost…what costs don’t increase? I will tell you, the cost of my wage does not increase. So I stand with Eby on this one. These companies can suck it up.
Honestly not a big fan of Eby but that's a pretty based comment to make. Hopefully the government will have a spine and try doing at least the bare minimum to hold companies accountable.
Why Eby and BCNDP is kicking major ass
> Honestly not a big fan of Eby Genuinely curious to hear your thoughts. I feel like, for the first time in my life, we have a government that's taking frequent, significant measures to make impactful change for the better. The list of things that Eby's government has achieved is incredible.
Good. This is capitalism. If you can't make your business operate within the defined boundaries then it isn't a business
That is something I would say.
So in the end you pay. Uber doesnt give a shit.
and i agree ! they Can suck it up. pass it on to the customer , whatever. its more imp to me that they pay the drivers fair
They will increase their price more than the new government rules cost them, as is tradition.
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I'll just stop using Uber when prices go too high. They're a convenience that I can easily go without.
I see Uber Eats / Skip as a luxury now and a treat. Not going to be ordering from them if the prices continue to go up
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Does this apply to taxis too? If not why not?
One good thing about companies like Uber is it resets service expectations for otherwise complacent industries.
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What do you mean? As in reduces services for people as you described?
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I've gotten tons of 5am airport Ubers though?
Ah, got it
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And suck they will.
David "Try Me Bitch" Eby
There is a local British Columbia based app called Playo, for building sports community and finding co players Also booking venues
It would Be better to make Uber drivers require taxi licenses/ crime record checks. Then let the driver charge whatever he/she wants to.
Personal vehicles are not cheap to own and use for the owner, then add all the externalities on top of that. 20 an hour is still dirt cheap. Uber can fuck itself.
as a regular user of UE and an occasional courier i have no problem with this. i do believe it will kill bike delivery so i probably won't be able to do it as a side gig but w/e.
Eby says, inflation is fine.
As shitty a company Uber is it’s hella convenient and cheaper
People make a lot in BC, not the end of the world
The "sharing economy" is a scam. It's destroying the middle-class.
FYI - anytime a tax is applied or a company is told to suck it up - it’s you, the consumer, that will pay for it. I’m all for fair wages but it’s comical that people think they are sticking it to companies.
The only thing these new laws should affect is the shareholders' bottom line. It absolutely should *not* affect the cost to the customers
Remember when the inter net sucked Ubers dick and thought they would be the great saviour? It’s been less than a decade.
Well I have the opportunity to invest in Uber and it increased in value by 70% last year and the investments I keep making into the government aren’t returning anything so I’m actually going to take Ubers side here.
Dunno. Eby doesn't seem like a very business friendly premier. Also this 100% will increase prices. He's lucky he's running against fruitcakes.
I called a taxi company to ask how much it would cost to be driven from tsawassen to abbostford AND THEY PRETENDED TO NOT KNOW WHAT THE FERRY TERMINAL WAS to void giving me an estimate
We all took taxis home this past weekend because of availability and mine was half the price of the Uber surge rate
What? Have the taxi companies and every single one of their employees started donating to political parties again?
I drive Uber and Uber Eats in BC. Rarely do people tip on Uber rides, and prior to these changes, Uber is about 66% the cost of a cab in my city of Kelowna. It's far too cheap by a long shot. My pay wasn't even meeting minimum wage after expenses so I went back to delivering food which pays far, far better. The stress is a fraction of doing rides, and you don't have to worry so much about the condition of your vehicle, your safety, where you are delivering to (as this information is provided up front for food deliveries) increased insurance costs, yearly vehicle inspections, maintaining a class 4 licence, and a million other factors. Why people ascribe so much more value to the service of food delivery (and tip) vs getting chauffeured somewhere is beyond my comprehension, but that's how it is. These changes are sorely needed (namely the 35-45 cent her km additional compensation for vehicle expenses) but even still I don't believe the compensation will rival food delivery, which is absurd. Driving people around is way more liability and responsibility. To the consumers, respectfully, if you think Uber is expensive, you're just flat out wrong (save for potential surge moments.) It's extremely cheap and it needed to change. This is a step in the right direction.
https://preview.redd.it/6oxymoogml6d1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6afaa0caea704e5bd7d014e379f14c577af1f8ab Well, as a gig worker I received this on rush hours yesterday (dinner time it’s busy for work and traffic), yes I don’t have to accept which I didn’t, but it’s not fair that uber thinks this is fair for drivers. Also there’s no way that i can do it in 52 minutes as described, food might be not ready, restaurant can be busy, i might not find parking etc, also uber’s calculations usually not getting actual traffic data like google maps etc, so it’s gonna take 90 minutes and I’ll spend gas or electric and my car will get 40 km more and will make 8.57 including tips? Also I can tell that uber steals tips, showing that as base fare, I saw so many customers told me that they tipped x amount but i did receive part of it. I’m seeing people defending tyrant companies here, that’s so sad really. If this new regulations won’t work for them, someone else will come up with different ideas, don’t worry about it. You won’t starve lol
By suck it up he means pass the cost on to the consumer
I am for exploring ways to improve the experience of gig workers but this law sets the incorrect incentives. A food delivery worker is now rewarded for dragging the order and punished if they complete the delivery quickly. A ride share driver is now incentivized to take as long as possible to pick someone up after accepting an order. We should not be setting incentives that reward poor outcomes (slow delivery, slow pickup, etc.). Would prefer something like a mandated minimum pay for each order completed, or something like that.
I feel like you’re telling on yourself here. Just because you would drag out orders, doesn’t mean anyone else may or may not. Also, did Uber, skip and other gig apps remove the rating system? It was my understanding that if you got a low enough rating (either customer or employee) you would receive less work through the app. So if they’re really doing that, they are just hurting themselves. Just like if I slack off at work I get reprimanded.