this post was submitted on 18 Aug 2023
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I think we should seize all of Lyft and Ubers assets and use them to construct actual public transportation in USA
What assets? All they have is debt and maybe some servers. I guess the app and brand has some value, but only to another ride share company.
They have corporate employees beyond the drivers. They likely have offices and such.
They likely rent, so the most you are getting is a fee.
If we're talking total fantasyland, I suppose put those employees to work building a government backed alternative or an open platform to allow smaller companies?
Suppose you had a centralized federated system where states or municipalities or even companies could have their own drivers but it's a common app?
Edit to add you could also have both driver and passenger rate each other and allow both to filter by rating, lower ratings would naturally pay more or less to compensate for the service. I bet in cities you'd have luxury versions of the same services all from the same app, but also cheap shitty services too.
The existence of Uber and Lyft does not prevent the government from doing this. If we are paying people to build and maintain this process we may as well hire people to do so. Taking over Uber would lead to the best employees leaving for other tech companies.
I think you're underestimating how many people want to work for the government for the perceived benefits. I'm saying they have the stuff already set up, in fantasyland it would be a fairly smooth transition.
They don't own the cars, they don't hire employees. We'd be left with an app? Some servers? We don't need that stuff to run a decent public transportation service.
love this idea. Wish I knew how to do that lol
Better off seizing taxis and the cars they own, but ultimately, why would we do that? Pass legislation to make them comply