Cab Drivers, Uber, and the Costs of Racism

http://www.racialicious.com/2012/11/28/cab-drivers-uber-and-the-costs-of-racism/

by jellywish • 14 years ago

20 16 14 years ago

LOVED this. Markets FTW.

nsxwolf2• 14 years ago

Uber drivers aren't afraid to pick you up because you have a lot of money and a smartphone. It's a signal that you're a young black hipster and not a gang banger.

It's still racist. It just shifts the outcome in your favor.

w1ntermute• 14 years ago

Hey, progress is progress. At least we're seeing some improvement.

viraptor• 14 years ago

The first sentence is still true if you remove the race references from it. Is it still racist then? Or is it just showing differences based on income level?

nsxwolf2• 14 years ago

It is using differences based on income level as a piece of information that is more important in a driver's decision making process than race.

Cab drivers who do not have that information fall back to race. Presumably, if a crystal ball existed that told a driver "This fare will not harm you", the problem of racism would disappear.

There aren't many drivers who are refusing money out of pure racial hatred. Black cab drivers are racist against blacks too.

mmanfrin• 14 years ago

How is it 'still racist'?

tgrass• 14 years ago

Gang bangers or hipsters. My ethnographic lesson for America is done now.

jack-r-abbit3• 14 years ago

uh... gang bangers have money and smart phones too. They used to rob people for $200 Air Jordans. Now it is for iPhones. Maybe you were confusing "gang banger" with "poor".

bps4484• 14 years ago

To use Uber I think you have to give a credit card. I think this is be biggest deterrent to breaking any laws: they already know who you are and if you commit a crime they can find you. I suppose a gang banger could use a fake credit card to set up an account just to then get a cab and rob them, but that creates a big hurdle that I think will eliminate lots of crime.

mileswu• 14 years ago

There's still racial inequality if you have to pay extra (to use Uber) to get a similar service that other races can get cheaper (normal cab).

fusiongyro2• 14 years ago

The article didn't say that Uber is making normal cabs unracist, just that Uber itself can't be racist, and that this gives Uber yet another market edge over normal cabs.

_delirium• 14 years ago

I can buy that to some extent, but it seems fairly common among luxury businesses: wealthy black businessmen are in many situations treated as just a "wealthy person" regardless of their race, so are insulated from many of the problems faced by the majority of non-wealthy blacks. I.e. their wealth is the most salient demographic lens people view them through. Hence why Herman Cain can claim (and might honestly believe) that racism is no longer holding anyone back.

greenrider• 14 years ago

Disclaimer: I work for Uber.

Thought it might be worth mentioning that you can actually use Uber to hail a regular taxi in a bunch of cities, including SF, Boston, Chicago, and Toronto. You do have to pay a guaranteed tip (which incentivizes the taxi drivers to take Uber dispatches), but in return you get the same race-blind properties of Uber at regular cab rates. Plus no dealing with "broken" credit card terminals...

And yes, obviously there is still inherent socioeconomic filtering that happens when you ask someone to use an expensive smartphone to hail a cab, but the phones will get cheaper, the apps will get better, and hopefully the level of accountability in the transportation ecosystem will continue to increase over time.

Cab Drivers, Uber, and the Costs of Racism

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