captiveguru

The newspaper chose to use the word "legally" in the headline. As usual, the text of the article does not support the use of the term. Head The old city taxi ordinance did not regulate Uber's operations. The new one does. Uber did not face legal challenges in Des Moines. There were no "sting" operations where undercover police officers ticket Uber drivers. There was no effort to get a court injunction, which is apparently happening in Edmonton.

Uber operated freely and without legal interference in DSM since starting in September 2014.

lin821

Since we are onto the legal status of Uber, I may add that Uber has been operating illegally in Taiwan since Day One and racked up tons of fine in the last couple of months. Even though Uber has an international presence but different country has different laws and regulations. TB would have to consider such (legal) variances and implication whether destination fora would make a better home to discuss Uber or a dedicated shared ride forum.

Speaking only for myself, as a resident FTer in Taiwan, I have no problem sharing my thoughts in Asia Forum if I run into posts/threads about Uber there. Having said that, I don't think I would spend time in a dedicated shared ride forum to see if there were posts about Uber in Taiwan since I won't be a regular user.

As a matter of fact, I am seeing some parallel dynamics (w/o the legal implication) between Uber and rail travel on FT. Rail travel isn't foreign to FTers but we don't have a "general" rail travel forum:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/talkb...ail-forum.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/talkb...nd-europe.html

We have Amtrak Forum under Other Loyalty Programs/Partners Forum and European Rail Travel Forum under destination Europe Forum. In other countries with popular demands for rail travel such as Japan, destination fora have housed those discussion quite nice and comfortably for years. I don't know if it's time to have an international rail travel forum but we have good and valid reasons to maintain the current structure to discuss rail travel without the catchall/general rail travel forum.

I am not saying having a shared ride or hired car forum would be so wrong, but maybe TB should apply similar logic when pondering how and where to place such line of discussion for services like Uber? What would be a more user-friendly structure to facilitate such discussion on FT?

IMHO, that's too simple a logic to argue for creating a new forum. If I were a TBer, I wouldn't be convinced by such argument. Luckily, TB hasn't taken this approach to have some test run for every possible forum any FTer ever suggested without demonstrating viable traffic and demand.

captiveguru

One reason for asking about Uber experiences in different cities is to find out what is happening there and how to make Uber work best in that locale.

Example: I learned, by posting in the Los Angelas forum, that UberX is not allowed to pick-up at LAX. Drivers who try have been ticketed. UberX customers take a hotel or parking shuttle to the nearest drop-off point and request a pick-up from outside the LAX boundary.

The problem with using the destination forums is not every city has one. My DSM post is buried in the Midwest forum.

I will continue to post inquires in the local forums for every city where I plan to use Uber in 2015. From my DSM experience I now will post several weeks before my schedule trip.

Shared ride use has already grown well beyond the NY and LA markets and is available in more than 150 local markets in the US. How much more does it need to grow to be Forum-Worthy?

tcook052

I'm less sure as the prevailing TB approach to forum creation lately leans more toward the 'build it and they will come' strategy than the previous one of wanting to see demonstrable demand to support establishing a new forum. As we've seen this catering to imagined future demand instead of relying on current numbers sometimes doesn't pan out and FT is left with a bunch of underused forums that TB is supposed to monitor in an annual traffic review, one we're still awaiting from 2014.

Which is exactly what I was saying. The major markets are already housing Uber discussion because of demand so if and when there is enough threads & posts beyond those markets down to the smaller cities like Des Moines then to me a dedicated shared ride forum would become more necessary.

MSPeconomist

Are we talking about a forum exclusively for Uber etc. ride services or whatever they're called or is the suggestion to have a more general forum that would at least include car services/limos, the divisions of car rental agencies that cover the provision of vehicles with drivers, etc.? IF we go ahead with this, I think a broader forum would be better, but I'm open to being convinced about this as well as the general desirability of such a new forum.

captiveguru

My preference would be for a Uber Forum that would contain threads about Uber and would not be location-specific. Similar to the Delta Forum, or the Hilton Forum.

Example: In January I booked a flight from MCO-YWE on United's code-share partner, Silver. I had not flown Silver before and went to the United Forum to ask questions about Silver's MCO-YWE service. I did not go to the Florida destination forum.

If I wanted to know more about Delta's SC at LAX I would ask in the Delta forum, not the LA destination forum.

But I am forced to go to the destination forums to ask Uber questions. This is acceptable for the larger cities, but my questions about Uber service in places like, DSM, LIT, PDX, CLT, etc... are buried in a regional destination forum (Midwest, South, West, etc...), because there is no state or city forum for these locations.

I go to the Delta Forum to ask questions from those with the most experience using Delta. I would like to do the same with Uber.

I would prefer not to have a general ride-sharing forum because I do not care about Lyft, Sidecar, etc... Having said that, if there was a ride-sharing forum it would be easy to navigate if everyone put the name of the service in the thread headline.

MSPeconomist

Will there be enough activity if the forum would be Uber exclusively and not even close substitutes like Lyft?

CMK10

I don't think there would. And even if there would be, I don't think cutting out Lyft is a good idea. I'm more in favor of a general forum for hired car/driver discussion (though I think we need a better forum title).

rwoman

Perhaps a general forum with some specific sub-forums if needed?

It seems like many gravitate toward uber and would like go to such a forum for more information on uber, but other services are definitely out there.

mia

On-demand rideshare services

SkiAdcock

Sounds good.

Cheers

MSPeconomist

IMO this is still too narrow. Car services, etc. are close substitutes. The same is true for the rental vehicles with driver and/or guide that seem to be commonly offered by some overseas major rental car agencies but also can be arranged in the USA.

captiveguru

Do you have any basis for this statement?

Here are some interesting Uber statistics as of December 2013:

More than 100,000 trips per week in each of its 5 largest cities (NYC, DC, SFO, Chicago, and LA)

More here: http://www.businessinsider.com/uber-...-fares-2014-11

tcook052

That's the important questions TB should always consider being forum creation, not after forum creation. Any solid data on the number of posts & threads on the various fora to support forum creation?

CMK10

Just my gut feeling. Remember that just because a company is popular doesn't mean there will be high FT demand. Hell, Enterprise is the largest car rental company in the US and there's very little discussion about it here.

mia put this together early in the discussion:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/24461892-post25.html