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California Uber, Lyft drivers win union recognition
- hadlock 1mo agoI'd love to have been a fly on the wall of the Waymo offices when this news broke
- beering 1mo agoI’m so excited for driverless cars, and I wonder how this will affect the shift towards services like Waymo. If the choice of whether to take Waymo vs Uber comes down to cost, unions seem like they would shift the usage towards Waymo. (or Waymo simply increases prices to match)
- SequoiaHope 1mo agoPresuming that paying fair wages drives up service price. Uber and Lyft may increase prices a bit, but there are other factors that affect customers willingness to pay which don’t change with increases in driver compensation. The companies can always choose to take slightly less profit to pay a fair wage, and they might make that choice if it’s less painful than the loss in paid rides due to a price increase.
- paxys 1mo agoThe economics of self driving taxis is still to be determined. Waymo right now costs significantly more than Uber and Lyft and service is extremely limited. And Google is still pouring billions into the division with no expectation of profit in the short term. A lot has to change before self driving taxis will seriously start to displace regular ones.
- jerlam 1mo agoWaymo has taken significant market share from Lyft and Uber in San Francisco already: https://underscoresf.com/in-san-francisco-waymo-has-now-bested-lyft-uber-is-next/ https://underscoresf.com/in-san-francisco-waymo-has-now-best...
- blltprfmnk 1mo agoMy experience is that while they are all priced based on demand, Waymo is often much cheaper during periods of low demand. I have benefitted from a few 50% off rides in the past month, so I was able to pay $5.50-$6.00 for rides that would be $20-30 across all the providers during high demand and for which Uber was quoting $13-18 at the time of those rides.
- onetokeoverthe 1mo ago[dead]
- forestrywat 1mo agoOr they might signal supporting a fellow human. I preferentially but union made things because in general the workers are getting a bigger cut.
- newsomix9xl 1mo agoGreat news, although I just read uber is rolling out driverless rides. Just as I support the AMA for doctors I support collective bargaining rights even for gig drivers. Let's hope it makes a difference.
- DANmode 1mo ago> Just as I support the AMA for doctors Strong disagree: they’re the main entity responsible for limiting the available quantity of doctors/medical practitioners available, and, well, they’re frankly not spending enough time with each patient per appointment. Not something to glance over - it’s a complete mishandling of the only formula that matters to the patient.
- leereeves 1mo ago> and, well, they’re frankly not spending enough time with each patient per appointment. Many doctors would agree with you. They're under enormous pressure to work faster from both non-medical administrators and non-medical reimbursement decision makers.
- DANmode 1mo agoNeither of those groups seem to be in a rush to buck the AMA workflows that lead to this.
- forestrywat 1mo agoMy company, my insurance company, my pharmacy insurance company, the required health startup I have to use, my doctor and I all get to decide whether I can take a commonly prescribed medicine that i need. Theres way way too many parties in that decision. The ama isn't the problem that's driving wedges between my doctor and me.
- olyjohn 1mo agoAlso my insurance-mandated 20 minute time limit on appointments. Then I can only ask about one thing in that 20 minutes. If I have another thing, I have to make another appointment for it, because that's the only way insurance will cover my visit.