Uber Offers Free Rides To Koreans, Hopes They Won't Report Illegal Drivers

itwbennett writes Uber Technologies is offering free rides on its uberX ride-sharing service in the South Korean capital of Seoul, after city authorities intensified their crackdown on illegal drivers by offering a reward to residents who report Uber drivers to police. South Korean law prohibits unregistered drivers from soliciting passengers using private or rented vehicles and carries a penalty of up to two years in prison or fines of up to 20 million won.

Comments

Screw your laws

[Rinikusu]

Because we gotta make that paper, bitches.

Re: Screw your laws

[Anonymous Coward]

Are you really that naive? Give for free, get a "good" name, be made legal, "paper".

With companies like Uber capitalism has really hit rock bottom. No products, no innovation, just a parasitic entity, forcibly trying to become a middle-man in all transactions.

Re: Screw your laws

[plasm4]

They're no different from normal taxi companies really. The driver works and pays for the upkeep of the car and pays a weekly or monthly fee to the taxi company. Taxi drivers in my area have to work 70 - 80 hour weeks to make a living. It does suck.

Re: Screw your laws

[Half-pint HAL]

They're no different from normal taxi companies really.

Exactly -- which is why they should comply with the same registration laws as other taxi companies./p.

Re: Screw your laws

[Impy the Impiuos Imp]

Are you really that naive? Give for free, get a "good" name, be made legal, "paper".

With companies like Uber capitalism has really hit rock bottom. No products, no innovation, just a parasitic entity, forcibly trying to become a middle-man in all transactions.

What kind of Bizarro Superman world do you live in? What's happening in Seoul is the exact opposite of capitalism in a free market.

The government is chasing out the new competition at the behest of the sclerotic old, and is actually handing their business model over to connected cronies.

Re: Screw your laws

[LoyalOpposition]

Parasitic in that they hose their drivers. They produce nothing of real value, they just take a cut. Like a racketeer.

Yeah! That's the way I feel about my grocer! He doesn't produce anything of real value. He just sells me the farmers' and ranchers' produce and takes a cut. And my doctor. He sits in his office and doesn't produce anything. And engineers. Just sitting there drawing all day, but not making anything. And programmers.

I just have to wonder why people keep going to them if they don't add any value. Why don't people just call people with cars and ask for a ride.

~Loyal

Uber != ridesharing.

[jklovanc]

Uber is ride sharing in the same way pizza delivery is food sharing. People and companies are making money off of it therefore it is not sharing.

Re:I wonder why...

[davester666]

really?

a company comes in, says "fuck your laws, we don't need to follow them, we'll write our own", and the municipality should go "welcome to our city"?

Re:The worst part is the polished turd that is Ube

[Goaway]

I find it strange that Uber doesn't try harder to fix this problem.

Not at all strange. They are sociopathic libertarian company devoted to "disruption", which is generally code for "we break the law if it gets in the way of us making money and we think we can get away with it".

Re:I wonder why...

[Jesus_666]

Look at it like this: You are a municipality. You have local taxi companies and they're all regulated and pay for their special licenses and whatnot. The system works. You get some money and you can be certain that taxi drivers are competent and relatively trustworthy. This also goes for taxi drivers from other municipalities because those are also regulated and licensed.

Now Uber show up and declare themselves to be exempt from taxi laws because they don't employ taxi drivers, they just make money by "soliciting" "ridesharing", which is somehow different except it seems to work exactly the same*. And they're not willing to enforce that their drivers have valid licenses because they think they're not subject to the law.

Now you have lots of taxi drivers in all but name driving around without a license and you probably can't even get Uber to disclose their identities so you can fine them because, again, Uber thinks there's no legal basis for this.

I think it's fairly easy to see why Uber isn't very popular with municipalities.


* Technically it's a form of outsourcing but to my knowledge they don't require the drivers to be their own proper taxi businesses so Uber is still blatantly ignoring the law by contracting with people they know don't qualify under existing regulations.

Re:I wonder why...

[_merlin]

Cities don't license plumbers, painter, interior decorators, electricians, doctors, lawyers, nannies, or nurses. Even though these people need much more training.

In Australia, plumbers, electricians, doctors, nannies and nurses all need to be licensed. You're talking out your arse or you live in the wild west.

Re:Registration

[LoyalOpposition]

Keeping prices high keeps taxis available.

Let me see if I can follow your logic...Limiting the number of taxis makes the price of taxis high. Keeping the prices high keeps taxis available. Therefore...Limiting the number of taxis keeps taxis available. I don't think that even the great logician and philosopher Yogi Berra could improve on your statement.

~Loyal

Re:Registration

[Half-pint HAL]

Try to get a taxi at 6th and 44th in Manhattan at 5PM. Taxis are pretty damn expensive in NYC, and pretty much impossible to find when demand is high. Know what is available at 5PM? Uber cars.

If everyone could get a taxi at peak time, would they get home quicker? No, because you'd have gridlock. This is one of the things that city planners take into account when managing taxi licensing.

Public transport is an efficient solution at peak time. It may not seem like it -- what with waiting times, multiple stops, the need to walk a bit and connect -- but mass transit is the only way to keep that many people moving. 25 years ago New York was famous worldwide for its traffic jams -- you don't want that again.

Taxis are useful at times of lower demand, when public transport becomes inefficient.

Unlimited cars leads to a tragedy-of-the-commons scenario. I'd tell you to stop being so selfish, but even enlightened self-interested says you should just get a damn bus.