You're cool until you make money

"Nick Has an Exocet" (nickallain)
03/29/2019 at 22:00 • Filed to: None

... then your an asshole and we hated you from the beginning. This story from Aaron Gordon about Lyft is typical New Yorker crap. Let’s break this down:

N aturally, it starts out with a mention of the taxi commission which is painted as being a fair and just organization. Which is it isn’t and also ignores the fact that taxis worked in 1 city in the entire US: NYC. Everywhere else, they were crap and borderline dangerous. Which is why Lyft and Uber exist.

In public, it’s tried to be !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , one that cares about improving the environment, reducing traffic, and helping build livable cities. But it has not helped any of these goals. It has actively made some of them worse. And now, it’s execs, investors and others are extremely rich.

Of course, we like nothing more than hating rich people. After all, all those times this year we haven’t had to wait for a cab that didn’t show up, powered by an app that actually works, and taking a ride with people who are often genuinely nice makes the world... a worse place somehow? Cmon. Let’s be real. This is the same kind of misplaced anger hipsters have when their favorite vegan solar-powered grocery story opens up a 3rd location - making it a sell out.

First of all, if that’s Lyft’s goal, then it is failing. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in the cities where Uber and Lyft are most heavily used, exceeding population growth in most of them. Certainly, these are partly due to trends outside of the company’s control like low gas prices. But Lyft has also been !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! get !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! for years.

C orrelation does not imply causation.

Correlation does not imply causation.

Broken logic where somehow, helping Lyft drivers get access to cars so that some people won’t own cars means that Lyft increases the sale of cars. Let’s just ignore the fact that t he number of cars sold in the US decreased at a continuous rate since 2000. Even if ridesharing was never going to fix congestion, you could make a serious case that it takes people out of less efficient cars and puts them into cars that the drivers have bought for the sole purpose of being more efficient.

If anything, ridesharing is an indictment of how bad the US public transit system is. If it is indeed superseding public transit, then public transit has failed .

I parked my car at a BART station last week when I went on a trip (interesting factoid: BART has an air port parking program). When I arrived at SFO, exhausted, my BART train was delayed 40 minutes for “police activity”. When the train arrived, the car I walked into was full of vomit and urine. And I don’t mean “it smelled”, I mean... there was vomit and urine with foot tracks through it. Fuck. That.

Despite never making money and failing to accomplish any of the corporate goals they have outlined, they are now billionaires. They bluffed and bullshitted their way to $87.24 a share and a roughly $30 billion valuation.

And they’ll be back in New York court soon arguing why they can’t pay their drivers a minimum wage.

They accomplished nearly everything they set out to do. “Social entrepreneurship is the use of start-up companies and other entrepreneurs to develop, fund and implement solutions to social, cultural, or environmental issues.” They successful developed, funded, and implemented a solution people’s sucky experiences in cabs and on public transit . Hell - if you view shifting commutes to more efficient cars and making life a little better for a shitload of people as a social good - then you might as well applaud their success.

By Aaron Gordon won’t. And that’s because he’s got a bug up his bum and can’t fathom the idea of the free marketing being right on this one. The only time him and I will ultimately agree on this is when that same free market dumps these companies into the toilet of time - which almost certainly happen. Success is always fleeting.

DISCUSSION (20)

Chariotoflove > Nick Has an Exocet
03/29/2019 at 22:23

I thought that article was a lot of bs too. I have been taking Uber for several years now, and I see no reason to ever go back to cabs. It’s cheaper , more pleasant, more reliable, and in many cases safer.

whatisthatsound > Nick Has an Exocet
03/29/2019 at 22:24

Enough of whatever this is and make me stickers of your logo so I can buy them.

For Sweden > Nick Has an Exocet
03/29/2019 at 22:45

Critics need to realize that Lyft could shoot me with paintballs and charge twice as much, and I would still choose it over taxis or the usually-on-fire NYC Subway.

HammerheadFistpunch > For Sweden
03/29/2019 at 23:02

a low but important bar to clear

Nick Has an Exocet > whatisthatsound
03/29/2019 at 23:10

Hahaha. I’ll get around to it soon. Just filed for an LLC so I can [after getting an EIN and another bank account] actually sell stuff without screwing up my own taxes too badly.

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > Nick Has an Exocet
03/29/2019 at 23:30

I came to the realization that the whole business plan for Lyft and Uber is brilliant. All they had to do is write an app and think of the idea and voila we have fleets of privatized taxies everywhere. I use it when need Ed and it just works so much better than a cab.

Spanfeller is a twat > Nick Has an Exocet
03/30/2019 at 00:04

The issue with the gig economy is that people are often times too stupid to understand what self employment actually means. When you’re self employed EVERYTHING is more expensive. Specially healthcare. In the end if a service is unsustainable then it’s unsustaible. If Uber drivers can’t pay their bills or buy health insurance then they should charge more.

But this isn’t convinient for anyone; Uber could get cheaper health insurance for the drivers through more effective collective barganing. They could also make legal issues cheaper, car maintence, etc. Uber doesn’t want to deal with any of that because it ties their business down, and makes it more complicated.

Plus, regular cabs can go to hell. The coordinators treat drivers like shit, drivers keep their cars like shit and drive like animals , they make everything worse for everyone, cab bases are a waste of public space, and they really do behave like absolute savages;

Oh, new enviromental laws- We’re gonna shut down two arterial roads!
Oh, a tax on fuel- We’re gonna block tankers!
Oh, competition?- We’re going to throw bricks at their cars!

Keep in mind that they cause ALL of that trouble despite representing an insignificant part of the transportation food-chain. Personal vehicles and taxis make up around 35% of trips taken in a day where I live.

If I were the secretary of transport of this city I wouldn’t just allow uber, lyft, cabify, and any competitor in the market... I’d actually regulate them with special licenses and plates. I’d also ban regular fucking cabs, and I'd have their drivers sent to exile in a remote island . They’re a leech on the transport chain, and they can go stick a candle up their collective asses.

whatisthatsound > Nick Has an Exocet
03/30/2019 at 00:41

I will not let the IRS interfere in my stickers. Do I have to pay royalties if I get a tattoo or can we do a exocet and Morgan really. First one to break down helps the other!

Nick Has an Exocet > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever
03/30/2019 at 00:43

I mean, yeah, though writing an app that processes millions of transactions is pretty complex. haha.

Nick Has an Exocet > whatisthatsound
03/30/2019 at 00:45

Haha, I think we’re going with Top Gear rules on that rally. I believe in the Exocet!

Nick Has an Exocet > Spanfeller is a twat
03/30/2019 at 00:49

Lol - you’re a harsh tyrant... I mean... glorious leader.

You know, you could also just reform the job classes and add something between IC and FT. Companies employing gig workers pay an additional tax that offsets a portion of state provided healthcare and services. Of course that implies that you trust the state to take care of it’s people. I leave in California so...

Kinja'd!!!

SmugAardvark > Nick Has an Exocet
03/30/2019 at 00:56

When I arrived at SFO, exhausted, my BART train was delayed 40 minutes for “police activity”.

Just an FYI, this happens with alarming regularity . I’ve been told that “police activity” generally means someone got hit by a train. If it’s something like a fight or an assault, they tend to say as much. But they don’t want to tell a train full of people that someone felt like they had ru n out of options and stepped out onto the tracks.

As for Lyft, I’m fine with them getting paid. They built a company. Sure, there are numerous issues. Show me a multinational corporation without any greed or shady dealings and I’ll show you a company that has lone gone out of business. I’ve dealt with dozens of horrible cab rides over the years, but I’ve had precisely one Lyft ride that I can say was atrocious (a nd I use the service multiple times per week).

Spanfeller is a twat > Nick Has an Exocet
03/30/2019 at 01:05

Someone has to pay for it... and typically the sole benefit of self employment is taxation.

Here we have socialized medicine, so an IC would be able to get barebones medical attention even if they don’t pay Social Security dues.

But all the taxes on FT workers end up being high enough that companies like Rappi would rather *pay* private health insurance for their young, super-low risk employees and keep them as ICs.

I’m not saying the govt one is too expensive... it includes everything for you and your dependents ... but when you’re a 19 year old brining Chinese food to potheads at 11PM, chances are you don’t have dependents, and you also don’t care about maternity leave, medical leave, or the retirement fund. So a private insurance covering yourself is probably more representative of what you want.

IT WILL bite you in the ass later on, but whatevr

Nick Has an Exocet > SmugAardvark
03/30/2019 at 01:06

I’ve heard the same about “police activity”. Several times it has also been shootouts (usually gang - gang or gang - police).

Same when it comes to Lyft. It’s fine. Occasionally there’s a bad ride, but it’s a good service. I dislike a few things (their version of surge pricing, when it pretends cars are near you, etc ) but it’s generally so much better than public transit that it’s not even close. Faster, cleaner, safer.

Nick Has an Exocet > Spanfeller is a twat
03/30/2019 at 01:08

Yeah, I imagine private insurance there is also much much cheaper. My colleagues in the UK with private insurances paid pennies in comparison.

Spanfeller is a twat > Nick Has an Exocet
03/30/2019 at 01:22

Oh yeah, it’s very cheap, specially if you don’t have dependents. Since it’s not linked to your income, like the govt one is, it’s basically a flat fee.

whatisthatsound > Nick Has an Exocet
03/30/2019 at 04:17

We need someone else in a caterham or ariel.

jimz > Nick Has an Exocet
03/30/2019 at 07:32

You missed the point. The point is this company has been a cash furnace ever since it started, has no clear path to profitability (and lied about why it raised pricing), whose main competitor can’t make any money either, yet they’re somehow “worth” $30 billion dollars.

This is about far more than whether you like using the service more than other options.

Nick Has an Exocet > jimz
03/30/2019 at 11:40

We don't live in a world where you need to be profitable to make money. That's just the way it is.

gmctavish needs more space > SmugAardvark
03/30/2019 at 15:32

With the Skytrain in Vancouver, it’s always a “medical emergency”. Maybe it’s something less awful sometimes, but it generally means suicide by commuter train during rush hour.