“When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” King James Bible, 1Corinthians13:11 Uber, the precocious technology disrupter, is growing up and with it comes the usual pre-pubescent growing pains. But in […]
Uber
Posted inPolitics, The Download, Transportation
The Codcast: Ride-sharing regs redux
After several years of fits and stops, the Legislature finally passed a bill last summer that would regulate transportation network companies such as Uber and Lyft with an eye on safety for passengers. While lawmakers gave the Department of Public Utilities a pretty big canvas to paint their regulations on, they mandated a few set-in-stone parameters […]
Posted inTransportation
Drivers urge DPU to alter background checks
EDWARD HARUNK SAID driving for Uber gave him the flexibility to take care of his sick wife and bring her to doctor’s appointments whenever she needed. “Being an Uber driver enabled me, as a sole caregiver, to set my own time and allowed me to focus on my wife’s challenges,” the 59-year-old Wellesley resident, a […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Uber ego
Uber is what many describe as a “disruptive technology,” that emerging portion of the so-called gig economy that is challenging traditional models of commerce with little regard for the niceties of business or, for that matter, regulations. Uber, Lyft, Bridj, and other transportation network companies have had a chilling effect on taxis and livery; Airbnb, WeNeedAVacation.com, […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Uber finds itself ‘disrupted’
Chances are you’ve never heard of Susan Fowler, but a blog post she wrote on Sunday is shaking up the ride-hailing firm Uber Technologies Inc., one of the nation’s biggest tech companies. Fowler, a software engineer, said in her blog post that she left Uber after a little over a year on the job because […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download, Transportation
A dirge for taxis
It was raining hard in ‘Frisco I needed one more fare to make my night A lady up ahead waved to flag me down She got in at the light Harry Chapin could never write those lyrics today. The woman would have activated an app on her smartphone and stayed dry while waiting for an […]
Posted inTransportation
Logan passengers can now get a Lyft
MASSPORT HAS REACHED an agreement with Lyft to allow the ride-hailing company to operate out of Logan Airport, a move that paves the way for other transportation network companies such as Uber to pick up passengers at the terminals and take one of the last remaining lucrative routes away from Boston cabbies. “This is something […]
Posted inThe Back Story, Transportation
Logan inching toward agreement with Uber, Lyft
Massport is quietly trying to fashion new regulations to open up Logan Airport to all ride-hailing drivers but, six months after passage of a state law paving the way for transportation network companies such as Uber and Lyft to operate, the sides are still unable to reach an agreement. A Massport spokeswoman said the bill […]
Posted inTransportation
Lyft offering a ride to the T
MBTA OFFICIALS, ALREADY heartened by improvements in transportation for the handicapped by taxis and private ride-hailing companies, are entertaining a proposal from Lyft to launch late-night on-demand pick-ups that would be paid by passengers, employers, and the T. Brian Shortsleeve, the CEO and acting general manager, said the transportation network company submitted an unsolicited offer […]
Posted inTransportation
Business unusual at the T
IT’S A MANTRA spoken so often these days it could be a bumper sticker. “The MBTA is open for business,” Brian Shortsleeve, the agency’s chief administrator and acting general manager, said in talking about unsolicited proposals for third-party vendors to operate T services. Shortsleeve thinks it’s so important for people to know “the MBTA is open […]