Over 30 Uber Cars Impounded In Cape Town

An anonymous reader writes Uber's in trouble again: 34 drivers in Cape Town, South Africa have had their cars impounded after being caught driving without a metered taxi permit. Uber says that the process of getting permits is subject to delays and drivers have been left in limbo due to a moratorium on new licenses last year. Cape Town says that it's been clear all along about what Uber drivers need to operate in the city and it's making no exceptions. Uber first arrived in Cape Town in 2013.

Comments

Serves them right

[Harlequin80]

If you don't follow the law you will get in trouble.

If you were to change the word driving to drilling or perhaps had pharmaceutical companies say "the FDA is subject to delays so we decided to sell out drug anyway" would Uber supporters say "thats ok - regulations are stupid!"

Re:Serves them right

[rmstar]

If you don't follow the law you will get in trouble.

The fun thing here is that it is not Uber that got in trouble, but their drivers. Which aren't their employees, btw. Uber just looses a bit of revenues. The drivers, though, which own the cars, now have real problems.

That's the real innovative thing in Uber. They have found a way of shielding themselves from any problems. It really is genius, albeit evil genius.

Surge pricing has an interesting dark side that I see nobody talk about: cars are often too cheap for the service to be sustainable, in the sense that the money does not even cover the running costs of the cars when considering wear and loss of value on purchase price. Since noticing this implies a complex calculation as well as the mental makeup to take such calculations seriously, most drivers just don't notice. They are literally loosing money. Uber, however, always makes money.

It really is genius.

Re:Serves them right

[Anonymous Coward]

So common, so obvious, yet you don't list any.

1. "So, you are black? Hell no I will drive you."
2. "So, you want to go somewhere where I'm not guaranteed a return fare? Hell no I will drive you."
3. "So, you are gay? Hell no I will drive you."
4. "So, you are Muslim? Hell no I will drive you."
5. "So, you are not from my country? Hell no I will drive you."
And so on.

Re:Serves them right

[Vintermann]

I am licensed to do most of the things a plumber is licensed to do, too. Usually it's the insurance company that minds me doing everything myself, not the government. In fact I had a plumber berate me once, he said installing a toilet was such an easy task we should be able to handle it ourselves next time.

People are licensed to drive. Taxis are licensed to drive people for profit. Profit motives should always be considered potentially dangerous, there are a lot of things people are willing to do, corners they are willing to cut, if it stands between making good money and being destitute.

Taxi deregulation has been tried, many many times. It has many perverse and unexpected results. For instance, you get more taxis on the road with deregulation, but prices become higher. Customers are unable to discriminate between individual drivers based on price (this is also true in Uber's regime, by design). As a result, it's pretty much random who gets a paying customer. If you only win that lottery once every three days, of course you have to crank up prices when it happens - as much as you dare, until you start to worry that they might change their mind/step out of your cab/punch you.

Re:Serves them right

[dywolf]

There is no real reason for taxi regs these days beyond safety regs, which apply to all vehicles.

Again: this right here is the source of your ignorance.
You simply do not know what you are talking about.
There are real and concreate reasons for the regulation of taxis.

Your ignorance of that history is not a reason to dismantle those regulations.
But you can try if you want...you'll simply learn first hand why they existed in the first place.
Which is ultimately the end consequence of libertarianism: if it actually succeeds and is implemented, it will necessarily be abandoned as its followers slowly learn firsthand why we did things the way we did, a lesson they could have avoided if they had simply learned some history. When we talk about those who dont learn history being doomed to repeat it, libertarians are a prime example.

Re:Give Uber a dictionary

[Shinobi]

While your faith in the religion of liberretardianism sounds fun, history empirically proves you 100% wrong.

Why stop with rides?

[Powercntrl]

There's all kinds of services people can offer without pesky government interference! Meal sharing could be the next killer app. Why pay restaurant prices when you can just search for a family with an extra chair at their dinner table?

It's like when your furnace goes out and you find some self-proclaimed handyman on Craigslist to fix it. Licensed, bonded, insured? Hah, those are just extra costs that would be passed on to you. You're saving a bundle and carbon monoxide poisoning is probably just some B.S. made up by those government brown nosing "legit" guys who charge higher prices!

Re:Give Uber a dictionary

[mwvdlee]

How about just giving Uber a large kick in the behind.
These guys seem to be intentionally breaking laws continuously.
At some point they can only be labeled as a criminal organisation.

Re:Give Uber a dictionary

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, except 'level playing field' doesn't include enabling monopolies that build decrepit, out of date protection rackets that get in the way of innovation.

So you're arguing for liberty when it's something you want, and regulation when it's something you don't. Got it.