Driven to Despair

May 15, 2018 6:28 AM

Doug Schifter waged a one-man campaign to stop Uber from putting his fellow black-car drivers out of business. Then he decided to take his own life.
posted by Barack Spinoza (2 comments total)

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(though as ever the real culprit that drove him a life of debt and chronic untreated pain looks to be America's healthcare system, Uber the straw that broke the camel's back)
posted by Damienmce at 6:46 AM on May 15, 2018 [1 favorite]

As much as I hate Uber, if you've made $100k/yr for decades driving luxury SUVs and chosen a life that involves a 5 hour commute and no health insurance, I'm not sure ride sharing is really the greatest problem you face. I feel bad for the guy. But, not to the extent the author expects.

In his column in Black Car News, Schifter railed against what he recognized as unfair competition. For decades, drivers had spent their own money to build what the city had effectively promised would be a municipally regulated monopoly on for-hire vehicles, investing hundreds of millions of their hard-earned dollars to buy city-issued medallions and pay for vehicles.

Wait, are we talking about medallioned taxies or black cars? Assuming the former, this is a definition of "fair" that requires rather a lot of caveats. The hard-working medallion owner, who I recognize does actually exist, is a pretty small part of the taxi industry. A comparison between Uber and large taxi companies that own hundreds of medallions and charge their drivers hourly fees to use them is a lot more ambiguous. Uber is awful. Burn it to the ground. But, let's not forget that the taxi industry is also mostly awful.
posted by eotvos at 7:22 AM on May 15, 2018 [2 favorites]