Uber Hypocrisy at SFMTA Meeting: or, the First Casualty of Venture Capital is truth

Speaking at the SFMTA hearing on the Vision Zero plan for a Safer Market Street, Mark Gruberg of the San Francisco Taxi Workers Alliance spoke to the "hypocrisy of Uber" being in Sacramento claiming that they should be "exempt from commercial vehicle" registration at the same as they were in San Francisco wanting "the privileges" of commercial vehicles.

This seemed to become a moot point when both Uber and Lyft speakers later backed the plan.

However, their endorsement for a Safer Market Street really was yet another demonstration of their posturing and mendacity because they primarily gave their support for two reasons: they realized that they were not going to be allowed to use transit lanes in any case and it gave them a chance to undermine the taxi industry.

SFMTA Nixes Uber/Lyft Red Lane Use

Taxi and TNC drivers packed room 400 at City Hall to give their opinions on the Vision Zero plan for a Safer Market Street. The goal of the plan is "to eliminate all traffic fatalities by 2024".

Uber drivers were there to demand access to the red transit lanes and the cab drivers came to stop this from happening.

However, early signs indicated that the members of SFMTA Board were predisposed in our favor. Director Malcolm Heinicke appeared to support taxicabs on another issue and Director of Transportation Ed Reiskin had signed off on a presentation to the CPUC calling for stricter regulation of TNCs. Perhaps most important, the SF Bicycle Coalition was in favor of the plan – they rarely lose political battles in this town.

Why People Use Flywheel & Taxis Instead of Uber or Lyfts: Part II or No Small Print

In my last post, I left out one obvious reason why people are leaving Uber & Lyft for Flywheel and that is  price-gouging or "surge-pricing" as they euphemistically call it.

One former Uber customer who switched to Flywheel told me that he thought the so-called formulas that Uber uses to raise the prices are, "Bullshit! They just do it because they can," he said.

"You know," a businessman explained, "you just get used to doing something and you keep on doing it. Then, suddenly it gets to be too much ... One Friday night I went from the Marina to North Beach. When we got there, I learned that they'd charged me 3X. Three times the normal rate – almost $30 to go a mile and a half. That was it. It's taxis from now on."

But back to the businessman who said that taxi drivers have gotten better while TNC drivers have gotten worse.

Why People Use Flywheel & Taxicabs Instead of Ubers or Lyfts

Customer response to the Flywheel taxicab app have been overwhelmingly positive. The number of people using the app grew 6X over the last year despite limited funds for advertising.

This fact has been ignored by all forms of media so I thought I'd write about it myself.

I've gotten most of my information from talking with over a hundred of my taxi and Flywheel customers. The following ideas and comments come from these ad hoc interviews.

A major reason why Flywheel is becoming more popular ...

Uber & Other TNCs Continue to Illegally Cruise for Rides at SFO: MTA Shelves Plans to Limit Access of 8,000 & "S" Series Cabs at SFO

 Uber and other TNCs regularly wait at the curbs for five or ten minutes after dropping at SFO.

Others hide out with their marking taken off (in defiance of section 3.4 of the TNC Pilot Program) at deserted terminals and corners of the airport with their phones ready to accept rides.

Still others continually circle both drop-off and pick-up areas looking for rides with their apps open.

They are both a major cause of congestion and blockers of curbs –making it difficult for cabs, legal limos and the general public to drop off and pick up their customers or friends.

These poorly insured, uninspected vehicles with their unvetted and untrained drivers are the ones that are causing the congestion at SFO: not the vetted, trained and experienced drivers of fully insured taxicabs that have been inspected by the San Francisco Airport itself.

The TNCs remain the only form of mass transportation that trick their customers into signing a hidden waiver of liability in case of negligence before allowing them to ride.

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At today's MTA meeting Director Heinicke said that the plans to hold 8,000 and "S" series taxis out of SFO had been shelved.

Kansas City Major Sly James' Speech Dissing Uber's Innovative Negligence

Hi I'm back to pass on words spoken or written by others – starting with a powerful speech by Kansas City Mayor Sly James.

On Thursday, April 9, 2015, the KCMO City Council unanimously approved an updated "Vehicles for Hire" code (Ordinance 150203) that lowers fees for drivers and streamlines permitting. It also requires all such drivers to have back-ground checks and register with the city.

Uber apparently tried to destroy Mayor James' career for opposing them. We could use an honest politician with guts like his here. 

Below are links to a few articles on the absurdly named "Sharing Economy" which is really "Wealth Inequality"  and a well researched and thoughtful piece on Uber's attempt to replace the Taxi Business .

As a bonus here are a few more Videos:

Who is driving you?

FUNNY OR DIE gives you An Apology from Uber
&
MY UBER DRIVER

And, let me end with this question: How unreal was the humor?

Brutal Attack on S.F. Cab Driver Over $36 Fare.

The ABC coverage of this attack was sent to me by driver Dave Schneider who writes.

    "Think reality is all it's cracked up to be with its two bit acts and players ... low level challenges right?  

    For what it's worth perhaps I didn't follow proper procedure and no one elected me and I ain't no perfect person, still I've been in communication with SFMTA regulators re a discreet panic button also advocated by a lady veteran driver.  I just get the run around.  Maybe it's my bad karma.  Had that panic button been in place going directly into 911 it might have helped in the recent bloody attack on the cab driver. 

    However, at the same time, the cab driver followed the perp and asked for the $.  That turned out to be a bad mistake as the driver was beaten to a pulp.  Perhaps a rookie mistake -- although maybe you can't blame him.  Hey I ain't no perfect person, but I wouldn't have followed him.  

    I also couldn't even get the bastards at the SFMTA to issue a public service annoucement of the location of the new Mission Bay UCSF children's emergency at Mariposa and Minnesota off of 3rd Street so you think they are going to lift a finger to protect the cabbies they regulate?

Give me a break ... and I ain't no perfect person to say the least.  But the protection of human life ought to be beyond the worth of the messenger/s don't you think ... ."

Yes, I think.