Posts Tagged ‘smart’
Thursday, February 7th, 2013
Apparently, if you have your UberCab driver pahk the cah at Hahvahd Yahd, the tip you pay for that service doesn’t all go to the Uber taxi driver. Deets below.
Is that kind of a setup illegal? I don’t know but we’ll find out soon enough.
Oh Uber Taxi, will you ever win?
Now when Uber drivers aren’t Ubering, they’re illegally picking up people off the street like the drivers of all these vehicles were trying to do on Sacramento last year:
Click to expand
Uber Cab/
Uber Cab/
It IS your fault
All the deets:
“High-tech car service Uber faces more accusations
Lawsuit alleges labor law violations
BOSTON, Feb. 7, 2013 – A class-action lawsuit filed in US District Court last week alleges car service Uber Technologies Inc. is violating state law prohibiting employers from keeping tips earned by employees.
The suit, filed by a driver for Uber, is another strike against the upstart high-tech car service that has prompted legal and regulatory crackdowns in other cities.
“Uber’s practice of keeping a large portion of the drivers’ tips is both deceptive to the customers, who expect that the drivers get to keep the gratuities that they have given them, and blatantly in violation of Massachusetts law,” said Hillary Schwab of Lichten & Liss-Riordan, P.C., one of the lawyers for the plaintiffs.
The suit comes on the heels of similar action taken by drivers in Chicago and regulations for smartphone applications in the car service industry recently proposed by the International Association of Transportation Regulators. Those proposals, released in November, would curtail the use of GPS devices as a substitute for a taxi meter, prohibit drivers without proper licensing from offering rides for pay, and bar car services from charging extra during hours of peak demand. IATR said its intention was to “bring rogue applications into compliance.” The proposals would have to be adopted by local state and city regulators. New York City, meanwhile, has drafted even more stringent regulations.
Boston fleet owners have said that if smart phone applications in the car service industry are to become standard there still must be uniform rules regarding their use.
In the most recent case, a driver for Uber, David Lavitman, of Milton, alleges Uber kept his tips. He said customers are regularly assessed a 20 percent gratuity but that the company retains as much as half that amount. Lavitman’s suit is seeking class action status and says more than 40 drivers in Massachusetts who served customers beginning Dec. 10, 2012 could join the class. Damages could exceed $5 million, according to statements by the company.
Uber is based in San Francisco.
SOURCE DBMediaStrategies Inc.
DBMediaStrategies Inc.
Web Site: http://www.dbmediastrategies.com
Tags: 2013, bay area, boston, california, class action, customers, David Lavitman, Employees, GPS, Hillary Schwab, lawsuit, Licensing, Lichten & Liss-Riordan, lincoln, Ma, massachusetts, peak, phone, San Francisco, smart, smart phone, taxi meter, technologies, tips, town car, uber, Uber Technologies
Posted in transit | 1 Comment »
Thursday, January 17th, 2013
This particular space on 10th Street is particularly long, so there’s nothing stopping a SmartCar driver from sneaking up on your six and bogarting your space.
And motorcycle drivers do this kind of thing as well.
Maybe DPT would write two citations for the one parking meter violation?
Click to expand
That’s my guess but I don’t know…
Tags: 2013, bay area, california, car, DPT, expired, expired ticket, meter, mta, parking, San Francisco, SFMTA, share, smart, space, ticket, wtfsfmta
Posted in cars | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, December 26th, 2012
Tags: 2011, 2012, ad, bay area, california, cars, congestion, Donald Shoup, DPT, hourly, meters, mta, Muni, new york times, parking, Parking Availability & Pricing, parksf, pricing, professor, San Francisco, sf park, SFMTA, sfmtawtf, sfpark, sfpark.org, smart, Smart Meter, smartmeter, UCLA, wtfsfmta
Posted in cars | No Comments »
Thursday, March 1st, 2012
I guess they’re building this?
Anyway, they’re advertising it these days, for some reason.
Check it.
Click to expand
Basically, it’s going to be like a mini-BART* but for the North Bay – news to me.
And unlike massively-expensive California High Speed Rail project, we can actually afford the SMART train.
And unlike the useless Central Subway federal pork subway-to-nowhere project in Chinatown, SMART has the potential to benefit its riders.
Hurray!
*Speaking of which, BART to Livermore and/or San Jose, those projects also sound like they could be useful in the future, I don’t know.
Tags: 2012, bay area, california, California High Speed Rail, central subway, county, High Speed Rail, marin, San Francisco, san rafael, smart, smart train, Sonoma., subway, Subway to Nowhere, train
Posted in transit | 1 Comment »
Thursday, January 26th, 2012
I don’t know how this happened but here you can see two cars sharing a metered space meant for just one car.
When the meter expires, which car should get the ticket from DPT?
Click to expand
Oh, I know, how about both?
Our City and County can certainly use the $200 or whatever those two citations would bring in.
Hurray!
P.S. Just as Toyota Prius drivers are the worst drivers in the 415, Smart Car owners are the worst parkers around. It Is Written.
Tags: 2012, bay area, california, car, citation, DPT, Manson for Mayor 2012, mta, park, parking, San Francisco, SFMTA, sharing, smart, smartcar, space, ticket, VW
Posted in cars | No Comments »
Tuesday, August 16th, 2011
These new SmartCars are parked willy-nilly all over town these days, on the sidewalks, in red zones, wherever.
Why? It’s ’cause some of the drivers of these vehicles think , “I can park anywhere!” (I’m srsly, that’s literally what they’ll tell you. They’re proud.)
So when they get to their destinations, they figure they’ll just make it fit, they’ll find a place.
As here, where a women in the Western Addition NoPA area tried to park three yards of Smart ForTwo into a curb space between two driveways that, well, just take a look:
Click to expand
So, you Smart Car drivers should smarten up and fly straight.
And count your blessings that practices such as Smart Tipping and Smart Tossing haven’t taken root here…
Tags: anywhere, auto, car, fortwo, illegal, park, parking, sidewalk, sidewalks, smart, smart car, smartcar, Tip, tipping, toss, tossing
Posted in cars | No Comments »
Friday, August 12th, 2011
Grab your GPS device and head on over to the Presidio to get in on the Geocaching craze.
All the deets, below.
“HIGH TECH HIDE-AND-SEEK” IN THE PRESIDIO
GEOCACHING TAKES FAMILIES, ADVENTURERS OFF THE BEATEN TRAIL
Presidio of San Francisco (August 11, 2011) — “I found it!” exclaimed Alex, his face beaming with pride and the excitement only a 7-year old can muster. With a little help from his mom’s smartphone and a lot of perseverance, Alex had located his first geocache, discreetly hidden near a trail in the Presidio’s Lobos Creek Valley.
The Trust, in conjunction with the National Wildlife Federation, has brought Ranger Rick’s Geocache Trails—a new wildlife-themed, outdoor treasure hunt—to the Presidio.
Sometimes referred to as a game of “high-tech hide and seek,” geocaching is relatively new to national parks, but the phenomenon has been around for more than a decade. Using a smartphone or handheld GPS device, people hunt for “caches” (typically small boxes) hidden in public places around the world.
“Geocaching in the Presidio combines the excitement of a treasure hunt with the reward of discovering lesser known parts of the park,” says Damien Raffa, education and volunteer program manager for the Presidio Trust. “Offering this kind of adventure helps us bring new people into the park and expose them to some of the Presidio’s hidden gems.”
The Presidio offers two ways to play. Visitors can go to www.presidio.gov/kids/trails/ and download GPS co-ordinates, while those without a GPS device can download a map for a self-guided experience. Then simply follow the co-ordinates to uncover the geocache. The cache will never be buried but could be tucked inside a log or tree stump, under a bush or behind a wall. Inside the cache, searchers will find a logbook to sign and a unique stamp depicting a member of the Presidio’s wildlife community.
Ever more deets, after the jump.
(more…)
Tags: Android, box, boxes, caches, children, Damien Raffa, Family, fun, geocache, geocached, geocaching, GPS, hide and seek, hunt, iphone, kids, Lobos Creek, map, national park, phone, presidio, Presidio Trust, smart, smartphone, treasure, Valley
Posted in kids, parks | No Comments »
Monday, August 8th, 2011
As seen in the West Bay, on Noriega:
Even the foggy Outer Sunset can look good when you shoot a 300mm lens totally wide open:
Click to expand
Isn’t this cell phone case delightful?
Let’s hope the Playboy Magazine people don’t want to sue…
Tags: (CASE), +3, 2011, 4, 5, Android, apple, bay area, bunny, california, ears, iphone, magazine, phone, pink, playboy, rabbit, rubber, San Francisco, smart, sunset, top, trademark, West Bay
Posted in Animals, paranormal | 4 Comments »
Wednesday, April 6th, 2011
Now, one of these electricity meters four stories down is mine,* so of course I was extremely worried about the coming SmartMeter invasion.*
But now that I know that I can opt out of SmartMeters, I’m planning on spending hundreds or thousands of dollars to keep my old meter* (or get a new non-wireless meter, whatever.)
Can you imagine? I’ll certainly sleep better at night* knowing that I’ve played a role in reducing the non-ionizing radiation coming from the garage downstairs by about 2% during the few minutes a day that SmartMeters emit anything at all!
That means I’ll have more time to fret about all the other radiation sources what are killing me.
Hurray!*
*Not really
Tags: 2011, bay area, california, CPUC, meter, opt out, pg&e, radiation, San Francisco, smart, smart meters, smartmeter opt out, smartmeters
Posted in paranormal | 1 Comment »
Monday, December 27th, 2010
Call this the orange parking strategy, if you want.
Personally, I think that Smart Car drivers should be able to park wherever and whenever they want.
I mean, they’re always at risk of yet another Smart Car Tipping and that’s no fun at all…
Click to expand
Tags: 2010, bay area, california, parking, San Francisco, smart, smart car, Tip, tipping, union square
Posted in cars | No Comments »
