Slashdot Mirror
Pressure From Uber Forces London Taxis To Finally Accept Cards (thestack.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Following a public consultation that compared the service unfavorably with Uber, London's 21,000 black cabs will finally accept card payment from October of 2016, with a possible option to pay via PayPal. London Mayor Boris Johnson continues to support and defend the legendarily expensive and iconic taxi service, saying 'This move will boost business for cabbies and bring the trade into the 21st century by enabling quicker and more convenient journeys for customers'. Most Londoners feel that the move should have been made in the 1980s, and the consultation report indicates that Uber's increasing share of London fares has forced the innovation.
Okay, this is starting to get a bit ridiculous. Can we please stop with all the articles vaguely related to Uber that have zero tech interest.
This is a site for techies, not taxi enthusiasts.
That is odd. I've always heard that Uber is evil and is ruining the planet. But every time I see someone get picked up in a Uber car, I see a nice clean car. And the taxis I see are 15 year old dirty pieces of junk that wouldn't even pass inspection. I guess the fact that Taxis can take credit cards is quite a miracle in 2015 though.Silly Uber made it convenient for the customer from the get-go. I guess for Uber the customer is the person wanting a ride. For taxis the customer is the cab company and the politicians they pay off.
Here in Boston, cabbies would say that the machine was broken because they wanted you to pay cash and not have to send the card company 5% or whatever. So the city raised rates to compensate for that fee. Guess what? "The machine is broken" is what you will hear most of the time if you offer a card at the end of the ride.
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
Legendary as in King Arthur, I suppose. Black cab pricing is often less than minicabs for the same journey. You don't want to take one for twenty miles, but around town they're not really that different. And there's no surge pricing.
Half the London Cabbies I've ridden with have card readers in the car, at least 90% of the ones I've gotten in Zone 1 had stickers saying they accepted them.. Cellular connected card readers aren't super high tech..
I half remember a small fee for using the card, but that's nothing new, most convenience stores charge something.
He tried to kill me with a forklift!
"bring the trade into the 21st century"
Talk about old farts being in charge.
p
who'd a thunk it.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Why would you tip someone that is going out of their way to give you bad service?
excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
Capitalism and Free Markets work.
What about the London Knowledge test? who about dumping that or refund the fees to the drivers to make it more fair as the uber drivers don't have to take that test?
As a techie I find it absolutely amazing that there is a taxi company that didn't accept credit cards. I agree the Uber angle doesn't warrant being mentioned here, but the article has merrit even without that.
Tip? At what arbitrary point do we decide to tip and who do we tip? Is it too much to ask that people can make a living doing work without having to rely in the generous heart of those people who they are serving?
don't have the cash on you ok I have to call the cops. You have to pay for your ride and my card reader is not working.
How much is Uber paying for this opinion?
Perhaps you should have posted this as a reply to someone suggesting not paying as somehow legitimate.
Your card-reader not working is your problem, not your customer's. If you can't be arsed to tell people that your reader is broken until AFTER you arrive, you deserve to be stiffed. See, it's shit service like this that makes people want something better... like Uber.
Without tipping, how are we to remind the little people that they are dependent on our largess?
Hi All,
Rare post from me, but this is close to my heart, being a long term (South) London resident. So... fuck the black cabs, really, they are truly shit in comparison to Uber. It's not just the card payment issue, it's the attitude you get from most of the drivers. They're not really interested in providing a cab service for London. They want to take bankers and tourists on short journeys around central London, and drive people to the airport and back. It can be difficult to find a black cab that will take you any distance "south of the river", so much so, it's even a cultural catch phrase here "Sorry gov, I ain't going south of the river".
Then, even when you get one, they really do cost. An Uber from central London to my place is about half the cost of a black cab. They're also not that comfortable a ride. Bumpy and cold usually. The only plus point is that they do take 5 passengers as standard, so there is that, minor, minor point....
Now, due to the black cabs being over priced, and really a bit shit, in true British fashion, rather than face actually making some kind of meaningful change to the system, a fudge has been added. Something called a "mini cab", or more accurately a "private hire vehicle". This is a just a car, no taxi meter, that you can hire to take you from A to B for a fixed price, but you can't hail it on the street, you have to call for one, or go to a pick up location. These vary wildly, from a professional, almost Uber like service such as Addison Lee, mentioned in a previous post, to a banged up, probably non street legal piece of crap driven by someone who looks like they've been awake 72 hours. Often they tout for business on the street (illegally) and, factoring in how late it is/cold the weather/drunk you are, a price is agreed... then often later disputed.
Anyway, mini cabs are licenced to operate as they do, although there are some totally illegal ones running around. The point is, black cabs never really served their purpose, so the mini cab system just kind of evolved into the cracks. It's the only type of cab most Londoners would have ever considered using.
Now we have Uber. Clean new cars, professional drivers, cheap, payments sorted in advance, phone app, the works. It's heaven. Actually, I find it interesting, all the US commenters on here talking about Uber being less professional, and operating illegally. The situation is totally different here. It is a superior cab ride in every way, and they are licenced private hire vehicles, so it's all legal. The black cab industry is trying to say that the Uber app on the drivers phone is effectively a taxi meter, and allows what is effectively street hailing, not sure how that is going, is there a court case?
Anyway, just wanted to get it off my chest. I will be so fucked off if a great service is killed, simply to protect a highly dysfunctional industry that has previously felt no pressure at all to improve their level of customer service. We all hate them anyway. This is an almost perfect "buggy whip manufacturer" situation, please let the black cab just die.
Phew....
p.s. I did see a protest by black cab drivers, about Uber, in central London recently, trying in vain to whip up some public support... they're delusional.
Who's with me?! I SAID... WHO'S WITH ME!!??
Go ahead, call the cops. It's not going to do much to help you out. They offered to pay you, you didn't like how they were going to pay you. At that point it's sort of your own fault. If you can't accept credit cards, it's on you to notify them before you drive them. There's a few restaurants that I go to that don't accept credit cards, they have a big friggen sign on their front door that says so.
London cabs don't accept credit cards?!?!
Most black cabs already do. Addison Lee has had an app with driver tracking, credit card payments and so on for years. This is kind of massively not news.
I took a cab at one point late last year when Uber didn't work on my phone. The driver pretended his credit card reader wouldn't work in the hope of getting me to pay cash.
This is, incidentally, the kind of shit that makes people hate cabs.
It had nothing to do with Uber and everything to do with the fact that this year in the UK more transactions were done by card than cash and the UK is quite quickly heading towards a cashless society and would be if it weren't for refusenik retailers. Lots of people in the UK, myself included, quite simply don't carry cash around anymore.
I only please one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow isn't looking good either. - Scott Adams
I visit London few times a year and all I can say is that the black cabs are awesome! Keep up the good job!
It's amazing, how well those guys know the city.
Uber, GPS is nice but it will not help you to get from A to B by the best rout and London is huge! :)
Most minicabs will let you pay with card or swing past the nearest cash point which is not normally more than a few hundred meters. This all happened years ago.
Oh no! This will kill FakeTaki!
+1
There are still many far better ways to accomplish this if you really cared enough about it.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
And the taxis I see are 15 year[s] old
Unadulterated bullshit. I drove taxis for 3yrs, the oldest one I drove was 5yo, it had 1.2 MILLION kilometres on the clock.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
simple problem, simple fix.
Why would you tip someone that is going out of their way to give you bad service?
The tip is the tax money they don't pay on your fare.
blindly antisocialist = antisocial
Where I am from, you cant drive a cab without a working card reader. City and County ordinance. If at the end of the ride they pull a card not working trick, I just say "too bad, thanks for the ride" and walk out. They can call the cops all day.
don't have the cash on you ok I have to call the cops. You have to pay for your ride and my card reader is not working.
The cops know what the people know about most businesses wanting cash only; it's mostly about skimming and avoiding tax liabilities. Do you really want to go there? One too many times and a red flag goes up to anyone wanting a reward on tipoffing the Gov or job points for an investigation leading to an arrest. In some cases (at the top), there's two books -- one to show and the real one.