Mayor Bloomberg Battles Fleet Owners Over NYC 'Taxi of Tomorrow' 278
An anonymous reader writes "In April, Mayor Mike Bloomberg announced that the Nissan NV200 minivan had won a citywide competition to replace the current cab model, the Ford Crown Victoria, in a phased-in period of five years. Cab owners sued, pointing out that New York City law requires that hybrid electric models be available for immediate use for cab medallion owners; that excludes the current Nissan NV200, with its 2.0 liter, 4-cylinder engine rated at a combined 24 mpg. The NV200 also has poor accessibility for wheelchair users. After a state judge blocked the mayor's plan, Bloomberg allegedly told the CEO of Taxi Club Management at a private club, 'Come January 1st, when I am out of office, I am going to destroy your f--king industry.' Tim Fernholz of Quartz speculates that Bloomberg (a billionaire) may be planning to launch a cab-hailing service like Uber, which was just allowed back onto the streets of New York, with significant limitations."
Uber is not going to destroy NYC taxi (Score:2)
You can still get a cab in manhattan for a profitable trip. What is uber going to change?
Not like drivers are going to take on an unprofitable trip just because of the Internet
Re:Uber is not going to destroy NYC taxi (Score:4, Interesting)
When I see the huge lines of cabs at taxi stands and the airports, I find myself wondering if a routing algorithm could better utilize these idle cabs. Any operator who can better utilize the cabs will beat out the others.
Re:Uber is not going to destroy NYC taxi (Score:5, Interesting)
It was attempted. A system that automates the routing of taxicabs via voice calls and cell phone apps is available and works extremely well. The companies that control the taxi business in NYC made sure it couldn't get a foothold. One of the reasons it is disliked by the entrenched powers is it eliminates the dispatcher. Now you'd think that is a good thing since it reduces overhead while increasing efficiency. Except it also eliminates the bribes the taxi drivers need to pay to the dispatchers if they ever want to get work.
As much as I dislike Bloomberg, I hope he is successful in destroying the current taxi business status quo.
Re:Uber is not going to destroy NYC taxi (Score:5, Informative)
The slower increase in his income was when everybody discovered that the computer based cab company was much much faster.
Now it was too early at that point but one problem for him would be that the training time to become a fairly good cabbie would be nearly zero. You didn't have to learn to work the radio and with the computer both telling you how to get to your fair and the route to dropping them off you could be pretty well fresh off the boat and still be able to be a halfway decent cabbie in this city.
So when all is said and done the technological solution will benefit the customer and the cab company but not the worker.
Personally I am a huge fan of technological improvements but society is not well structured to prevent people from really getting hurt by all this. As robotics take this all to the next logical step there will be a point where very few owners are able to have huge businesses with almost zero workers. While individually this will be great for the producers and providers, the real base of any economy is consumption not production. So without employed people there will be little consumption and much rioting and crime. Society needs to be restructured so as to make sure that inequality doesn't get out of control. This would even hurt those who would like to be unequal.
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The next logical step is a driverless taxi.
Robots all the way down. (Score:2)
with the computer both telling you how to get to your fair and the route to dropping them off
I'm imagining Google getting into the Taxi business. With no drivers at all, just per-passenger screens showing ads.
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So when all is said and done the technological solution will benefit the customer and the cab company but not the worker.
It seems like it will benefit the workers as a whole -- more fares, at the expense of the above-average workers; they will have a lot of skill and experience developed that is no longer provides any value. In other words... it will achieve "fairness" among all workers, regardless of how many years they have been working, and "unfairness" in the sense, that having worked fo
Re:Uber is not going to destroy NYC taxi (Score:4, Interesting)
Yep. The new system is pretty damn good. The app is great. Here's a basic step through.
1. Press "taxi" icon
2. Press "Send cab"
3. Press "Now" (or enter a time)
4. It asks "at your currently location?" (uses your phones gps)
5. Press "Yes"
6. I think it asks for destination, but I don't remember the details.
7. Responds with "Cab in route. Approximate arrival time is 4 minutes 33 seconds"
8. A few minutes later your phone buzzes and a message shows, "Your cab has arrived".
It doesn't get any simpler than that. The taxi drivers love it (for the reasons you stated). The riders love it because it's faster and easier than the old phone system. The dispatchers hate it because they can no longer skim the drivers' fares. In NYC, I'm sure the cab companies skim from the dispatchers. The thing is, the cab companies probably see increased profits, except it will all be "on the books". The entire taxi infrastructure of NYC is rotten to the core (pun intended). A side note. The cab companies in NYC have hired lobbyists to get Washington, DC to implement a NYC medallion system. The tax drivers are fighting that tooth and nail.
My roommate could have gotten in on the ground floor of the company that makes this system, but he turned it down (he's still kicking himself over that).
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8. A few minutes later your phone buzzes and a message shows, "Your cab has arrived".
It doesn't get any simpler than that. The taxi drivers love it (for the reasons you stated). The riders love it because it's faster and easier than the old phone system. The dispatchers hate it because they can no longer skim the drivers' fares. In NYC, I'm sure the cab companies skim from the dispatchers. The thing is, the cab companies probably see increased profits, except it will all be "on the books".
Yes, but "on the books" works both ways. I would think that having the fares of your drivers logged on a server would probably stop some skimming that goes on at the driver level. Besides, from what I understand many drivers these days pay a base 'rental' rate for taking out a car (they rent the car from the company that owns the medallions), plus they pay for their own fuel any other incidentals. At the end of the day, driver brings the car back to company, and most don't make a whole lot after the cos
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The economy works just as much by trickle up as anything. If most people have no money, they're not going to be buying the stuff that the companies are producing so it's not like they'll have any incentive to produce stuff that no ones buying.
There's also the fact that massive social inequality often leads to violent revolution which is really not good for business either.
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Parent said no such thing. Parent said "society needs to be restructured", not how. Why do you assume that's the only possible solution parent would be offering?
Re:Uber is not going to destroy NYC taxi (Score:4, Interesting)
This is basic game theory. Each company will act in their best interests by reducing costs which will generally mean more and more technological replacement of human employees. But this does not actually work out in the end if there is mass unemployment. Tax and spend just results in insane Soviet inefficiencies. Banning technology is also just stupid as it just drive up the cost of living. The only thing left is to insent companies to hire more humans. Taxes are an excellent way to do just that. Finding the right balance generally will be hard but a simple formula would be to base it somewhat on the unemployment rate. If you are running a fantastically profitable company in an area with 15% unemployment then whoosh, up go your taxes. If you in an area with 2% unemployment then the tax incentive can be somewhat withdrawn. You have to be careful that companies don't just all move somewhere expensive to live that has a low unemployment rate so much would just be based upon national rates combined with the range of their products. So a locally owned store would be more regional while Apple would be more national.
Any country that gets this right will flourish in the mid to late 21st century. Any country that doesn't will end up in a Game Theory Nash Equilibrium where a tiny number of heavily automated companies are fighting over the few employed customers remaining in their country while nearly non-stop civil unrest drives up their security costs. Plus they will end up paying high taxes as the few remaining taxpayers anyway.
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When robots work as well as humans (and they do in an increasing number of places) and they are depreciatable, and the company doesn't have to pay social security, unemployment and other overhead costs, there is a very high incentive to go to robots.
It's a classic "tragedy of the commons" situation.
If one company automates to over 90%, then it makes huge profits, the remaining employees get huge salaries.
If all companies do it, then you have mass unemployment.
Retiring american, european, and chinese boomers
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Well, obviously. Production stays the same, as does population, but there's no way to rearrange economy so people can still get goods once the work for pay -model breaks down. Clearly, things like having the society own the automated factories and distribute production quota to its citize
You're confusing Livery & Taxi, and... wrong (Score:2, Interesting)
What he's talking about isnt a routing problem, it's drivers taking a break. The yellow cabs will sit at JFK for a bit (for example) then grab a $50-100 fare. Not a bad wage, considering. Routing is more of an issue with Livery. Livery (per-arranged, dispatched car service), is not allowed to pick up a street hail. And are often not "in line" at the airports. Yellow cabs can be hailed on the street and Uber offers little value over raising one's arm in the air.
Really though, Uber's problem was that t
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Where in your links do they mention the breaking of public safety laws or the contempt for their own employees? "Safety" doesn't even appear in your first two links, and the third only talks about it in an abstract sense, with no real connection to Uber.
So what the fuck value does Uber bring to the table? Very little.
Well, I don't even no why we have competition and consumer liberty. We should just hire you to choose a company for each sector and give them a monopoly.
But that's not *all* they are, they also have some good regulations.
Then cite all the good regulations that Uber is breaking.
Uber wanted to cry "look at the entrenched bully!" while being just as big assholes themselves, with the added benefit of ignoring laws and charging a premium for it all.
Being assholes doesn't make them wrong.
And ignor
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Re:Uber is not going to destroy NYC taxi (Score:5, Informative)
Having said that the only way to make a reasonable income from a cab is to make sure a customers arse is in the seat at all times, getting a 5min job that puts you at the back of a 2hr queue is just the luck of the draw. Although I have heard that airport staff here in Melbourne are issuing "short trip" coupons to drivers who get stuck with a local job, it entitles them to come back to the front of the queue, but again that can happen at any rank and most ranks are not staffed/policed like they are at the airport. Also 5min jobs themselves are not the problem, on Friday and Saturday nights you want the 5min jobs because you know you can get another one straight away, doing that all night on your home turf is about as profitable as taxi driving gets.
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1) You need a medallion to drive a Yellow Cab - this fixes the number of Cabs that are allowed in the city. The medallion often costs hundreds of thousands of dollars or recently close to a million dollars.
2) Automated taxi hailing systems were banned until recently (or atleast they were being sued even if Mayor Bloomberg was pro-Cab-Hailing-Apps)
3) Taxi despatch was a completely different operation (I think it was semi-public or
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In my neighborhood on the opposite coast, a lot of the cabbies are switching to the limo program because hailing a cab is as easy as using your smartphone now, and that is the only limitation for the limos-- they can't pick up a passenger on the street.
I imagine Bloomberg has something like that in mind.
But an IGT service could (Score:2)
Intelligent Grouping Transportation, AKA Taxibus...
http://www.taxibus.org.uk/index.html [taxibus.org.uk]
People summon taxibus service with their cellphones, then a computer directs a nearby driver to a curb within a block of passengers' location... while figuring out how to accomodate more than one passenger at any given time.
Note to self... (Score:5, Insightful)
Don't piss off the rich guy.
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But really, those are exactly the kind of people we should be pissing off, if not hanging them in the streets. Bloomberg is the very epitome of the corrupt merger of government and corporate power. He wants to dictate what everyone does, and will stop at NOTHING to do it.
Re:Note to self... (Score:4, Insightful)
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Honestly, I don't think Bloomberg himself really believes in the BS he's pushing. But, he is a HUGE attention whore and he desperately wants to be President. He's found his PR niche where he knows exactly how to get his name in the papers. So, he just keeps dropping these nanny state jewels every few months. I'd feel that he was sincere if he came at it with a sound comprehensive plan rather than a drip-drip-drip of "he's what our strong, dear determined Leader is going to do for us today" edicts.
Re:Note to self... (Score:5, Insightful)
I find it depressing that the word "fascist" is being used without irony for someone who passed a law about soda cup size. Have we forgotten, perhaps, what genuine fascists are like? It's the political equivalent of someone with a runny nose complaining that they have flu...
Go with the dictionary not gut feeling (Score:2)
Is Bloomberg a fascist (looking at more than one silly law about cups)? Go to the dictionary instead of thinking with your gut, or look at history and see how he compares to those 1930s US
Re:Go with the dictionary not gut feeling (Score:5, Insightful)
Fascism is about more than just authoritarian laws. Fascism is a difficult creature to define, but definitions usually involve- Corporate Syndicalism, veneration of the State (i.e. ultra-Nationalism), distrust of democracy, and a dislike of free-market capitalism. You can usually throw in eugenics and racial supremacy too, although it's debatable whether this is integral to fascism or whether it is just a function of ultra-Nationalism.
I'm not American and so not exposed to much news on the subject of Michael Bloomberg, but a quick scan of his Wikipedia entry doesn't hint at any policies that would fall into that "fascism" camp. It mostly seems like he's prone to passing "nanny state" laws, and has also been involved with some corruption allegations (something or other about gun-running). That doesn't make him a pleasant guy, but it also doesn't make him a fascist. Until he starts arguing about deporting immigrants and dissolving Wall Street, I don't think you can really put him in that philosophical bucket.
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You were the third person to use the comparison in this thread (see tmosley and NoNonAlphaCharsHere). Apparently soda-cup-size laws are an emotive topic in the states.
There's something wrong when people use the word "fascist" to refer to someone who's political ideology appears to be nannyish meddling and self-aggrandisement, while movements with genuine elements of fascism (such as the Tea Party- although it depends which part of the movement you're looking at) get passed off as "conservative" (another muc
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There is a lot wrong, but it is with the political ideology that thinks it can manage my freedoms. Government is in no position to do so. As I said, the term fascist was used as an insult.
BTW, what parts of the tea party do you consider fascism? I'm interested to hear about this. I think it's going to be a laugh when you put it down in words.
Re:Note to self... (Score:5, Insightful)
Easy tiger. It's a complicated subject. Complicated by the fact that a) the Tea Party movement is disunited on many policy points, and b) fascism itself has always been poorly defined. But taking those two things into account, there is still much overlap.
Let's start with the easy bit. Ultra-nationalism for one. Anti-immigration for two. Those two on their own do not fascism make, but they're a start.
Foreign policy is the first tricky area. Arguably there are two camps- the Ron Paul school of thought and the Sarah Palin school of thought. The Ron Paul one is very much non-fascist- the idea that militarism is an extension of Big Government and should be resisted. The Palin one is about spreading American ideology through power projection (look up "American Exceptionalism" for a broader discussion). A fairly key part of fascism is based around the eradication of rival ideologies through force of arms in order to promote unity- the basic ideological justification for Nazi Germany's invasions.
By far the trickiest talking point is around the concept of "small government" itself. There are two basic schools of thought on this; there's free market anarchism, espoused to a greater or lesser extent by Paulite school of Tea Partyism. This, again, is definitely not fascist- fascism historically disliked that concept as being against the societal good. However the politics to come out of the likes of the Koch brothers is more akin to Corporate Syndicalism- the idea that society should be run by and for the experts in each societal sector, with only a veneer of criminal law to keep the syndicates on the party line. That was a key (arguably THE key) to 20th century fascism (especially Italian fascism).
Fascism historically defined itself as an "anti-communist" movement. Part of this also manifested as an anti-intellectual standpoint (that is, distrust of academia and the "intellectual class", as opposed to being "anti-intelligence" or anything broader), as well as a complete loathing of the trade union labour movement. All three of these are met by the Tea Party- "socialist" is still seen as something practically demonic by Tea Party critics, unions are considered anathema (this is related to the Corporate Syndicalism outlined above), and a rejection of scientific institutions (especially around climate studies) as being politicised and left-wing-biased all fit this template.
It's not a perfect fit, and you need to be selective as to what parts you're looking at (as I stated originally), but the similarities are far easier to spot there than it is in soda-cup laws or taxicab vehicle choices.
Bloomberg is a spoiled brat (Score:5, Insightful)
Here's a man with so much obscene money than he has a right to, and thinks he can buy what he wants if he can't get it any other way. First it's gun control, then it's a police state, and now it's his own taxi monopoly (along with whatever kickback he and his cronies are getting from this backroom deal). Bloomberg is a plague on society, a grown man who is prone to throwing tantrums when he doesn't get his way, and enough money in his pocket to crush anyone that stands in his way.
I can't wait until the feds get enough hair on their balls to take him down. Anyone with that much money is bound to have broken some law, somewhere, sometime.
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That first sentence should have read "such an obscene amount of money." Just to be clear that I'm not ranting about people with money, or money in general, but those like Bloomberg with an obscene amounts of money who think because of it they are entitled to what they want when they want it.
Re:Bloomberg is a spoiled brat (Score:5, Insightful)
Does that apply equally to the Koch brothers and their NRA connected group ALEC?
Yes, the Feds should go after the Kochs because "Anyone with that much money is bound to have broken some law, somewhere, sometime."
How does that shoe feel now that it's on your foot? Uncomfortable?
Just to make thing crystal clear, you are as dumb as you sound.
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Does that apply equally to the Koch brothers and their NRA connected group ALEC?
Yes?
How does that shoe feel now that it's on your foot?
How did you fit so many shoes into your rectum?
Only a man with an entire Payless of shoes shoved up his ass could be demented enough to think that dislike of gross corruption is party driven.
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Only a man with an entire Payless of shoes shoved up his ass could be demented enough to think that dislike of gross corruption is party driven.
Thats who you are talking to, though, He is party-driven rather than ethics-driven.
Re:Bloomberg is a spoiled brat (Score:4, Insightful)
Except Bloomberg actually HAS broken the law, he headed up an illegal gun-running operation (he called it an undercover sting, but as far as I am aware you really can't form up a private law enforcement club and wantonly break laws just because you say it's OK to do). Never been charged or arrested, never will.
What laws have the Kochs demonstrably violated?
Re:Bloomberg is a spoiled brat (Score:4, Informative)
What laws have the Kochs demonstrably violated?
Trading with Iran. [bloomberg.com]
For starters, and there's more if you look. [publicintegrity.org]
They should be swinging from lampposts right next to the one Bloomberg is swinging from, maybe across from the ones Jamie Dimon and Don Blankenship are strung up from.
The main problems will be really fat crows and running out of lamp posts.
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Re:Bloomberg is a spoiled brat (Score:5, Insightful)
I can't wait until the feds get enough hair on their balls to take him down. Anyone with that much money is bound to have broken some law, somewhere, sometime.
The entire problem with Bloomberg isn't just that he's really bad at solving problems, it's because there's too much government power and he just happens to be the one wielding it at the moment.
Wishing for revenge from more government power is just the kind of thinking that perpetuates the system that makes Bloomberg a problem.
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just wait til he runs for _president_
Maybe I should just start selling the armbands to his supporters now, to get an early start in the market.
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I know where he can get some good PR people. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1034314/ [imdb.com]
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No no, not a cab hailing service... (Score:5, Insightful)
Obviously Bloomberg is going to fund the installation of a Personal Rapid Transit [wikipedia.org] system with 100% coverage of the metro area, plus extensions to commuter parking lots upstate and in New Jersey. PRT proponents rejoice! Bloomberg will prove once and for all that PRT works!
Or...
Bloomberg is an entitled asshole rich kid who can vent whenever he wants because he's too rich for anybody around him to tell him to STFU [kym-cdn.com].
Gee. I wonder which is more likely...
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Bloomberg is not a "rich kid". Whatever you think of him or his politics, he's a self-made man and judging by the places he lived growing up, had a middle-class upbringing.
Oh if only there were a free market in taxis (Score:4, Informative)
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What is this free market that you speak of? Who would give the bribes, I mean campaign donations, in a free market. That's what regulation is for after all. A company first pays to not be regulated, then they pay to be regulated in a way that only hurts startups or their competitors. Don't you know how the system works?
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I thought that the taxi regulations and the anti-"gypsy"-taxi laws were so that out-of-town tourists don't get ripped off so frequently that they decide to stop visiting thereby dropping your tourist tax dollars: transportation, hotel taxes, restaurant visits, shamu - and - seaworld - and - the old village district (mission area) [that probably only applies to san diego and such). But the tourist market is large in NY, just as in chicago, SF, orlando, atlanta, etc. So the taxis do need to be regulated.
Do
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What does any of that have to do with designating an "official" (see required) taxi cab vehicle? Regulation, where required, can definitely help to keep a profession reputable. But in this case it seems to be far more about either pointless control or kickbacks from a government enforced monopoly.
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Not really sure why the mayor wanted such a lousy automobile to be the replacement. Even if he has stock in Nissan he could find a better vehicle.
The mistake was to pander to environmentalists. (Score:2, Interesting)
Nothing wrong from taking a page from the LEO sales and having Chrysler make a taxi (given they're the only manufacturer left that's willing to make American form factor cars these days).
Then again, had Ford decided to not listen to Al Gore by killing all their American lineup (including the Crown Vic) we wouldnt have this problem.
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Seeing as how Chrysler had to be bailed out and sold to Fiat while Ford successfully weathered the recession and just posted their highest profit since the 90s, I'm sure they will continue to ignore your advice.
Mayor Bloomberg's latest FAIL... (Score:5, Interesting)
Height wars (Score:2)
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Besides, who else drives in Manhattan but taxis, town cars, and delivery trucks?
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On a motorway I can drive for a hundred miles without braking. I do this while driving faster than most of the people on the road.
It's possible because I'm not watching the car in front of me. I'm watching the cars a quarter of a mile down the road, the cars merging onto the road, the lorries on the slower lanes and the cars that might want to overtake them.
The car in front? It's almost fucking irrelevant. Pay attention only to that car and you'll have to brake every time he does, you'll have far worse fuel
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Then keep 2 seconds behind?
A lot of people don't do this.
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Why does this problem exist in the first place (Score:5, Insightful)
What I don't understand is why there appears to be some monolithic entity designating the specific model of taxi cab for the entire city. Shouldn't each taxi company/cab owner be able to choose what car(s)/van(s) they want to use? Besides designating a paint scheme and setting some requirements (display of medallion, cleanliness of cab, etc) the city should butt out. It sounds to me like there is a lot of shady dealings & backdoor hand shaking going on.
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There are a few (theoretical) good reasons. Accessibility for disabled people for one- it'd be no good if 70% of the fleet were low-riding luxury sedans (note, in my jurisdiction there is no mandated vehicle, and this is a real problem- most popular vehicles are VW Passats (plus Skoda/Seat variants), Mercedes E Classes and Vauxhaul Vectras- none are particularly disability friendly). Another would be safety. A third would be "image"- fleets of similar-looking taxis are an iconic part of NYC mythology (and d
Police interceptors driving tourists (Score:2)
I've not got a strong opinion about Bloomberg but there is something wrong with the taxi business and its close relationship to retiring police cars. Other than some hardened suspension components, there is nothing about a police car that makes a good cab vehicle.
Is it just me... (Score:2)
ok... done venting.
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or is there something seriously wrong with our entire economy when one guy can threaten to destroy an entire (very profitable) industry,
No there isn't. While there may be problems with our economy, this isn't one of them. Not to mention, that it has always been like this.
Why do people have a problem with one person acquiring a fortune. Should there be a limit to how much one person can own? What happens when the person is at the limit, and is walking down the street, and is handed a dollar? SWAT comes zeroing in? Or should we fine and tax them as the close in one some arbitrary dollar amount?
Or are you just bitter that he is successful?
time to invest in cab medallions (Score:2)
what a dump (Score:3)
You have more and more tech startups challenging the cesspool of corruption that New York City has been historically. I wonder how this turns out in the long run and who will win. For now, New Yorkers still seem to voting for Bloomberg...
Uber? Stop aiming so low (Score:3)
If you really want to "destroy an industry" then allow self driving vehicles to replace cab services. People could subscribe to a car service or pay per use to have a car when they need it. The cars would automatically recharge when not needed, automatically deploy to areas of high demand, be callable with a smart phone app and station themselves at predetermined locations for non-app users. Google can integrate voice commands, local search, maps, and their field trip app so there isn't even a need to talk to a cab driver again.
When cab drivers are finding alternate ways to get customers, you've altered an industry. When cab drivers are looking for a different career, you've destroyed an industry.
Comment removed (Score:4, Informative)
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He was a billionaire before he was mayor.
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Also, how in the world does an 'elected public servant' get into the billionaire club?
As others have noted, that reverses the timeline; he became a billionaire before he became a mayor [bloomberg.com].
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Also, how in the world does an 'elected public servant' get into the billionaire club?
I find this AC's post psychologically fascinating. Bloomberg is one of the most famous billionaires on the planet and has been for decades. The AC's question implies he knows nothing about that but he's happy to accept the rumor and come to the firm conclusion Bloomberg is being a jerk rather than (say) reacting to one.
And please, this not a defense of Bloomberg or an attack on the AC, it's a fascination at how susceptible people are to potential propaganda (including myself).
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He thinks the rules do not apply to him.
https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/24/nyregion/bloomberg-violates-weekend-helicopter-ban-and-will-stop.html?_r=0 [nytimes.com]
He also wants to disarm the public but he gets to keep police protection.
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Re:Unqualified for office (Score:5, Insightful)
The phrase is "crony capitalism". To be vociferously distinguished from "free-market capitalism", which it subverts.
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Unqualified as a human being (Score:5, Funny)
Yes, Bloomberg is an asshole, and no, he's not the only one. But your garden variety asshole is not necessarily in a position of having more power than god. Assholes with billions of dollars and assholes who are politicians are making their assholism a problem for other people. And assholes with billions of dollars AND political power are making their assholism a problem for EVERYBODY.
The asshole police should have beaten this scum black and blue silly and locked him away forever a LOOONG time ago. Oh wait ... there are no asshole police ...
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there are no asshole police
Reason being, everybody is somebody else's asshole.
Re:Sure. OK... (Score:5, Interesting)
And once again, Slashdot lowers itself to the level of the Nationa Enquirer with titalating rumor and inuendo. And this is "News for Nerds"? Oh yes, Slashdot shit-canned that moniker. Probably because it is no longer factually true.
OH! Wait! There's a reference to an electric car! OK, I'm sorry, I'm totally wrong. Great "scoop", Mr. "Editor" Soulskill...
There is a big difference between an allegation and a rumor. A rumor generally arises without an attributed source. An allegation just means whoever is reporting it doesn't want to put their name in the ring as saying it is true (i.e. they don't want to get sued for defamation).
When the rumor is about a billionaire, many people ESPECIALLY don't want to get sued for defamation, because the billionaire can easily sue.
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There's actually two stories here. One is Bloomberg vs. taxi owners and others unhappy over the choice of the Nissan as the new standard vehicle. The other is what Bloomberg might do after he leaves office - something tells me he's not planning to get a single digit handicap on the golf course. A digital technology-driven taxi service would fit directly into a lot of his strengths, so I think this story will have legs (er, or wheels).
Re:Sure. OK... (Score:5, Interesting)
Maybe it's a rumor, but the thing is -- I'm pretty sure it's not. That's Bloomberg. Right there. That's how he is.
Do you forget this was the guy who headed up an illegal gun running operation under the guise of an undercover sting, despite having no jurisdiction or legal authority to run a sting, let alone a sting taking place across STATE lines? His little operation actually ruined the investigative work of REAL law enforcement.
He's King Asshat, that's why NYC seems to keep re-electing him.
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A 2 litre engined vehicle that only manages 24mpg? It's shocking how inefficient US cars are compared to those in Europe. Even Cosworth engined RS Ford Escorts did better over 20 years ago. The fact that it is a Nissan makes it even more surprising.
Re:Ambivalent (Score:4, Informative)
On thing to keep in mind when comparing miles per "gallon" - the UK when it used gallons used the Imperial gallon, which is larger than the US gallon (4.55L vs 3.78L, respectively). A car that gets 24 miles per US gallon would get nearly 29 miles per Imperial gallon.
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This is why the rest of the world uses this standardized system for units of measurements.
So, I was similarly surprised that in 2013 it is apparently still possible to build *and* sell new cars that consume 10 l/100km.
Re:Ambivalent (Score:4, Insightful)
Well, it weighs 3200 pounds, so that 4 cylinder probably has to suck down all the gas it can get just to get the thing moving. Plus it will probably die early carrying around that much weight. Not something you would want for a taxi. Also, for being all that heavy, they don't have a lot of interior room. I sure wouldn't want to give up a Crown Vic for one of these things, even though the Crown Vic obviously sucks down much more gas. Oh, wait, not it doesn't. It sucks down only 4 more tablespoons of gas per mile than the anemic four cylinder in the Nissan in the city and gets the same mileage as the NV200 on the highway.
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If we are talking about American engines with their usual anemic power/weight ratio's, then probably yes. Meanwhile, the rest of the world is driving hundreds of thousands of kilometers with 1.3 l engines that deliver 100 KW or so.
Also, what's with the crazy units of measurements. 4 tablespoons per mile more - is that supposed to sound like "not a lot"? In real units of measurements, that would be around 40 ml/km or 4 l/100 km more which is an absolutely huge amount - in fact, on just that difference you ca
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but thanks to California's fucked up emissions laws, diesels aren't something that can be called eco-friendly here).
They sell diesels here in California now, with the availability of low-sulfur diesel fuel.
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the particular problem i'm referring to has to deal with the cali low-emissions vehicle standards, it might be different now tbh, but at least at one point it was impossible for a diesel to qualify due to particulate matter in exhaust (that is, even a diesel with less emissions than a gasoline engine had to meet a higher standard which was basically impossible to meet).
it may have changed though.. these days i just try to learn as little about that state as possible, it's just really a mess. the land's gr
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Airports. Those are people commuting between cities.
And in general, comfort. Sure, we mostly fit into small cars. I love having fun in a tricked out Fiesta. But when I spend more than 1/2 hour in a car not having fun, I want it to be spacious, like my house.
Even before all Americans were obese, we loved our space.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
At the slow speed you will be going stuck in traffic in NYC, aerodynamics aren't going to save you much in fuel economy. That being the case, from a traffic optimization standpoint, you want to minimize the wheelbase/footprint of the vehicle. A van is actually more compact in terms of road space occupied for the same amount of internal volume.
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That is not the reason they went with a minivan. Looking at the minivan, it is quite clear that it is not going to be more roomy or comfortable than a Crown Vic. It is less capable of hauling a fat American than the Crown Vic. It is purely a political decision.
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It is suppose to accessible to wheelchair passengers. The summery says "poor accessibility for wheelchair users" but I don't see a source for that information anywhere. If you look at pictures of the new taxi it actually looks like it would be accessible, certainly more so than the current fleet of cars.
I don't understand why we need every single car to be wheelchair accessible, when there is such a small percentage of wheelchair bound people that would need access to one. These minivans, if they are wheelchair accessible at all, are going to be an extremely tight fit and uncomfortable. Why can they not just have a small percentage of full sized vans available for wheelchair customers, and let the rest of the public ride in a comfortable, full size sedan?
Because it has been proven to work well (Score:3)
London does it. Every single cab in London is wheelchair accessible, which also makes them convenient for people with strollers and luggage. It doesn't raise the cost of the car by much at all and it is a lot cheaper than having a separate "Access-A-Ride" service to shuttle disabled people around at taxpayer expense.
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I guess we will find out if they put these into place. The NV200 gets the same gas mileage on the highway as a Crown Vic, and only outperforms it in city driving, according to EPA. However, the EPA does not consider passengers. A Crown Vic with two passengers will barely see a dent it's mileage, while the undersized 4 cylinder in the NV200 is likely to see a 10% or more drop in it's mileage. As far as the slow moving comment,
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