When one travels, one frequently sees signs in airport arrivals halls: do not accept lifts from unlicensed / unmarked vehicles, as it is not safe. Use a licensed, vetted taxi service.
Uber's entire business model is, essentially, supplying unlicensed taxi services. I am honestly surprised it works as well as it does.
The thing is the Uber/Lyft model identifies both people. That makes it much, much safer than you would have from simply an unlicensed taxi. And note the problem applies across the transportation industry, this isn't Uber-specific.
If anything, I would feel safer in an Uber than a taxi because there's a clear record of who is in that car.
In New York at least, Uber's vehicles are licensed through the same agency that licenses taxis - the Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC). They are held to the same standards as taxis and can be delicensed for violations.
The NYT is moving more and more into scaremongering articles. This is a great example where the title says "Sexual Assault" but within the article it mentions the vast majority are nothing near as serious as assault (but obviously still a problem).
The article does not compare or contrast the rates to other industries, situations or just living life in general. My comment is not to absolve Uber, but rather point out that the article does not do a good job at proving that Uber is any more dangerous than a variety of other places/activities/things.
This is not new; NYT has been doing this for quite a long time, and it got exacerbated when Trump started running for office in 2015-2016. It is very difficult for me to take NYT (or most news websites) seriously now - one can take advantage of a lot of platforms just stripping out most fluff and giving you only the objective details.
Just take a cursory look at the front page, and see how much of it is hard, actual news. Even in the Business section, you'll find words like "cult-like" and "drowning in debt". It's very difficult to believe that this is a newspaper of record.
tsukikage|6 months ago
Uber's entire business model is, essentially, supplying unlicensed taxi services. I am honestly surprised it works as well as it does.
LorenPechtel|6 months ago
If anything, I would feel safer in an Uber than a taxi because there's a clear record of who is in that car.
deminature|6 months ago
richwater|6 months ago
The article does not compare or contrast the rates to other industries, situations or just living life in general. My comment is not to absolve Uber, but rather point out that the article does not do a good job at proving that Uber is any more dangerous than a variety of other places/activities/things.
sometimes_all|6 months ago
Just take a cursory look at the front page, and see how much of it is hard, actual news. Even in the Business section, you'll find words like "cult-like" and "drowning in debt". It's very difficult to believe that this is a newspaper of record.
mitchbob|6 months ago
mrkeen|6 months ago
Uber is certainly not capable of dishing out the kind of punishment these scumbags deserve, nor is it capable of providing due process to defendants.