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London Has Decided To Ban Uber (recode.net)
Johana Bhuiyan, writing for Recode: Transport for London, the taxi regulating service in London, announced today that it would not be renewing Uber's license to operate because of concerns over the company's "lack of corporate responsibility" in relation to public safety issues. The ride-hail company, which launched in London in 2012, is appealing the TfL's decision and will be allowed to continue to operate until a court makes a decision on that appeal. That process could take months. London is a significant market for Uber: The company says there are 40,000 drivers and 3.5 million riders on its platform in London. And like New York City, it is one of the most regulated markets where Uber operates. Unlike most markets across the U.S., Uber drivers in London and New York City are required to participate in government administered background checks.
Ride-hail company? What's that? It's a taxi company.
Also I wish that Brits, as the inventors of the English language, would ban using "uber" as a verb.
More like Sadiq Khan knows which side his political bread is buttered and decided to kowtow to the unions that keep him in power.
What's a few million pissed of Londoners and tens of thousands of jobs between fellow travellers eh....
Very many disparate groups have shaped the English language.
Indeed, that's why English has been so successful; though it has the warts of organic growth, it has naturally taken the best features of nearly every language on the planet.
I am glad the adults are finally stepping in.
Both Uber and Facebook (now forced to turnover the Russians ads) were running amok as if no rules existed for their industry... There are, and they had been ignoring them.
Great call London!
From my perspective. Anecdotal evidence, but Iâ(TM)ve been hit more than once with the surge pricing scam. One particular Uber decided that it was $205.00 from JFK to mid-town Manhattan. I ended up taking a yellow for $65 plus tip. I like the concept of Uber and Lyft, but the execution feels greedy.
And how does eliminating their competition change that?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
learn the knowledge
It's very rarely the people who use Uber that "go crying to the police and public services when they are raped by [racial smear deleted] drivers".
It's generally those claiming that Uber is "unfair competition" and taking away "their" business. Because you're not supposed to have any free will you see...
Democracy is a sheep and two wolves deciding what to have for lunch. Freedom is a well armed sheep contesting the issue
While Uber is abusive and socially dubious corporation, what came before is even worse. I hope people remember how incestuous and overpriced traditional "regulated" plated cabs were. The only reason we have seen some degree of normalization there is because they are forced to compete with Uber.
... should be based on how much income the brothels make. Sometimes the minority of I'm-all-right-screw-you-jack types have to put up with the majority not wanting their city to descend to the lowest ethical common denominator.
I have no problem with the technology uber use, its the future, but the company itself is a disgrace and I'd be quite happy to see it go bust.
While Uber is abusive and socially dubious corporation,
Yes.
what came before is even worse.
WTF? No. The world isn't America. This is London.
London has had regulated minicabs (i.e. what Uber is) since about forever. If you didn't want to fork out for a black cab, you could use any one of the minicab firms. This ranged from the local dodgy one man band, to a local company with a reputation and a collection of taxis to a bigger company like Addison-Lee who had an app and GPS tracking for ages already.
SJW n. One who posts facts.
Let's hope this is the start of a trend.
Cabs are regulated for driver and passenger safety. Cars are meant to meet a standard of mechanical safety, drivers are meant to have commercial licenses and insurances.
Best joke of the day.
the world's "lingua franca" ain't Latin
As the root of most of the languages in the modern western world, I'd contest that assertion...
"Ride Hail Company" - I am sick and tired of people using euphemisms in a lame attempt to side track reality. (Alternate Facts?) .. Taking someone you don't know, to a place you don't normally go - FOR MONEY - is a Taxi. period.
The problem with Uber is a corporation who's revenue model is built by taking pay and benefits way from the lowest link (the driver) and burdening them with expenses (their own car) and all liability all the while attempting to side step protections and taxes put in place by local governments.
It's a sham and a parasite and it's creators need to be sitting behind bars next to martin shkreli.
"Muslim" is not a race, snowflake.
How the hell can you think you know *anything* about *anything* that's worth anyone listening to concerning important societal topics when you lack such basic knowledge & understanding?
Why are you even posting here? Isn't there a Gender Studies class you're late for?
Strat
Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
In which case we would invite you to consult the definition of lingua franca.
Those who advocate genocide deserve every protection afforded by law, and none afforded by common human decency.
Hopefully this becomes a trend.
If people felt unsafe using Uber, Uber would lose riders, and if Uber drivers were unsafe, they wouldn't get insurance. Given Uber's constant tracking of both drivers and passengers, you're probably safer in an Uber ride than in a taxi.
No, Uber bans are simply about money and power, using "public safety" as a smokescreen: the London city government wants to force people to send money in the direction of their political cronies: taxi operators, unions, public transit monopolies, because they know full well that Uber can hurt all those government-imposed monopolies badly.
Most of the languages of Europe are derived from Latin. The reason that Latin isn't the lingua franca today has everything to do with when the Roman Empire died out and nothing to do with any characteristics of Latin or English that are falsely perceived as inherent. It's about political and militaristic influence, not about how much people "like" the language.
They refer to 'concerns' over how Uber reports crimes in their cabs?
What, specifically, do they mean?
What are they doing or not doing that's different than the Black Cabs? Are there specific incidents?
Be specific, or it sounds more like a political hit job.
-Styopa
While Uber is abusive and socially dubious corporation
You forgot "criminal".
what came before is even worse.
You'll have to provide support for that assertion. At least in my part of the US, this appears to be untrue.
I'm not saying that traditional cab companies are great or anything -- they tend to be pretty awful. But it sure looks like, at best, Uber is no better.
If uber isn't paying the same entry fees to the market as existing taxis, then it is unfair competition for the taxis. However, it should be about opening the regulation since there is obviously a market need not being met by taxis. There is no stopping the taxi companies from investing in an app and backend analytics to direct routes and reserve rides. If taxis wanted to innovate, they would, but instead, they enjoy state protection.
It's not just "state protection". Taxi operators have sheltered themselves beneath a mountain of protectionist regulations and artificially limited numbers of licenses that they themselves lobbied for. Ostensibly the regulations were touted as "public safety measures", but they were designed expressly to prevent or delay actual competition from taking away their business. The result has been inflated prices for everyone, and full bank accounts for the taxi companies. Meanwhile, they publicly bemoan all the "regulatory burden" they have to operate under! And after all that phony acting, they still have the nerve to complain that a competitor is "unfair"? Entitled pricks, all of them. I hope Über / Lÿft / Whüever takes all their lunch money.
John
Covfefe is from Latin?
No, you didn't paraphrase him.
You took a quote and changed it to suit your own ideology.
The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
So how about people getting raped and killed. Is that good enough for you sunshine.
Many, but not most. You have Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian and a few regional languages that don't have that many speakers, like Romansh, Sardu or Catalan. Note that there are not nearly as many Spanish speakers in Europe than in the Americas. There are just as many if not more Germanic and Slavic languages in Europe.
"It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
Yeah, well Uber isn't meaningfully better than black cabs or private hire. Black cabs have a regulated fare, high quality hackney carriage (eg tight turning circle), drivers who can take you to places without a postcode, and can be hailed from the street. Private hire give you a set fare in advance. Uber does none of this.
Cabs are regulated for driver and passenger safety.
Cabs are regulated to reduce traffic on the roads and increase the cost of entry to competitors.
Wow the little bitch can't back-up his assertion (which is patently false) so he attacks the speaker like the little wasteful bitch he is.
Die in a fire, little snowflake bitch.
Also your pee-pee is tiny
LOL!
An AC "Brainiac" snowflake that is so ate-up and blinded with hate that he apparently can't even figure out how to reply to the correct post that has him so triggered!
Ya just can't make this stuff up, folks! Reality *is* truly stranger than fiction, and a hell of a lot funnier, too!
Strat :D
Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
They are a small family in comparison - these two, Estonian, Sami and whatever the indigenous people of Mari El speak beside Russian.
"It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
There are three main families of languages in Europe: the Romance languages, which are derived from Latin, the Germanic, and the Slavic. There are also languages like Hungarian and Finnish that aren't in any of those three. The main Romance languages are French, Italian, Spanish, Portugese, and whatever they speak in Romania. The majority of languages in Europe are not Romance languages, such as English, German, Polish, Russian, Greek, and Serbo-Croatian.
"When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
Thing is, even if I don't deal with Uber, there's still drivers with inadequate licenses and insurance out there, and that can affect me.
"When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
If a community doesn't want a brothel, then I can sequentially buy pieces of property, turn them into brothels, and the community will have to follow me around and buy everything I buy at a profit for me, in addition to what I make running what is essentially a mobile brothel. (Also, I'm real dubious about laws about what consenting adults can do with each other in private.)
I would have used another example, that it's like basing pollution laws on the money it would cause to cut down on pollution, instead of the effect on the community.
"When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
The times I took a black cab in London (which is what this whole thing is about), the cabs were very nice and the drivers were excellent.
"When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
Uber can take you places without a postcode. You place your destination pin on the map, and you have the usual search functions for addresses and well known places. If you can find where you want to go in Google Maps, you can find it in Uber.
Private hire CAN give you a price in advance, but usually doesn't. The standard operation is that they make up a fare when you arrive, and you take the risk it won't be too unreasonable.
Good job assuming all the world is America.
A clue: it ain't.
London has had lightly regulated minicabs since before the internet. Uber couldn't manage to abide by the weak regulations. Minicabs will continue to exist in large numbers alongside black cabs and the world will keep turning.
SJW n. One who posts facts.
Usually doesn't? Every Addison Lee can I've ever booked is priced in advance. Come to think of it, every Minicab had been.
SJW n. One who posts facts.
This is so true. Just as it is in NYC. The cab companies who owned the artificially limited number of medallions in the city made tons of money of the backs of poor drivers and over charging riders for decades. I'm glad uber and lyft ect can finally operate in the city. You can see just how much of a strangle hold lmedallion owners had on the market by looking at the value for the those medallions now. They used to sell for $1 million plus, now only a couple hundred grand.
London is a significant market for Uber
But since Uber looses money on each course, loosing a significant market should be a good news on the finance front, shouldn't it?
And no private hire car I've ever taken has been, except when I've specifically asked.
It wont. Not in the UK, in my lifetime.
Latin wasn't the "lingua franca" in Roman times, it was Greek.
All I want is a secure system where it's easy to do anything I want. Is that too much to ask ~~ Randall Munroe
Me, snowflake? ROTFL! I regularly defend _equality_ & judicial process when my more "liberal" friends are taking positions like "That (allegedly racist) cop SHOT a black man, LOCK HIM UP", "She says that she was drunk, that's all the proof needed to determine that he is A RAPIST! Due process be damned, RUIN him by expelling him!", etc.
I'll admit that I used the wrong term & should have written bigoted instead of racial, happy?
Now instead of quibbling, how about addressing the essential part of my post: Uber users aren't the ones whining when Uber drivers commit crimes.
Democracy is a sheep and two wolves deciding what to have for lunch. Freedom is a well armed sheep contesting the issue
I'll admit that I used the wrong term & should have written bigoted instead of racial, happy?
Actually, you're still wrong. It was a statement of fact, neither bigoted nor racist. Facts have no bias, they simply are. How they make you feel has no bearing whatsoever on their accuracy or legitimacy. There are problems with many recently-immigrated Muslim men raping and abusing Western women in the countries they immigrate to. Pointing that fact out is not bigoted nor racist.
Failing to acknowledge the world and people for how and what it and they are for reasons of political correctness prevents solving problems and only makes them worse.
As far as Uber, I believe in the individual's right to contract his labor on whatever terms best meet his needs.
Strat
Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
...one small step for mankind...
Why would you take a private hire car and *not* ask the fare in advance? It is for your protection that they're obliged to give you a price!
Because you are trusting. Because you are in a hurry. Because you can't be bothered. Habit. There are any number of reasons most people don't ask how much they owe till the end of the journey.
Oh no, won't somebody think of the drunk children?
Yes, those are all reasons. But they are all pretty shit reasons, aren't they? I mean, it takes what three seconds to ask "how much will that be?" and get the answer "fifteen quid" or whatever back. Anyhoo, I looked at taking an Uber this morning. Surge was 2.3x at 7.05am. Of course I didn't know what x was, and the algorithm could be highly clever and specific for calculating X or it could be some fat bloke in a room calling out magic numbers and I would be none the wiser, and I have no idea whether 2.3 is a fair or unfair multiple, but whatevs, according to you Uber's pricing is as clear as it needs to be for the consumer.
To treat pollution as a matter of property rights, either we'd need a civil court system costing trillions of dollars, or we'd have to have absolutely no pollution. Neither is practical. Anarchy isn't very practical, either.
You folks really need to look at what things cost. My brothel gets me money by being bought out over and over again, and using the court system to enforce minor issues now handled by regulation would be incredibly expensive.
"When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
As you know if you really do use Uber, when you enter the details of your trip, you are shown estimates for each of the cab types (UberX, UberExec).
ALWAYS.
Surges happen when the roads are at their busiest, so estimates are much harder. And so on the screen yuo mention it shows the minimum fare - what it will be if congestion is not too bad. Plus the price per mile/minute info.
And now you are wining about being shown the price per mile and per minute. But in a previous comment you were praising black cabs for the fact that they displayed the price per mile and per minute on the cab. Which shows you are not being objective here.