Yeah, obviously, like I said, it’s not fool proof. But if you are going to take a ride with someone and they have plenty of positive feedback, that’s going to give you a lot more peace of mind than hailing a cab and wondering why his meter isn’t working. At least with Uber, every driver is on file, has to take a difficult exam to get in, has background checks, etc. Cabs are literally the wild west, despite the fact that they’re supposed to be regulated. Uber in the States is seen as a union-busting example of diminishing returns on a capitalistic free market; in Mexico, it’s actually proof that the libertarian philosophy of “people keep each other honest, you don’t need government” can work. And I"m not saying that because I’m a libertarian, because I’m not. It’s just true. Life is more nuanced than a single ideology.
No. Just floating signs.
“I only give Jeff one star because the rating system can’t give ZERO STARS! As abduction goes, he’s mediocre at best. He banged my head (and his own hand!) while shoving me into the back of a MINIVAN! The pillowcase he shoved over my head clearly hadn’t been cleaned in several uses, and the fabric was so coarse that I could still see his face! Simply unprofessional.”
Sure, this seems like a totally safe and not completely awful idea.
güey, other wise you risk being read as uneducated while using crude language. 
/pedant
As far as public perception goes I’d agree. It’s effect on public transportation is unfortunately more troubled. Its disruptive in some genuinely good ways, and its also disruptive in a lot of negative ways.
I don’t see this happening, maybe it can be described like that, but if you take a look at the where the money ends up, then you realize that even if an American company getting a cut of services rendered in CDMX is an example of the libertarian ideal in practice (I wouldn’t know), it also means a community is now effectively poorer for it. That’s not the sort of ideal of honesty I’d like to strive for.
As for accountability, call me a pessimist but while I understand why a person could feel safer for using Uber, I’m pretty sure its strictly a feeling and not a certainty, certainly not a guarantee.
“Channel Billy Condoms! If you lived here, you’d be home by now!!” Firesign (I think I’ve got the quote correct…)
I spent 3 months split over 5 trips to Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela in 2007 or so. Two things struck me:
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Seemed that 90% of personal cars had signs for “taxi”; almost always simple hand-lettered re-purposed cardboard, rarely an actual manufactured sign. They’d usually be in the front windshield on the dash. If visible, driver was accepting fares. If flipped over, obscured, covered, or just lying flat, driver was “off duty”. Completely unregulated as far as I could gather.
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A very common option, and I suspect cheapest, was pickup trucks; people just hopped on when they stopped, and banged on the side to indicate they wanted off. Payment was usually to the driver; can’t remember if it was during getting on or getting off). Sometimes the more “professional” looking ones (usually with seats and a roof over the passengers) would have a guy collecting fares. Again, completely unregulated to my eyes.
Seemed so efficient and simple.
Also, lots of nice people, cheap, simple cold beer, great food.
I always thought that was Shadow Valley Condoms.
Work for whom? Certainly not working for the drivers, who have zero control over their professional life, and work long hours for subsistence money.
What do you think ‘government’ is, dogs and cats?
You don’t need a net or a bat to get rid of a drone. We already have a purpose-built tool for destroying small airborne threats. The 12 guage loaded with birdshot.
I don’t think they allow guns in Mexico.
Really? My cursory reading of the wikipedia page says that if you are properly licensed, it’s okay to bear arms in Mexico, federally. But looks a lot more complicated than US federal law. And in any case, I have no idea how lax or strictly it’s regulated.
Hey, you’re the Mariachi man. I wouldn’t presume to know more about Mexico than you.
I mean, Russia has very strict laws about firearms. Much stricter than the US in fact. But a lot of people still have all kinds of crazy undocumented weaponry there.
Also baseball bats. Lots of those too. But have you ever heard of a Russian baseball team?
Interesting.
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/birthplace.php?loc=Russia
Only 2/8 weren’t born in the nineteenth century.
All but Victor Cole were Jewish.
Funny. When the local spy perv hovers out my window, I just close the drapes. When an advertising drone starts hovering out my window, I’m off to the garage to tie four weights to the corners of a small net and try to figure out how to attach that to a crossbow.
