Can the Sharing Economy Provide Good Jobs?

[wayiwalk]

Re: Can the Sharing Economy Provide Good Jobs?

Good point about generational contrast. I have a relatively new (and younger, mid 20's ) employee who lives in a city, uses the train to get near our office, then rides a bike the rest of the way.

Now, we are in the 'burbs. Our projects are located throughout the state.....not having a car kind of holds the person back in terms of whether he is readily available to get to a project site....more of a hassle "pass through" to me, if anything....or "shared hassle" . I have to work a bit harder to make sure he has work.....but this is the first in our office of non-car owning folks....but again, we are in a suburban location. One of my peers in our office rides his bike ~ 15 miles to work when the weather is good....over the years he's had 2 accidents (car's fault). Not exactly optimal situation for not owning a car.

[don]

Re: Can the Sharing Economy Provide Good Jobs?

Ft Lauderdale Airport:

the county recognizes Uber and Lyft as "transportation network companies". Unlike taxis, this allows them unlimited vehicles and unregulated fares.

drivers are required to submit to finger-print based FBI background checks, carry around-the-clock commercial insurance, and have their vehicle inspected by an approved mechanic.

since last Fall there's been over 500 citations to TNC drivers for the above.

Bill Gibson of Uber says that such onerous regulations will cause us to leave Broward county. Regulations need to change to allow "community-based transportation" to thrive.

[jk]

Re: Can the Sharing Economy Provide Good Jobs?

Ft Lauderdale Airport:

the county recognizes Uber and Lyft as "transportation network companies". Unlike taxis, this allows them unlimited vehicles and unregulated fares.

drivers are required to submit to finger-print based FBI background checks, carry around-the-clock commercial insurance, and have their vehicle inspected by an approved mechanic.

since last Fall there's been over 500 citations to TNC drivers for the above.

Bill Gibson of Uber says that such onerous regulations will cause us to leave Broward county. Regulations need to change to allow "community-based transportation" to thrive.

i missed which were the "onerous regulations." can anyone point them out and explain why they're "onerous"?

[don]

Re: Can the Sharing Economy Provide Good Jobs?

i missed which were the "onerous regulations." can anyone point them out and explain why they're "onerous"?

Poor Bill, he's just defending Free Market principles. For years at the airport taxis got their fares, waiting in line, in a next car available order. With Uber and Lyft, au contraire, it's everyman for himself. The Sharing Economy AP shows them hovering in close proximity, waiting to respond within their 15 second window. Of course none of them are in paid parking. If you've had your car at an airport, you know the dearth of free loitering spaces available, so these guys know the "good spots". They would have to. When a fare calls in, they swoop down to the taxi stand, picking up their fare ahead of the line. May the best ride win ... the joust! (hey, this may become a sport. Watching drivers duke it out in front of the pickup island. Favorites, odds, there's more here than I realized)

[lektrode]

Re: Can the Sharing Economy Provide Good Jobs?

a mad max moment?

[Southernguy]

Re: Can the Sharing Economy Provide Good Jobs?

When shall they begin using their 9mm's o AR15's?

[don]

Re: Can the Sharing Economy Provide Good Jobs?

Knowing a few taxi drivers over the years, I thought of baseball bats, at least at first.

[vt]

Re: Can the Sharing Economy Provide Good Jobs?

Maybe drivers will not become extinct.

Self driving cars cause motion sickness often:

http://observer.com/2015/06/self-dri...s-study-finds/

[vt]

Re: Can the Sharing Economy Provide Good Jobs?

http://www.amazon.com/Move-Putting-A...f=zg_bsnr_3_58

[don]

Re: Can the Sharing Economy Provide Good Jobs?

sharing economy underpinnings

[dcarrigg]

Re: Can the Sharing Economy Provide Good Jobs?

http://www.amazon.com/Move-Putting-A...f=zg_bsnr_3_58

Tolls and ceiling-less congestion pricing aren't infrastructure improvements. They're just another method to shift the cost of financing infrastructure to the poor and middle class, and make rentiers a quick buck, whilst building new first-class service for the rich on the public dime.

Two-tiers. The chevy lane and the cadillac lane. Chevy gets to sit in traffic, Cadillac gets smooth sailing. Bloomberg tried his damnedest to get it in New York. And New Yorkers sent his stupid plan packing.

Any time there's a book about shifting to "innovative public private partnerships," and "dynamic toll pricing," and "the electric car age," you know it's written by someone very out of touch, with more money than brains.

There is no electric car age. Not for people who drive 20 year old Honda Civics. There is no "prosperity," not by adding a bunch of tolls and forcing people who can't get credit off the highways because you need it for EZ Pass, and they can't afford mystery "dynamic" pricing on their commutes anyways.

Forcing people off the road with fees and handing our public infrastructure over to some private for-profit monopoly isn't part of some "innovative infrastructure solution."

It's simply another way of saying, "We can't, we won't, and we don't want to fix it. Not unless we can suck even more money out of the middle class to make ourselves a VIP set of first class infrastructure for the rich only in the process. We'd rather let the whole highway system crumble to the ground than pay one more cent towards making a new lane that everyone can use no matter how rich or poor they are."

[Thailandnotes]

Re: Can the Sharing Economy Provide Good Jobs?

“Think global act local” now seems vapid with the globalization/privatization of infrastructure. Who owns those tracks, that port, these highways? On the way to Dulles to return to Thailand I watched the traffic split off. “There go the rich!” I laughed. I was surprised at how high the posted blinking prices were and how quickly they can change.

We had one experience with the “Sharing economy.” A niece was collecting an antique cabinet and had contracted to send it home via Uship. The guy she “contracted” with had been laid off from transporting expensive horses. He now used his trailer to run stuff from Texas to Maine. He showed up with an F-350 full of fierce snarling dogs, loaded the cabinet, and delivered the next weekend. He laughed at the paperwork/insurance stuff the niece had printed out.

Weirdest thing the whole time I was back was buying a lighter in a CVS pharmacy. I was using it to burn the ends of nylon rope to tie things down in a rental truck. The cashier said, “In Virginia if you’re buying a lighter without buying cigarettes, I’m require to photocopy your driver’s license.”

[don]

Re: Can the Sharing Economy Provide Good Jobs?

What can I say guys - 1+1=2

Nice posting.

(are we undergoing "innovative austerity"? That may fit . . .)

[don]

Re: Can the Sharing Economy Provide Good Jobs?

Is Whiz Bang Austerity , with a Virtual (3D, naturally) Everything's Good Overlay , a better fit?

[jk]

Re: Can the Sharing Economy Provide Good Jobs?

“Think global act local” now seems vapid with the globalization/privatization of infrastructure. Who owns those tracks, that port, these highways? On the way to Dulles to return to Thailand I watched the traffic split off. “There go the rich!” I laughed. I was surprised at how high the posted blinking prices were and how quickly they can change.

We had one experience with the “Sharing economy.” A niece was collecting an antique cabinet and had contracted to send it home via Uship. The guy she “contracted” with had been laid off from transporting expensive horses. He now used his trailer to run stuff from Texas to Maine. He showed up with an F-350 full of fierce snarling dogs, loaded the cabinet, and delivered the next weekend. He laughed at the paperwork/insurance stuff the niece had printed out.

Weirdest thing the whole time I was back was buying a lighter in a CVS pharmacy. I was using it to burn the ends of nylon rope to tie things down in a rental truck. The cashier said, “In Virginia if you’re buying a lighter without buying cigarettes, I’m require to photocopy your driver’s license.”

were the "fierce snarling dogs" there to protect his cargo, as pets, or as cargo themselves?