KCRag Forum

pash wrote:I just downloaded the Lyft app only to find it uses Facebook login. So I guess I'm waiting for Uber.

pash wrote:I think you might have answered your own question. ...

pash wrote:I understand that, though I'm disinclined to accept that getting from point A to point B is "inherently a social experience", as Lyft will tell you if you ask why you need a Facebook account to get a ride. You don't need one to use any other transit service, including Über's.

I had a Facebook account a decade ago but deleted it in about 2008. It annoys me when companies whose products have essentially nothing to do with Facebook tie themselves to the platform. And though I understand the desire to keep the anonymous idiots in check, I really dislike the increasing usage of Facebook accounts as a sort of Internet-age replacement for a government-issued ID.

Bill George, chief executive of Kansas City Transportation Group, which operates Yellow Cab, called the company’s operation here “brazen.” He likened it to selling liquor out of a minivan on the street or serving meals from a food truck without submitting to health inspections.

“And ‘nobody can tell me what to do because the young folks love it,’ ” George said. “Do you know how ludicrous that sounds?”

Chris Hernandez, a spokesman for Kansas City, said, “Lyft drivers would need to be permitted to do this, and the company would have to be licensed.”

Hernandez said the fees likely would be similar to those charged taxicab drivers and companies.

Katie Dally, a Lyft spokeswoman, said in an email that Lyft officials were “reaching out to city leaders and look forward to working together.”

chaglang wrote:So the cabbies are confident that they can compete with Lyft and Uber, but are leading the charge to keep ride-sharing out of KC?