Hitching a Lyft

[captainsblog]

I wound up in Rochester today for barely over two hours. No court, no clients (despite efforts to connect with a couple). I put in a brief obligatory office appearance, but the only real reason for going was to give Cameron a ride to Buffalo so he could get to his brother's high school graduation tomorrow.  Seems like only last week we were attending his (and Emily's) commencement from the Class of 2010, and Cam is still processing the fact that his little brother, and his only full sib, is now taller than him and done with this part of his life.

It was perhaps the longest I've ever spent with Just Him, and it was nice. We riffed on odd things we saw near their apartment (including a TAX PREPARATION-PSYCHIC storefront halfway to the 390-490 onramp), and he seemed amazed by the number of hawks he saw along with 90 in the final miles.  He also confirmed that Emily has gotten the go-ahead to begin training at her new job next week, which we'd kinda been wondering about. So all seems well on their end of things:)

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Making that trip just for this purpose reminded me of something I've been meaning to comment about for awhile. You may recall that Iggy has a distinct facial expression-



- but he's not alone in that imagery. A growing-nationwide service has been trying to gain footholds in urban markets to provide ride-sharing services, using the 'stache as the distinguishing feature:



The pink mustache is the symbol of an Internet-driven rideshare service known as Lyft.  There's another major player in the industry known as Uber, which rather makes fun of the pink:



These two startups are poking fun at each other, but the Old Model world is pissed at them both, and is using its political power to stop their drivers from horning in on the established system of medallions, licenses and municipal fees built over the past century by taxicabs and livery services. But they're not just ticketing them. No, this means war:

San Francisco International Airport says its officials have made a dozen citizen arrests of drivers working for Uber Technologies and Lyft, a couple of the new-fangled, mobile device-centric ride dispatching services, saying they were not permitted there and thus trespassed on airport property.

Airport officials say they began July 12 making the misdemeanor trespassing arrests — which do not involve being taken into custody— after repeatedly warning vendors including Lyft, SideCar and Uber that they were subject to enforcement actions and indeed that enforcement was about to begin, said airport spokesman Doug Yakel Tuesday.

Other cities have gone as far as to impound the mustachioed cars (and those of its competitors) in order to preserve the cabbies' city-blessed monopolies.  Never mind that the Lyft and Uber drivers are far more likely to treat their fares pleasantly, and to not bombard them with ad-filled telescreens in the back seat that can't be shut off.

Lodging is going through a similar Lalalala-I-Can't-Hear-You sea change.  Online booking services like Airbnb connect city visitors with property owners willing to sublet their spaces short-term, but here, again, it's the municipal lobbies deprived of ridiculous "bed taxes" on travelers who can't vote them out of office for passing them, along with the old-school hotel industry, who are whining about this uncontrollable rise of capitalism.  Good luck, guys: you are today's telegraph operators, horse-and-buggy maintainers, handwritten spreadsheet printers.  We are outgrowing you; succeed on your own merits or let the competition in.

Maybe, by the time Cameron's step-sibs finish school in 10-15 years, he'll be able to get back to their graduations in a reasonably priced hire with a mustache on it.