Slashdot Mirror
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.
Because we gotta make that paper, bitches.
If you were me, you'd be good lookin'. - six string samurai
From that site, one of the most important claim is "using unlicensed drivers with some of its services", sometimes getting an unlicensed veichle + driver when you order a Uber drive isn't very good, and I do think the comapny should pay dearly for that. Now there are people who only care about getting cheap services, but in the case of Uber you pay the same amount for a licensed and an unlicensed driver.
The amount of unlicensed Uber drivers seems to be rather small here, but they do exist sadly, and I find it strange that Uber doesn't try harder to fix this problem.
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.
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"?
Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
Criminal records checks
Corporate liability for misconduct
Vehicle checks and certifications
Availability of vehicles in off hours
Services for the disabled
Rate limits.
Discrimination, passengers can not be discriminated against based on protected aspects such as race, gender, age, etc.
All of the above go into the regulation of taxis in most jurisdictions. In exchange for these regulations the taxi companies are given a limited number of licenses so that the limited revenue potential does not get spread too thin to make a living wage.
I used to work for a cab company and they threatened to fine us if we did not put on more handicap accessible vehicles. If Uber takes off the limited amount of revenue will be spread over too many people and full time drivers will find other work. Part time drivers work whenever they want and there is no guarantee there will be divers available to all times.
Uber does not care who drives for them or if they make a living wage. They just want the revenue. There has already been strikes(scroll to the bottom) for higher pay.
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".
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.
USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
Actually many of the people you listed are definitely licensed. most by the country and many by individual cities/states. especially, plumbers, lawyers, nannies, nurses and most certainly electricians.
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.
But I find it rather amazing how every municipality around the world is rushing to the defense of existing taxicab services.
That is because every municipality went through the time when there was no taxi regulations. There was rampant fare kiting, discrimination, lack of coverage, lack of insurance, poor customer service, bad drivers, poorly repaired vehicles, etc. While regulations have not solved all those issues it has decreased them. The fact that many communities that have gone through the same issue have come up with the same solution is not surprising. Taxi regulations have been refined over decades to produce a system that works. No municipality in their right mind would want to go back to the days before regulation.
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".
The funny thing about that, is that pretty much describes every big company I know.
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
Where I live, the "special drivers license" for a taxi driver amounts to showing that you can figure out how to use an old school paper map
Where I live the requirements are quite a bit higher.
1. You need a provincial class 4 licence which includes a thorough medical exam. It also includes testing the ability to inspect a vehicle for defects before driving. The road skills standard for passing the test is also much higher than a regular license.
2. The city chief's permit requires considerable knowledge of the city without using a map, English language proficiency, and knowledge of the laws governing taxis. Drivers can not follow laws they don't know.
What is so special about being a taxi driver
A taxi driver is on the road many more hours a week than the usual commuter. Due to this the standard for health and proficiency are much higher than the regular commuter.
Yes, the "disruptive" factor is that a small(ish) company can do it now too, not having to be part of the big boys club first. That's just not on!
"Neither of those professions require specialized drivers licenses"
No, they don't spend "just as many hours on the road." Both involve trips ancillary to the principal occupation, so the amount of driving is less. Neither of them involve the carriage of strangers for money.
Would you suggest that other forms of commercial driver's license are also unnecessary, such as those required for driving a passenger bus or hauling hazardous materials?
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
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.
Even over here in the wild west, plumbers, electricians, doctors, nannies and nurses all need to be licensed.
Lawyers do too.
Only painters and interior decorators on GPs list don't need licenses here.
Perhaps by "nanny" they meant "babysitter"? Baby sitters need no license, and many do call baby sitters a "nanny" despite the medical qualifications needed for the official title.
Not that such a mistake would make the GP any more correct of course.
regardless of what you think of Uber's model, blatantly breaking a countries laws or incenting others to break laws is just asking for trouble. I am surprised more criminal charges haven't been brought down on the CEO's and other execs at Uber, could see some interesting tests of those extradition laws.
Everyone here is all about "Net Neutrality," because they are against monopolies, yet pile on something like Uber which is an alternative to the licensed taxi monopoly. Furthermore, people are focusing on the positives and negatives of Uber as it is implemented and practiced, and are missing the larger picture. If Uber is a crappy, dangerous way to get a ride, that reputation is going to spread and the company is going to fail. If it's as safe as a regular taxi and provides benefits that people would not find with normal taxi service, it'll prosper. Quite a few comments seem to revolve around the fact that Uber acts as a middleman, and don't like that. Are those same people pissing and moaning about everything from Ebay to Walmart, which also acts as a middleman between producers and consumers? For that matter, what is the practical difference from me asking a person if they will give me a ride for gas money and an extra $20 for their time, even if I don't use an app? Personally, I wouldn't use Uber, but I also wouldn't smoke pot, yet think people should be free to do either if they are willing to assume the risk involved. If Uber sees that people don't have confidence in the trustworthiness of their drivers, then they are going to have to respond to that, or lose business.
Why? The main use of registration is to keep the number of cabs low and the prices high.
My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
I wonder why Uber don't have the appropriate license?
Probably because getting an appropriate license involves things like:
1) Paying a huge brib...ahem...."registration fee" to the issuing authorities, and/or
2) Being a good friend or relative of the right people, and/or
3) Making generous campaign contributions to the right politicians, and/or
4) Being the son or daughter of an existing license holder.
Just look at New York City, where a taxi medallion is treated like a royal asset and can set you back $1 million+. Once you get one, it's basically a privileged monopoly license to treat customers like shit.
SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
"disruption" means breaking the oligopoly that naturally forms in a non-competitive anti-capitalistic market. In some places the oligopoly members fought to get their olgopoly or monopoly enshrined in law, so yes, that requires a little civil disobedience in some markets.
Learn to love Alaska