Tuesday, September 15, 2015
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By George Donnelly (@geodonnelly) with Keith Regan
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The action today: Fasten your seatbelts for ridesharing hearing
It promises to be a political circus later this morning at the Gardner Auditorium when the Joint Committee on Finance hears legislation to regulate the ride-sharing companies. The hearing starts at 11:00am, but the protesting will start well before then. The fundamental question is this: Should the Ubers and Lyfts of the world be regulated on par with the taxi industry, or does a ride service with cool technology receive special regulatory dispensation? The level of background checks and the amount of mandatory insurance will be hotly disputed. There will be plenty of rhetoric, so here are some numbers to put the ride-sharing/taxi debate in context.
- Number of active Uber drivers in the Boston area (end of 2014): nearly 10,000
- Number of licensed taxi drivers in Boston: 6,400
- Number of taxis licensed in the city of Boston (2013): 1,825
- Boston Uber drivers earnings per hour: $20.29
- Average taxi driver hourly earnings: $12.92
- Percentage of fare money UberX drivers get to keep: 80%
- Typical cost to lease a cab for a 12-hour shift: $100
- Percentage of Boston cabbies who have signed on as Uber drivers: 21%
- Year-over-year decline in Boston taxi revenue for the first half of 2015: 22%
- Percentage decline in a Boston taxi medallion: 50% -- to $350,000
- Market valuation of Uber: $50 billion
(Sources include several recent reports, especially this May Forbes article on Uber:http://onforb.es/1EVS6yW)
Plenty is being spent on lobbying by both sides. The State House News Service's Matt Murphy tallies the outlays here: http://bit.ly/1URARX6
Also today: Baker in Holyoke; Healey, Kraft team up
Gov. Baker visits an elementary school in Holyoke to make an announcement about a preschool expansion grant, Sullivan Elementary School, 400 Jarvis Ave., Holyoke, 10:00am... Attorney General Maura Healey and New England Patriots Chairman and CEO Robert Kraft make an announcement regarding youth violence prevention, One Ashburton Place, 20th Floor, Boston, 10:30am... Boston City Council President Bill Linehan, City Councilor Frank Baker and Hope House President and CEO Fred Newton hold a news conference to discuss an addiction crisis facing the city and a proposed 2 percent tax on alcohol, which the councilors believe would help mitigate the problem, Hope House, 8 Farnham St., Dorchester, 2:00pm... Massachusetts Republican Party hosts an evening reception honoring Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito at the Worcester Country Club. Gov. Charlie Baker will attend, according to the state party website. According to the invitation, an attendee must contribute or raise $5,000 to attend the co-chair reception. Tickets for the main reception range from $100 to $1,000. Donations will go to the Polito Committee, Worcester Country Club, 2 Rice St., Worcester, 5:30pm.
The GLX $1 billion overrun: It's name-your-own-price contracting
Is it possible that the MBTA bids out contracts not based on price but on reputation of the contractor, who then gets to name his own price for the work? That's what some critics are saying is behind the T's $1 billion price estimate increase for the Green Line Extension, although it's likely many other factors contributed to the ballooning price tag. The Globe's Nicole Dungca explores the win-bid-first, name-price-later phenomenon: http://bit.ly/1FJzOwc
T turns focus to absentee issue
Speaking of the T, absenteeism has cost the system $14 million already this year and led to the cancellation of thousands of bus and train trips, the Herald reports. Overall absenteeism is up 5 percent while use of the Family and Medical Leave Act is up 10 percent. The T is now working with a consultant on leave policies. http://bit.ly/1Leb3i1
What college grads make -- 10 years after
They say it pays to go to college -- but data released by federal education department reveals that it pays much more at some places than others. Using data from students who either received federal loan or grant funding, the feds cranked out alumni average salaries by school. One factor that would definitely skew results: Salaries were counted whether someone graduated from the school or not. You can take a few wild guess about the universities generating the highest salaries, but you'll never guess who came out on top. http://bit.ly/1Fbf8Cp
Sanders: He has a $18 trillion plan
Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has proposed an array of programs that would cost $18 trillion over 10 years, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. His plan to cover every American with a government-run health care would cost $15 billion alone, the Journal reports. "As a share of the economy, [the new spending] would represent a bigger increase in government spending than the New Deal or Great Society and is surpassed in modern history only by the World War II military buildup," the Journal writes. http://on.wsj.com/1LuYpGW
More turnover at Boston.com
The recently appointed editor-in-chief of Boston.com Tim Molloy is out, marking the second short-term tenure of a top editor at the Boston Globe-owned website. Boston magazine's Garrett Quinn broke the story yesterday, noting that an email to Molloy bounced back. The Globe later issued a statement. Deputy editor Kaitlyn Johnson will become the new editor-in-chief. http://bit.ly/1KivdlJ
Baker vetoes police detail bill
Gov. Baker has vetoed a bill designed to let retired police serve on details, saying the law would violate federal regulations. He said he supports the bill in concept, and urged lawmakers to rework it so it would pass federal scrutiny. The State House News Service's Katie Lannan has the rest of the story here: http://bit.ly/1Kcr1F8
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