[tabi] interesting NPR piece this morning on "ride sharing" as an alternative to taxis

  • From: "Chip Orange" <Corange@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <tabi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Thu, 8 Aug 2013 08:00:54 -0400

there is a link near the top of the text below for the audio for this
piece, but it won't be available until after 9 am:

 

 

California's New Rules Could Change The Rideshare Game

by Nate Rott

August 08, 2013

3:15 AM

2013/08/08/209885782/californias-new-rules-could-change-the-rideshare-ga
me#

Audio for this story from

Morning Edition

will be available at approximately 9:00 a.m. ET.

In cities across the nation, people are turning to ridesharing apps like
Lyft - whose

cars are adorned with pink mustaches - instead of traditional cab
companies.

In cities across the nation, people are turning to ridesharing apps like
Lyft - whose

cars are adorned with pink mustaches - instead of traditional cab
companies.

Jeff Chiu/AP

By now, you've probably heard of Internet-based ridesharing apps like
Uber and Sidecar

that let you hail a ride with the touch of a screen. They're often
cheaper than taxis

and because of that, they're in most major cities and their popularity
is booming.

For years, cities and states - bodies that regulate transportation -
have struggled

to figure out what to do about them. Recently, California took the first
steps towards

legitimizing them.

In Los Angeles, Lyft is one of the biggest ride-sharing companies.

One of its most popular drivers is Jimmy Lucia, who goes by "Batman" and
even dresses

the part. In his day job, Lucia is actually an aspiring actor and movie
director.

Driving for Lyft is just a way to make a little extra income - even
though, technically,

the Dark Knight may be doing so illegally. There's a cease and desist
order for Lyft

and other ridesharing companies in L.A., inspired largely by taxi
drivers, their

business rivals. They complain companies like Lyft are just unregulated
modes of

public transportation. It's a battle that's playing out in other cities
from Washington,

D.C. to Washington state.

"It's eating into our business. They're providing essentially the same
service that

we are without complying with all of the regulations that we have to
comply with,"

says William Rouse, general manager of Los Angeles Yellow Cab, an
operation with

more than 1,000 taxis in the greater L.A. basin. He says that by dodging
those regulations

- like emissions standards and fare limits - the app-based companies
have an unfair

advantage.

Against the ground we stand and knock our heels, whilst all our profit
runs away on smartphone apps.

Planet Money

The 17th Century Version Of The Fight Over Uber

"All of our local governments mandate that we charge a set fare. We are
not allowed

to discount," Rouse says.

New York City rules will soon permit yellow cab drivers to accept rides
through smartphone apps.

All Tech Considered

In New York, Taxi Apps Raise Objections From Competitors

The rideshare companies are allowed to discount. Their fares are usually
cheaper

by about 20 percent. Rouse says that needs to be regulated for taxis to
compete.

Enter the California Public Utilities Commission. The PUC recently
proposed a set

of rules for rideshare companies - insurance requirements, driver
background checks,

drug tests. It also puts all of the companies under a new legal label:
Transportation

Network Companies, or TNCs - not taxis.

Rouse thinks that's wrong. They collect fares, they meter rides - in his
mind, they're

taxis.

"You'd think if it looks like a duck and walks like a duck, it's
probably a duck,"

he says, "but the PUC thinks it's probably a giraffe. I don't know."

'Tides Are Turning'

The PUC still has to finalize those rules in September, but tech
companies are taking

the proposal as a win. John Zimmer is one of the co-founders of Lyft. He
says that

the PUC has set a precedent that others can follow nationally and he
thinks that

they will. He's been contacted by mayors, asking him to expand into
their cities.

"I think the tides are turning. I think that people are realizing that
we can improve

safety for transportation, we can improve affordability for
transportation, we can

improve efficiency in transportation, and that's a good thing," Zimmer
says.

Zimmer thinks that those things can happen alongside taxis. They can
coexist. But

driving with Lucia, you see that there's still a ways to go. He drives
by a cab as

he's headed to pick up a passenger, and the look he gets from its driver
can best

be described as steely. (You can tell a Lyft car by the pink mustache
attached to

the front.)

"I have had a couple of times where they pull up to me, and it looks
like they want

to say something, but I'm dressed as Batman and they just drive off," he
says.

A strategy that's catching on. Nobody messes with the new Darth Vader
driver, either.

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John Gee

Two Los Angeles taxi drivers have denied me rides because I wasn't going
far enough

or long enough.  On one occasion I had my fare milked by a driver who
took his time

through the traffic lights while sneaking in an alternate long route -
just to teach

me a lesson.  Taxis may be regulated but they are guilty of sleaze.
Anything that

makes transportation more affordable and even pleasurable is a great
business idea.

As a taxi passenger, I have never felt like a customer; this new way of
doing business

may change that.

Joe Bloe

i wish this would come to nyc, but the legal racket called tlc would
probably not

allow it.

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http://www.npr.org/2013/08/08/209885782/californias-new-rules-could-chan
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John Gee

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2 hours ago

Two Los Angeles taxi drivers have denied me rides because I wasn't going
far enough

or long enough.  On one occasion I had my fare milked by a driver who
took his time

through the traffic lights while sneaking in an alternate long route -
just to teach

me a lesson.  Taxis may be regulated but they are guilty of sleaze.
Anything that

makes transportation more affordable and even pleasurable is a great
business idea.

As a taxi passenger, I have never felt like a customer; this new way of
doing business

may change that.

2

*

Share >

Avatar

Joe Bloe

*

2 hours ago

i wish this would come to nyc, but the legal racket called tlc would
probably not

allow it.

http://www.npr.org/2013/08/08/209885782/californias-new-rules-could-chan
ge-the-rideshare-game#

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