Don't Do Didi

Martin Hill and Robert Wenzel in SF at Tadich Grill (2016)

Martin Hill of LibertyFight emails:

Hi Bob, have  you heard of the new ride sharing company "didi"? They're a billion dollar AI company and even bought out uber China. They are now operating in Mexico & Australia.

However, research the dark side... China put a halt to their operations and particularly after two didi drivers raped and murdered didi customers who has ordered a car ride. 

I've used uber many times in Mexico,  always pleasant with no problem. 

I have no problem with competition and was curious to try didi in Mexico recently . 

We had checked the prices for both uber and didi for  this trip.  Uber was $380 pesos ($19) and didi charged only 200... ($10) nearly half. 

So I chose to try didi.

The reason didi failed my consumer test is because  the car that showed  up was what I consider a very old and shitty jalopy (an old car in a dilapidated condition).

I was in the front seat for this half hour drive and the driver's car was constantly  veering to the left by itself , towards oncoming traffic. 

I'm not sure if it was merely an alignment issue, a control arm, or whatever. The car was making occasional loud clunking noises also.

The driver had a good hang of dealing with this problem so he constantly was correcting his car swerves. 

Didi obviously has a lower standard for the age and condition  for vehicles they accept. You get what you pay for. 

I don't see didi expanding to the u.s. anytime soon. 

RW  reply:

A few thoughts.

Any car service that murders its customers isn't going to be around very long, with or without government regulation.

As for rapes, it might turn into a service that is too dangerous for women, Women stay away from real danger as opposed to conjured up SJW danger. The New York City subway system at 3:00 AM is almost exclusively male. Women don't need an SJW manual to know to stay away at that hour.

As for the jalopy ride in Mexico, it might be the case that it is a service that is in demand there. For anyone coming from the middle to higher income reaches of the Empire, it is difficult to grasp how high our standard of living is compared to most of the world.


-RW