scholarly journals A Tailspin for Taxi Drivers: Platform Labor, Deregulations, and a Migrant Occupation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helga Hiim Staalhane ◽  
Anders Vassenden
Keyword(s):  
Structural Changes ◽  
Transportation Network ◽  
Political Context ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Social Consequences ◽  
Taxi Drivers ◽  
Comprehensive Picture ◽  
Digital Work ◽  
Taxi Industry ◽  
Platform Economy

In this article, we investigate Norwegian taxi drivers’ perceptions and experiences of the introduction of Transportation Network Companies (TNCs) such as Uber. We find that taxi drivers are highly critical, but not over technology or TNCs as such. Their critique is directed at government deregulations of the taxi industry, which paved the way for TNC re-entry. Our findings suggest that, if we are to understand how the platform economy changes work-life and its social consequences, we need to comprehend (1) current digital change in its political context, which in our case pertains notably to deregulations. Equally important (2) is that consequences and struggles are seen in light of the history and social trajectory of the specific occupations affected; a central factor in our case being that the taxi industry has become a typical migrant occupation. Our paper contributes to a more comprehensive picture of structural changes in the digital work-life.

scholarly journals Exploring the Influence of E-Hailing Applications on the Taxi Industry—From the Perspective of the Drivers

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 77
Author(s):  
Yitong Gan ◽  
Hongchao Fan ◽  
Wei Jiao ◽  
Mengqi Sun
Keyword(s):  
Driving Behavior ◽  
Urban Traffic ◽  
Behavior Changes ◽  
Transportation Industry ◽  
Trajectory Data ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Taxi Drivers ◽  
Driving Behaviors ◽  
Taxi Industry ◽  
The Times

In China, the traditional taxi industry is conforming to the trend of the times, with taxi drivers working with e-hailing applications. This reform is of great significance, not only for the taxi industry, but also for the transportation industry, cities, and society as a whole. Our goal was to analyze the changes in driving behavior since taxi drivers joined e-hailing platforms. Therefore, this paper mined taxi trajectory data from Shanghai and compared the data of May 2015 with those of May 2017 to represent the before-app stage and the full-use stage, respectively. By extracting two-trip events (i.e., vacant trip and occupied trip) and two-spot events (i.e., pick-up spot and drop-off spot), taxi driving behavior changes were analyzed temporally, spatially, and efficiently. The results reveal that e-hailing applications mine more long-distance rides and new pick-up locations for drivers. Moreover, driver initiative have increased at night since using e-hailing applications. Furthermore, mobile payment facilities save time that would otherwise be taken sorting out change. Although e-hailing apps can help citizens get taxis faster, from the driver’s perspective, the apps do not reduce their cruising time. In general, e-hailing software reduces the unoccupied ratio of taxis and improves the operating ratio. Ultimately, new driving behaviors can increase the driver’s revenue. This work is meaningful for the formulation of reasonable traffic laws and for urban traffic decision-making.

REMARRIAGES IN CONTEMPORARY POLAND. A DEMOGRAPHIC SKETCH

2021 ◽  
Vol 568 (7) ◽  
pp. 5-12
Author(s):  
Piotr Szukalski
Keyword(s):  
Structural Changes ◽  
Social Consequences ◽  
Important Task ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Research Fields ◽  
Civil Status

A stabile number on newly contracted marriages in Poland prior 2020, hides deep structural changes defined in terms of civil status of newlyweds. In the last fifteen years a rapid increase in proportion of remarriages is observed, i.e. marriages with at least one nupturient being earlier married. An aim of the article is to describe the mentioned above changes and to explain factors affecting the trend. An important task is also to indicate missing research fields related to demographic and social consequences of the change.

scholarly journals Taxi drivers: ethnic segmentation, precarious work, and informal economic strategies in the Swedish taxi industry

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zoran Slavnic
Keyword(s):  
Life Story ◽  
Taxi Driver ◽  
Single Individual ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
Taxi Drivers ◽  
Precarious Work ◽  
General Consequence ◽  
Economic Strategies ◽  
Taxi Industry

This article invesitgates the processes of ethnic segmentation, precarious labour, and informalization in the Swedish taxi industry during a period of rapid deregulation during the 1990s. It does so by focussing on the life story of a single individual―Adem, a taxi driver in the Swedish city of Malmö. Despite his education, long working experience, and all efforts to make use of these advantages, all doors to an appropriate career in Sweden have remained closed to him. As a result, he has been pushed into working in the taxi sector, which is increasingly characterized by ethnic segmentation, hard working conditins, and harsh competition, forcing people to deploy informal economic strategies in order to survive. Adem’s fate becomes strongly determined by these socio-economical processes. At the same time, the article shows that these processes are not separate, but are closely interrelated and reinforce each other. On the broader level these processes are a general consequence of the neoliberal reconstruction of Western economies, and structural economic, political and social changes related to it.

Masculinity and Precarity: Male Migrant Taxi Drivers in South China

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 493-508 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susanne YP Choi
Keyword(s):  
Working Conditions ◽  
Social Reproduction ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
State Regulation ◽  
Urban China ◽  
Taxi Drivers ◽  
Male Migrant ◽  
Service Jobs ◽  
Urban Migrant ◽  
Taxi Industry

This article examines how male rural-to-urban migrant taxi drivers’ experience of a loss of control over their working conditions and increasing financial insecurity are driven by state regulation and market reorganization of the taxi industry, and their status as second class citizens in urban China. Precarity, as explored in this article, speaks to feelings of disempowerment, a profound sense of livelihood insecurity and a crisis of social reproduction that has resulted from workplace reorganization that marginalizes workers. The findings contribute to the study of precarity and masculinity by first unpacking how masculine identities are built around men’s access to masculine service niches and their control over working conditions in these niches. It then shows how precariousness negates these male workers’ sense of self by simultaneously taking away the control that distinguishes their work from factory employment and female-dominated service jobs; and undermining their capacity to meet the provider norm.

Uber and the making of an Algopticon - Insights from the daily life of Montreal drivers

2020 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 241-260
Author(s):  
Rabih Jamil
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Machine Learning ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
The World ◽  
Taxi Industry ◽  
Platform Economy

Using machine learning and artificial intelligence, Uber has been disrupting the world taxi industry. However, the Uber algorithmic apparatus managed to perfectionize the scalable decentralized tracking and surveillance of mobile living bodies. This article examines the Uber surveillance machinery and discusses the determinants of its algorithmically powered ‘all-seeing power’. The latter is being figured as an Algopticon that reinvents Bentham’s panopticon in the era of the platform economy.

Effect of Taxi Information System on Efficiency and Quality of Taxi Services

2005 ◽  
Vol 1903 (1) ◽  
pp. 96-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyunmyung Kim ◽  
Jun-Seok Oh ◽  
R. Jayakrishnan
Keyword(s):  
Information System ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Transportation Network ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Transportation Systems ◽  
Fleet Size ◽  
Taxi Drivers ◽  
Taxi Service ◽  
Expected Waiting Time

In many major metropolitan areas, taxi services have played an important role as a semipublic transportation mode without public support. However, there has not been much modeling effort–-despite the importance of taxis in urban transportation systems–-mainly because of the difficulty in modeling taxi drivers’ behavior. This study models a taxi service system in urban areas, taking into account taxi drivers’ knowledge of the transportation network built from their day-to-day experience. Passenger-seeking behavior by taxi drivers is modeled on the basis of their expected travel time and expected waiting time. The model considers the stochastic and dynamic transportation network and various levels of network knowledge on the part of drivers. This modeling approach provides flexibility in modeling the characteristics of taxi operation as well as understanding how taxi drivers’ capability evolves. The study analyzes the fleet size of taxi service systems and the effects of the taxi company's information systems by considering quality and operational efficiency of taxi services, from both the passengers’ and taxi operators’ points of view. A simulation experiment shows that the taxi information system can provide benefits equivalent to increasing the number of taxis by 20% in regard to the quality of taxi service.

scholarly journals Disruptive Change in the Taxi Business: The Case of Uber

2016 ◽  
Vol 106 (5) ◽  
pp. 177-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judd Cramer ◽  
Alan B. Krueger
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Internet ◽  
Internet Technology ◽  
Taxi Drivers ◽  
Ride Sharing ◽  
Disruptive Change ◽  
Taxi Industry

In most cities, the taxi industry is highly regulated and has restricted entry. Ride sharing services, such as Uber and Lyft, which use mobile internet technology to connect passengers and drivers, have begun to compete with traditional taxis. This paper examines the efficiency of ride sharing services vis-a-vis taxis. In most cities with data available, UberX drivers spend a significantly higher fraction of their time, and drive a substantially higher share of miles, with a passenger in their car than do taxi drivers. Reasons for this efficiency advantage are explored.

scholarly journals “Hey Cabbie! Where are you From?” An Examination of Everyday Racism in Toronto’s Taxi Industry

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Walters
Keyword(s):  
Social Exclusion ◽  
Research Paper ◽  
Structural Racism ◽  
Taxi Drivers ◽  
Immigrant Professionals ◽  
Workplace Rights ◽  
Taxi Industry ◽  
Immigrant Men

Using an anti-racist Marxist lens, issues of social exclusion and settlement are broadly highlighted taking into account racism in an industry that is most commonly noted for its ease of entry for immigrant professionals. This study attempts to build on previous studies of Toronto’s taxi industry (Hathiyani, 2006; Abraham, Sundar, & Whitmore, 2008) to focus specifically on racism. This research paper examines the extent to which ‘everyday racism’ is both a by-product of and a critical ingredient in perpetuating structural racism, using Toronto’s taxi industry as a case study. Drawing on interviews from 18 fulltime taxi drivers who identified as racialized groups and were born outside of Canada, it describes the familiar tensions associated with experiencing and responding to instances of racism in a precarious industry. In the absence of an association, anti-discrimination or workplace rights to protect the driver against racial abuse and harassment, drivers are forced to negotiate their responses on an individualized basis. Drivers linked everyday racism to both class position and structural racism within the industry. These findings strongly demonstrated inadequate policies to protect drivers from everyday racism in the workplace as a result of both structural racism and a neo-liberal climate. This warrants further inquiry as Toronto’s taxi industry is a major employer of racialized, immigrant men.

scholarly journals VIOLENCE AS SOCIAL PATHOLOGY THROUGH THE OPTICS OF SOCIAL WORK

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 653-658
Author(s):  
Hermína Mareková
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Scientific Literature ◽  
Social Consequences ◽  
Social Pathology ◽  
The Social ◽  
Comprehensive Picture ◽  
The Media ◽  
Points Of View ◽  
Terrorist Acts ◽  
Interesting Area

Human aggression is perhaps the most interesting area in the exploration of the evolutionary behavior of mankind. Its existence is evident in our everyday lives, as we often use various kinds of violence, ranging from finer (innocent) coercions to murders and terrorist acts. In the professional world, as well as among laypersons, there are conflicting views on the assessment of aggression. Our work is an attempt to summarize the basics of the theory of violence. It is necessary to realize how divergent and inconsistent the various theories are. Attempts to define violence are subject to social norms. Even in scientific literature, some theories are highly dependent on the personal beliefs, points of view, and interests of the respective authors. An example is the opinion that humanity is currently experiencing its most peaceful time.The questions of the necessity and impact of violence on our life constantly resonate in society and cannot be analyzed from only one angle. The aim of this paper is not to give a comprehensive picture of the problem of today's violence (including that found in the media), nor is our goal to find a single correct opinion on the topic, due to the extent of the problem. We rather attempt to contribute to the broadening of knowledge in this area and to propose more topics worth researching. We are inclined to utilize Husserl's methods of contemporary philosophy, with an emphasis on scientific precision and with the aim of creating a basis for further research.Violence as a social pathology, with its social consequences, is largely addressed through social work. It is the cases where violence is often present, when the client as well as the social worker or the staff of other branches (police, health care) have to make decisions while having limited choices and, at the same time, trying to comply with the law.

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