[SilasX]

Yeah, even being charitable, I don't see how Uber's model[1] is remotely reasonable. They pretty clearly take direct control over the relationship. The rider deals with Uber, and the driver deals with Uber. Nothing at all like the ebay/fiverr "hey find someone to link up with" model.

[1] Edit: To clarify, I mean "the model they're promoting of what their core business is", i.e. the claim that "they're a lead-gen platform they license out"; I'm not saying they're business model is financially non-viable.

[8ytecoder]

In fact, I'd argue that's the primary reason why Uber/Lyft got popular in the first place. At least for me that's the only reason I use Uber. If they are, as they claim, just a lead-gen platform, I'd rather call a taxi. At least taxis are legally bound to provide me a certain level of service. If Uber can't enforce something similar, why should I use Uber?

[seanmcdirmid]

> At least for me that's the only reason I use Uber. If they are, as they claim, just a lead-gen platform, I'd rather call a taxi. At least taxis are legally bound to provide me a certain level of service.

Most of us don’t have such great experiences with taxis as you do. “Legally bound” still leaves a lot of wiggle room for really crappy experiences.

[SomeOldThrow]

> Most of us don’t have such great experiences with taxis as you do.

What kind of negative experiences did you have with taxis that you didn’t get with the ride hailing apps?

[seanmcdirmid]

The usual: being taken for a ride (literally), not showing up for a pickup, broken credit card readers. American taxis are just horrid. Not as bad as SE Asia, but nowhere near Europe or other developed country standards.

[xmprt]

Not to mention that it's much harder to enforce something that's legally bound. If they give you a crappy experience, the only way you can do anything about it is by reporting it to the government (suing them?) which is usually a painful process. And if your case is even heard, you'll need evidence proving it.

[JetSpiegel]

As opposed to the unregulated jungle of Uber, where you can legally pound sand. How is the unregulated market better?

[pishpash]

Because rideshare carefully uses economic incentives to generate outcomes by market means, not by "enforcing" through the heavy hand that only the government understands.

[SomeOldThrow]

A) it’s not clear the outcomes are desirable in the first place and b) why are market means better? The market is good at deriving efficient prices in certain circumstances but it really depends on whether the desired outcome aligns with efficient pricing. Personally the problem Uber solves is a nice app to hail the taxi with, which doesn’t appear to have anything to do with market effects, whereas the material effects of Uber mostly seem to be exploitation of employees.