Why LaGuardia Is Such A Mess Right Now, And How To Navigate It
In the wake of Monday’s traffic nightmare, which compelled LaGuardia airport travelers to abandon cars and cabs and walk along the highway dragging their suitcases, the developers heading up Governor Cuomo’s Terminal B facelift have acknowledged the extent of this shitshow.
“We are aware of the stress this is causing, realize it is untenable, and apologize to passengers,” said LaGuardia Gateway Partners in a statement.
But while traffic may have been particularly heinous on Monday—thanks in part to a brief security breach and lockdown at Terminal B, the same terminal undergoing construction—the culprit traffic pattern, at the 94th Street airport entrance, has been in effect for a while now—since Sunday August 7th.
According to LGA, the detour is accommodating crews working on a new parking garage. The airport has posted a map of the detour online, which looks relatively benign considering the drama it’s caused. Because the entrance ramp at 94th Street is closed, cars headed in and out of the airport are confined to a single intersection.
Uber: The good, the bad, and the really, really ugly
It has a $68 billion market cap and countless happy riders who can readily articulate why using Uber is better than taking a cab or driving their own car, or maybe even owning their own car. And the Uber drivers get to be their own boss and choose the hours when they want to drive.
What’s not to like? Well, of late, there’s quite a bit not to like, and the fire may be burning out of control.
Even if Uber overcomes the resigning and firing of key executives, and escapes from the legal mess of Waymo and the sleaziness/stink of Greyballing. And no matter who Uber hires to be COO – even if Uber fixes its sexual harassment and toxic workplace culture problems – the elephant in the room will continue to be its exploitation of its drivers, who in combination with the VC money, make it possible for all Uber employees to be extremely well-compensated… at least for now.
Here is the deal with Uber – short and sweet:
Uber is good for the rider
Uber is good for the rider now, but will get worse as the quality of the drivers deteriorates, especially now that Uber offers sub-prime loans for folks with credit scores of 500-600, who will become indentured drivers to Uber. And Connecticut has recently softened background checks for drivers in that state.
Nevertheless, to date, Uber’s ridership continues to grow, even with all of the recent bad press about the company.
Uber is good for lawyers
Has any startup company ever incurred so much legal friction as it enters new markets, domestically and abroad? Since Uber’s launch in 2009, lawsuits have been pouring in from governments, drivers, passengers and competitors. Reasons for the lawsuits include alleged theft of intellectual property, employee benefits, passenger accessibility, price fixing, safety, and background checks.
It certainly would be interesting to know Uber’s total cost to date for attorney fees, fines, suit settlements, alleged theft of trade secrets, lobbying etc. And it certainly looks like this expense will continue to grow.
Uber is bad for the drivers
Drivers’ annual turnover rate is 50 percent which necessitates that Uber find non-credit worthy drivers and drivers of questionable backgrounds, as referenced above.
The fact that drivers earn barely over minimum wage with no benefits is the root cause of the attrition problem. Of all of Uber’s current issues, this is the most serious one, and the one receiving the least attention by Uber’s senior management. As mentioned above, this is truly ‘the elephant in the room’.
Uber is bad for its employees
Recent news about Uber clearly shows that the company is riddled with sexual harassment, ruthless employee behavior, and serious ethics issues. A significant number of employees are either victims or perpetrators in this undisciplined environment.
Uber executives and board members are currently saying all the right things about cleaning up this toxic culture, but will they really be able to do so?
Uber is bad for Uber
Simply put, how is Uber ever going to turn a profit?
If it raises fares, it loses customers. If it lowers fares, it loses drivers at an even faster turnover rate. In the meantime, even though Uber has 85 percent of the ‘market’ compared to Lyft’s 15 percent, it has to compete savagely with Lyft, which means paying driver referrals and bonuses, which is unsustainable without fare increases.
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