#Toronto Cars

[gunitautomotive]

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#window tint #car tinting #gunit automotive #uv protection #ceramic tint #heat rejection #toronto cars #toronto

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Lies, damned lies, and Uber

I'm on tour with my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me TONIGHT in PHOENIX (Changing Hands, Feb 29) then Tucson (Mar 10-11), San Francisco (Mar 13), and more!

Uber lies about everything, especially money. Oh, and labour. Especially labour. And geometry. Especially geometry! But especially especially money. They constantly lie about money.

Uber are virtuosos of mendacity, but in Toronto, the company has attained a heretofore unseen hat-trick: they told a single lie that is dramatically, materially untruthful about money, labour and geometry! It's an achievement for the ages.

Here's how they did it.

For several decades, Toronto has been clobbered by the misrule of a series of far-right, clownish mayors. This was the result of former Ontario Premier Mike Harris's great gerrymander of 1998, when the city of Toronto was amalgamated with its car-dependent suburbs. This set the tone for the next quarter-century, as these outlying regions – utterly dependent on Toronto for core economic activity and massive subsidies to pay the unsustainable utility and infrastructure bills for sprawling neighborhoods of single-family homes – proceeded to gut the city they relied on.

These "conservative" mayors – the philanderer, the crackhead, the sexual predator – turned the city into a corporate playground, swapping public housing and rent controls for out-of-control real-estate speculation and trading out some of the world's best transit for total car-dependency. As part of that decay, the city rolled out the red carpet for Uber, allowing the company to put as many unlicensed taxis as they wanted on the city's streets.

Now, it's hard to overstate the dire traffic situation in Toronto. Years of neglect and underinvestment in both the roads and the transit system have left both in a state of near collapse and it's not uncommon for multiple, consecutive main arteries to shut down without notice for weeks, months, or, in a few cases, years. The proliferation of Ubers on the road – driven by desperate people trying to survive the city's cost-of-living catastrophe – has only exacerbated this problem.

Uber, of course, would dispute this. The company insists – despite all common sense and peer-reviewed research – that adding more cars to the streets alleviates traffic. This is easily disproved: there just isn't any way to swap buses, streetcars, and subways for cars. The road space needed for all those single-occupancy cars pushes everything further apart, which means we need more cars, which means more roads, which means more distance between things, and so on.

It is an undeniable fact that geometry hates cars. But geometry loathes Uber. Because Ubers have all the problems of single-occupancy vehicles, and then they have the separate problem that they just end up circling idly around the city's streets, waiting for a rider. The more Ubers there are on the road, the longer each car ends up waiting for a passenger:

https://www.sfgate.com/technology/article/Uber-Lyft-San-Francisco-pros-cons-ride-hailing-13841277.php

Anything that can't go on forever eventually stops. After years of bumbling-to-sinister municipal rule, Toronto finally reclaimed its political power and voted in a new mayor, Olivia Chow, a progressive of long tenure and great standing (I used to ring doorbells for her when she was campaigning for her city council seat). Mayor Chow announced that she was going to reclaim the city's prerogative to limit the number of Ubers on the road, ending the period of Uber's "self-regulation."

Uber, naturally, lost its shit. The company claims to be more than a (geometrically impossible) provider of convenient transportation for Torontonians, but also a provider of good jobs for working people. And to prove it, the company has promised to pay its drivers "120% of minimum wage." As I write for Ricochet, that's a whopper, even by Uber's standards:

https://ricochet.media/en/4039/uber-is-lying-again-the-company-has-no-intention-of-paying-drivers-a-living-wage

Here's the thing: Uber is only proposing to pay 120% of the minimum wage while drivers have a passenger in the vehicle. And with the number of vehicles Uber wants on the road, most drivers will be earning nothing most of the time. Factor in that unpaid time, as well as expenses for vehicles, and the average Toronto Uber driver stands to make $2.50 per hour (Canadian):

https://ridefair.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Legislated-Poverty.pdf

Now, Uber's told a lot of lies over the years. Right from the start, the company implicitly lied about what it cost to provide an Uber. For its first 12 years, Uber lost $0.41 on every dollar it brought in, lighting tens of billions in investment capital provided by the Saudi royals on fire in an effort to bankrupt rival transportation firms and disinvestment in municipal transit.

Uber then lied to retail investors about the business-case for buying its stock so that the House of Saud and other early investors could unload their stock. Uber claimed that they were on the verge of producing a self-driving car that would allow them to get rid of drivers, zero out their wage bill, and finally turn a profit. The company spent $2.5b on this, making it the most expensive Big Store in the history of cons:

https://www.theinformation.com/articles/infighting-busywork-missed-warnings-how-uber-wasted-2-5-billion-on-self-driving-cars

After years, Uber produced a "self-driving car" that could travel one half of one American mile before experiencing a potentially lethal collision. Uber quietly paid another company $400m to take this disaster off its hands:

https://www.economist.com/business/2020/12/10/why-is-uber-selling-its-autonomous-vehicle-division

The self-driving car lie was tied up in another lie – that somehow, automation could triumph over geometry. Robocabs, we were told, would travel in formations so tight that they would finally end the Red Queen's Race of more cars – more roads – more distance – more cars. That lie wormed its way into the company's IPO prospectus, which promised retail investors that profitability lay in replacing every journey – by car, cab, bike, bus, tram or train – with an Uber ride:

https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN1RN2SK/

The company has been bleeding out money ever since – though you wouldn't know it by looking at its investor disclosures. Every quarter, Uber trumpets that it has finally become profitable, and every quarter, Hubert Horan dissects its balance sheets to find the accounting trick the company thought of this time. There was one quarter where Uber declared profitability by marking up the value of stock it held in Uber-like companies in other countries.

How did it get this stock? Well, Uber tried to run a business in those countries and it was such a total disaster that they had to flee the country, selling their business to a failing domestic competitor in exchange for stock in its collapsing business. Naturally, there's no market for this stock, which, in Uber-land, means you can assign any value you want to it. So that one quarter, Uber just asserted that the stock had shot up in value and voila, profit!

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2022/02/hubert-horan-can-uber-ever-deliver-part-twenty-nine-despite-massive-price-increases-uber-losses-top-31-billion.html

But all of those lies are as nothing to the whopper that Uber is trying to sell to Torontonians by blanketing the city in ads: the lie that by paying drivers $2.50/hour to fill the streets with more single-occupancy cars, they will turn a profit, reduce the city's traffic, and provide good jobs. Uber says it can vanquish geometry, economics and working poverty with the awesome power of narrative.

In other words, it's taking Toronto for a bunch of suckers.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/29/geometry-hates-uber/#toronto-the-gullible

Image: Rob Sinclair (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Night_skyline_of_Toronto_May_2009.jpg

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en

#pluralistic #uber #hubert horan #fraud #toronto #geometry hates cars #urbanism #ontpoli #olivia chow #self-regulation #transport #urban planning #taxis #transit #urban theory #labor #algorithmic wage discrimination #veena dubal

[one-time-i-dreamt]

I was walking through Toronto looking through puddles and found a blue-ringed octopus. Dream me decided to pick it up and throw it at a car.

#dream #toronto #walking #puddle #octopus #octopi #car

[musicandotherstuff]

Alex Turner - Budweiser Stage Toronto, ON

August 2023

📸: photosbyferrari

#arctic monkeys #alex turner #the car era #the car tour #the car #budweiser #toronto #canada

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Toronto has secured a podium finish as one of the worst cities in the world for traffic, according to a new study. A report completed by TomTom, one of the first companies to roll out satellite navigation devices in cars, has ranked Toronto as third in the world for 10-kilometre travel times. The traffic index study found it took an average of 29 minutes to travel 10 kilometres in Toronto last year, an increase of 50 seconds compared to the 2022 study.

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Tagging @politicsofcanada

#cdnpoli #canada #canadian politics #canadian news #toronto #urban planning #traffic #car culture

[arcticpuppeteer]

Sonique The Touring Hedgehog during There'd Better Be A Mirroball part 1/2 at Budweiser Stage, Toronto, 30th August 2023.

cr: from izzyyp23's IG story

cr: soniqueontour

#Arctic Monkeys #AM Toronto #There'd Better Be A Mirroball #never thought I'd write such a caption haha #The Car tour

[harsanperformance]

#facebook #trumblr #gangster rap #hashtag #canada #new york #los angeles #toronto #vancouver #hollywood #electric cars #vintage cars #classic cars #luxury cars

[eopederson]

Kensington Market, Toronto, 1969.

#streetscape #market #people #cars #kensington market #toronto #ontario #canada #1969 #photographers on tumblr #urban landscape

[wavernot4love]

fob @ fanfest recap, post-my living vicariously through people's live updates since i cannot get over my last minute resentful decision of not being able to pull off the (admittedly 650+ total mile) drive 2 philly today and perhaps feeling devastated over having missed

- patrick: "so! i'm patrick and i know nothing about sports" and also just MASSIVELY feeling the show based on all the videos i've seen!?

- pete making a warped comparison (!?! could it get more wavernot4love coded than this)

- joe chant that he successfully heard :]

- i don't care debut of late (finally!!)

- pete being self aware about the tennis new york incident (calling fobbies "monsters" in a vaguely affectionate way... HELP)

- honestly such an expansive setlist for an event like this?? FIFTEEN SONGS!? sixteen candles? fake out? grand theft autumn? headfirst slide? HELLO

- pete doing his saturday thing??? i honestly didn't think that was a thing they did @ these sports event kinda things w shorter sets

- you could really tell they Knew they had hardcore fans there

and man i wish i could have made it but here's to hoping leg 2 comes next year because i will 100% be traveling for multiple shows again <333

#this is quite possibly the biggest “i should have been there” moment wavernot4love has ever had #because i was ALMOST there #to be fair my decision to not do it was based on the fact that my car is not very new #and i have already gone on so many trips this year (most recently JUST driving 2 philly for tourdust camden) #+ still have a couple more coming uo this fall #but regardless i feel like i missed out and i miss them Bad #if only it had been a couple hours closer 2 me or i had been able to find affordable doable public transit #have unfortunately been having a perpetual it's joever moment all day in my room rotting with the shades shut #but it will all be alright in a couple weeks when i see thursday and i'm finally back into the swing of things w my handful of shows #i've got planned for september #also all of them are in my general area except one in toronto and even that is only a three hour drive so that's optimistic #fobposting #fall out boy #fob #patrick stump #pete wentz #joe trohman #i feel like i should be tagging andy but also i didn't see/hear about any particular events specific 2 him

[gwagonfleet]

 4x4 is absolutely gorgeous

#gwagonworld#gclass#g63amg#g63#amg#mercedes#mercedesamg#mercedesbenz#mbfunphoto#blacklight#white#carstagram#dubai#nevada#london#gwagon#w464#newyork#losangeles#manhattan#carswithoutlimits#amazingcars247#car#mbusa#usa#brabus#toronto#benz

#gwagonworld #gclass #g63amg #g63 #amg #mercedes #mercedesamg #mercedesbenz #mbfunphoto #blacklight #white #carstagram #dubai #nevada #london #gwagon #w464 #newyork #losangeles #manhattan #carswithoutlimits #amazingcars247 #car #mbusa #usa #brabus #toronto #benz

[thiswaycomessomethingwicked]

lol oh Toronto, once again being a shining star in international news

#it's funny what US newspapers take notice of in Canada #like important stuff up here? nothing. silence. #Our mayor doing crack or a car theft issue? Headlines #it's very funny and also telling about a few things considering how closely Canadian news outlets follow US politics #Canada #Toronto #Toronto the Good #lololololol #that epithet was never true and I love moments when it's really deeply ironic #blogto #is not a real news source in that it's deeply unserious #but they're a great lunchtime read

[mistress-light]

I might make plans to visit my family in Canada this year. And also a trip to British Columbia ;A;

Any recommendations to visit in British Columbia?

#Oh i hope i can make this true #i have so much family in canada lmao #mistress blabbling #i'll be taking a plane though from Toronto to Vancouver and rent a car #and the jet lag will be pretty fucked up for me lmao

[highdefinitions]

mitch marner lmfao

oh, word up? should i kill myself?

#percy’s asks #mitch marner #toronto maple leafs #evil for the car line don’t you know he was the victim of a carjacking :/

[musicandotherstuff]

celebsbygus: It was great meeting #AlexTurner in #Toronto during the @Arctic Monkeys #TheCar tour. He is an English singer and musician, known as the frontman and principal songwriter of the rock band #ArcticMonkeys. Thank you for being so nice and taking your time to take the photo!

#arctic monkeys #alex turner #the car era #the car tour #the car #photo fan #toronto

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Ridesharing giant Uber is asking an Ontario court to throw out a bylaw that capped the number of its drivers allowed to operate in Toronto. A notice of application filed by Uber Canada against the City of Toronto with an Ontario Superior Court of Justice alleges the city failed to properly consult over the bylaw and engaged in bad faith. It also calls the cap discriminatory. Responding to the news Uber had taken legal action, Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow said the cap helps with congestion and emissions.

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Tagging @politicsofcanada

#cdnpoli #canada #canadian politics #canadian news #uber #ontario #car culture #toronto uber driver cap

[aryburn-trains]

The final Lehigh Valley Railroad passenger train, "The Maple Leaf," leaves the Allentown station in the middle of a blizzard on Saturday, Feb. 4, 1961.

#maple leaf #lv #lehigh valley #1961 #new york city #toronto #trains #passenger train #history #allentown #pennsylvania #dining car #diner