<story><title>Uber stops upfront ride pricing in response to California worker law</title><url>https://www.reuters.com/article/us-uber-california/uber-stops-upfront-ride-pricing-in-response-to-california-worker-law-idUSKBN1Z731Z</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>jimmaswell</author><text>So now people not in a city center will never get rides. Wonderful outcome, very progressive.</text></item><item><author>blendergeek</author><text>I am an Uber Driver. I have been wanting changes like this ever since I started driving. I saw people asking, &amp;#x27;how does this make drivers less employee like?&amp;#x27; I&amp;#x27;ll tell you this. It makes us feel less like employees when we actually have enough information to choose whether or not we want to take a ride. Now we will be able to see the estimated fare before we take a specific ride. There will be no more driving 20 minutes to a ride only to discover that it will be a half mile ride that wastes another twenty minutes at a convenience store netting us $3 for 40 minutes of our time. I will simply skip any ride like that. We feel less like employees and more like the contractors we are supposed to be when we know why Uber gets a certain percentage of the fare. I wholeheartedly agree with the changes Uber is making.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>dang</author><text>Can you please not post in the snarky or flamewar style to HN? It&amp;#x27;s against the rules, and evokes worse from others, as demonstrated below.&lt;p&gt;We&amp;#x27;re trying for thoughtful conversation here. If you wouldn&amp;#x27;t mind reviewing &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&amp;#x2F;newsguidelines.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&amp;#x2F;newsguidelines.html&lt;/a&gt; and taking that spirit to heart, we&amp;#x27;d be grateful.</text></comment>
<story><title>Uber stops upfront ride pricing in response to California worker law</title><url>https://www.reuters.com/article/us-uber-california/uber-stops-upfront-ride-pricing-in-response-to-california-worker-law-idUSKBN1Z731Z</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>jimmaswell</author><text>So now people not in a city center will never get rides. Wonderful outcome, very progressive.</text></item><item><author>blendergeek</author><text>I am an Uber Driver. I have been wanting changes like this ever since I started driving. I saw people asking, &amp;#x27;how does this make drivers less employee like?&amp;#x27; I&amp;#x27;ll tell you this. It makes us feel less like employees when we actually have enough information to choose whether or not we want to take a ride. Now we will be able to see the estimated fare before we take a specific ride. There will be no more driving 20 minutes to a ride only to discover that it will be a half mile ride that wastes another twenty minutes at a convenience store netting us $3 for 40 minutes of our time. I will simply skip any ride like that. We feel less like employees and more like the contractors we are supposed to be when we know why Uber gets a certain percentage of the fare. I wholeheartedly agree with the changes Uber is making.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>blendergeek</author><text>I drive in smallish city. I never drive more than ten minutes for a ride. This means that at night (when I&amp;#x27;m the only one on the road) some people don&amp;#x27;t get rides. I know it would be nice if we had people who could drive around on their own dime and give everybody rides, unfortunately that does not exist. I will happily go anywhere in a city where a ride will be worth my time and effort. We could increase the cost of short rides and pay the drivers (and charge the drivers) for the time spent driving to the rides. Then the drivers will come.&lt;p&gt;However, you are asking that drivers be willing to take 40 minutes out of their day to make 3 dollars. These drivers often barely make it by as it is. That is neither profitable or sustainable.</text></comment>