{"id":3253,"date":"2016-07-07T06:12:06","date_gmt":"2016-07-06T22:12:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/?p=3253"},"modified":"2016-07-07T11:11:11","modified_gmt":"2016-07-07T03:11:11","slug":"austin-ridesharing-reminds-me-of-chinese-protectionism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/archives\/2016\/07\/07\/austin-ridesharing-reminds-me-of-chinese-protectionism","title":{"rendered":"Austin ridesharing reminds me of Chinese protectionism"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Its no secret that a lot of the Internet economy in China is fuelled by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2015\/01\/29\/technology\/in-china-new-cybersecurity-rules-perturb-western-tech-companies.html?_r=0\">protectionism<\/a>. A reddit user managed to post some <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/China\/comments\/1amoqj\/chinese_equivalents_to_these_major_american\/\">service equivalents<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In May 2016, I landed in Austin to see that there were <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bytebot\/status\/731240834545254400\">no more pickups in Austin<\/a>. I took exactly two cabs during my stay (to\/from the airport), and walked everywhere I needed to go. It wasn&#8217;t a great experience as the weather was pretty bad as well, and Paul Graham also <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bytebot\/status\/731876289041174528\">chimed in<\/a>. Apparently there are <a href=\"http:\/\/viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com\/2016\/05\/15\/hack-still-use-uber-lyft-austin\/\">hacks to get around to using Uber in Austin<\/a>, but I&#8217;ve never bothered to use them (that article also talks about the requirements beyond just background checks BTW). <\/p>\n<p>People get creative naturally &#8211; they started a <a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2016\/06\/07\/how-a-30k-member-facebook-group-filled-the-void-left-by-uber-and-lyft-in-austin\/\">Facebook group<\/a>, so much so the <a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2016\/06\/21\/austin-police-are-now-impounding-drivers-in-the-peer-to-peer-ridesharing-group\/\">police have started to crackdown<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>But I&#8217;m starting to see all these other services crop up that presumably abide by whatever Austin asks for: <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>at the airport, ads at the baggage carousel for <a href=\"https:\/\/geo.itunes.apple.com\/us\/app\/fare\/id1067392491?mt=8&amp;at=1001lbQv\">FARE<\/a> (some <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bizjournals.com\/austin\/news\/2016\/05\/20\/ride-hailing-app-gears-up-for-imminent-austin.html\">news about their launch<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li>at the hotel I saw a brochure for <a href=\"https:\/\/geo.itunes.apple.com\/us\/app\/wingz-your-trusted-personal\/id571316013?mt=8&amp;at=1001lbQv\">Wingz<\/a> which promises pre-booking, flat rates, surge-free and around town you pay a minimum of $20, and to get to\/from the airport its a $25 minimum. <\/li>\n<li>at the hotel again, I saw a brochure for <a href=\"https:\/\/geo.itunes.apple.com\/us\/app\/fasten\/id941094858?mt=8&amp;at=1001lbQv\">Fasten<\/a> with a $20 off my first ride promo code as well (their font initially made me look for &#8220;faston&#8221; instead of &#8220;fasten&#8221;).<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/geo.itunes.apple.com\/us\/app\/get-me-something-or-somewhere\/id979584772?mt=8&amp;at=1001lbQv\">Get me<\/a> via an email from the hotel informing me that I wouldn&#8217;t be able to use Uber\/Lyft in Austin.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/geo.itunes.apple.com\/us\/app\/ztrip-black-car-taxi-service\/id559861547?mt=8&amp;at=1001lbQv\">zTrip<\/a> was also in said similar email as above.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>So its not that Austin doesn&#8217;t like ridesharing. And with time, presumably enough people will complain so we will see Lyft and Uber make their way back. This week I&#8217;m walking around Austin as well (its 38C, but thats better than rain I guess). But it sure feels very protectionist. <\/p>\n<div class=\"sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled\"><div class=\"robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-icon-text sd-sharing\"><h3 class=\"sd-title\">Share this:<\/h3><div class=\"sd-content\"><ul><li class=\"share-email\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-email sd-button share-icon\" href=\"mailto:?subject=%5BShared%20Post%5D%20Austin%20ridesharing%20reminds%20me%20of%20Chinese%20protectionism&body=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bytebot.net%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2016%2F07%2F07%2Faustin-ridesharing-reminds-me-of-chinese-protectionism&share=email\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to email a link to a friend\" data-email-share-error-title=\"Do you have email set up?\" data-email-share-error-text=\"If you&#039;re having problems sharing via email, you might not have email set up for your browser. 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A reddit user managed to post some service equivalents. In May 2016, I landed in Austin to see that there were no more pickups in Austin. I took exactly two cabs during my stay (to\/from the airport), and walked [&hellip;]<\/p>\n<div class=\"sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled\"><div class=\"robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-icon-text sd-sharing\"><h3 class=\"sd-title\">Share this:<\/h3><div class=\"sd-content\"><ul><li class=\"share-email\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-email sd-button share-icon\" href=\"mailto:?subject=%5BShared%20Post%5D%20Austin%20ridesharing%20reminds%20me%20of%20Chinese%20protectionism&body=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bytebot.net%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2016%2F07%2F07%2Faustin-ridesharing-reminds-me-of-chinese-protectionism&share=email\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to email a link to a friend\" data-email-share-error-title=\"Do you have email set up?\" data-email-share-error-text=\"If you&#039;re having problems sharing via email, you might not have email set up for your browser. You may need to create a new email yourself.\" data-email-share-nonce=\"d1170170c5\" data-email-share-track-url=\"https:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/archives\/2016\/07\/07\/austin-ridesharing-reminds-me-of-chinese-protectionism?share=email\"><span>Email<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-facebook\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-facebook-3253\" class=\"share-facebook sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/archives\/2016\/07\/07\/austin-ridesharing-reminds-me-of-chinese-protectionism?share=facebook\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Facebook\" ><span>Facebook<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-linkedin\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-linkedin-3253\" class=\"share-linkedin sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/archives\/2016\/07\/07\/austin-ridesharing-reminds-me-of-chinese-protectionism?share=linkedin\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on LinkedIn\" ><span>LinkedIn<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-twitter\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-twitter-3253\" class=\"share-twitter sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/archives\/2016\/07\/07\/austin-ridesharing-reminds-me-of-chinese-protectionism?share=twitter\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Twitter\" ><span>Twitter<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-end\"><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[1],"tags":[1301,328,1847,1848,1750],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4vJD-Qt","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3247,"url":"https:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/archives\/2016\/07\/05\/speaking-in-july-2016","url_meta":{"origin":3253,"position":0},"title":"Speaking in July 2016","date":"5\/7\/2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Texas LinuxFest - July 8-9 2016 - Austin, Texas - I've never spoken at this event before but have heard great things about it. I've got a morning talk about what's in MariaDB Server 10.1, and what's coming in 10.2. db tech showcase - July 13-15 2016 - Tokyo, Japan\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;MariaDB&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2738,"url":"https:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/archives\/2013\/06\/03\/trip-report-drupalcon-portland-2013","url_meta":{"origin":3253,"position":1},"title":"Trip Report: DrupalCon Portland 2013","date":"3\/6\/2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I have never been to a DrupalCon before so my first was DrupalCon Portland 2013\u00a0(with some 3,500+ attendees). My first DrupalCon happened to also be one that I spoke at, and I hope to return to Austin in 2014 (added bonus: I've never been to Texas before). SkySQL\u00a0had decided to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;MariaDB&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3249,"url":"https:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/archives\/2016\/07\/06\/may-june-2016-mariadb-server-related-worklog","url_meta":{"origin":3253,"position":2},"title":"May-June 2016 MariaDB Server related worklog","date":"6\/7\/2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Reviewed Sergei's MariaDB in Google Summer of Code 2016 Reviewed Kaj's MariaDB Foundation dialogue GDoc\/blog Accepted to speak at SELF 2016, and also organise the speaking at Nerdear.la in Buenos Aires; tight schedules to make those events Prepared for speech in Hanoi for OpenCPS Launch Event; give speech; wrote blog\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Work&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3357,"url":"https:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/archives\/2017\/05\/22\/uber-data-extractor","url_meta":{"origin":3253,"position":3},"title":"Uber Data Extractor","date":"22\/5\/2017","format":false,"excerpt":"This is pretty cool: Uber Trip History Bookmarklet. It allows you to get your complete Uber trip history, download it as a CSV file, and then run the Uber Data Visualiser. You get to learn quite a bit about your trips. I\u2019ve attached a snapshot of mine, there\u2019s more data\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Tech&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"Uber Data Visualizer","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Uber_Data_Visualizer.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3387,"url":"https:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/archives\/2017\/09\/10\/grab-bagged-south-east-asia-uber-still-in-the-running","url_meta":{"origin":3253,"position":4},"title":"Grab bagged South East Asia? Uber still in the running","date":"10\/9\/2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I see a lot of anecdotal evidence that people claim Grab has South East Asia in the bag and Uber is doomed. I beg to differ. I take a Grab or Uber from KLIA quite a bit. I always try the Grab app first. Take yesterday (Friday night\/Saturday morning). I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3161,"url":"https:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/archives\/2016\/01\/22\/uber-and-the-black-cab","url_meta":{"origin":3253,"position":5},"title":"Uber and the Black Cab","date":"22\/1\/2016","format":false,"excerpt":"My residence in London is the Hyatt Regency London - The Churchill at 30 Portman Square. I've been staying there for years and find it to be a phenomenal location with phenomenal staff. I've ordered many Uber's from there despite there being a taxi rank right outside the hotel. One\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3253"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3253"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3253\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3257,"href":"https:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3253\/revisions\/3257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}