Uber becomes legal in NSW, Australia – taxi owners to be compensated
dailytelegraph.com.au
Uber becomes legal in NSW, Australia – taxi owners to be compensated
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Re: Uber becomes legal in NSW, Australia – taxi owners to be compensated
#2> The perpetual owners of taxi plates, about 5800 people, will receive a $20,000 payment for the plate. Multiple plate owners will receive a maximum of $40,000.
> Both taxi and Uber drivers will also have to pay the government a $1 levy per trip for a maximum of five years to fund the compensation package.
So, "here's $20k, now start paying us back"?
I wonder how long it takes to accrue 20k rides in a taxi.
Re: Uber becomes legal in NSW, Australia – taxi owners to be compensated
#3The Tele is a tabloid but appears to be the best source for this article.
September: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-28/uber-drivers-face-susp...
Here's what's probably the press release that was used for this article: http://www.rms.nsw.gov.au/about/news-events/news/ministerial...
Re: Uber becomes legal in NSW, Australia – taxi owners to be compensated
#4> The perpetual owners of taxi plates, about 5800 people, will receive a $20,000 payment for the plate. Multiple plate owners will receive a maximum of $40,000. > Both taxi and Uber drivers will also have to pay the government a $1 levy per trip for a maximum of five years to fund the compensation package. So, "here's $20k, now start paying us back"? I wonder how long it takes to accrue 20k rides in a taxi.
For an average of 7 rides/day ~7 years, 20 rides/day ~3 years. Assuming the car is working daily.
Re: Uber becomes legal in NSW, Australia – taxi owners to be compensated
#5Actually, this article raises a point I'd not considered: Why doesn't Uber just start buying medallions, especially in large / angry markets? In NYC, medallions are down to $600,000: http://www.bloomberg.com/features/2015-taxi-medallion-king. Presumably Uber wouldn't have to buy all the medallions out there, but if it bought enough it could circumvent much of the political opposition from current holders.
Re: Uber becomes legal in NSW, Australia – taxi owners to be compensated
#6Why aren't we addressing the safety aspects of Uber rather than making it legal? Can we not ensure that the cars are professionally insured, professionally driven and kept up to standard and safe to be in? That should be our number one priority before allowing the company to continue operating.
Some random examples:
http://www.cnet.com/au/news/sydney-ridesharing-driver-charge...
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/uber-driver-arres...
http://metro.co.uk/2015/09/08/uber-driver-dragged-passenger-...
Re: Uber becomes legal in NSW, Australia – taxi owners to be compensated
#7Actually, this article raises a point I'd not considered: Why doesn't Uber just start buying medallions, especially in large / angry markets? In NYC, medallions are down to $600,000: http://www.bloomberg.com/features/2015-taxi-medallion-king . Presumably Uber wouldn't have to buy all the medallions out there, but if it bought enough it could circumvent much of the political opposition from current holders.
Because buying them would push up the price, especially once the sellers realized the motive. If they could really buy them all for $600,000 / each they probably would.
Nevertheless, having the government compulsorily aquire and compensate previous owners in an orderly fashion, where they all get the same compensation instead of being able to push up the price by holding out is a wonderful solution to this kind of problem.
It would be great to see this happen more in the US, taxi medallions and rent regulation are obvious areas where just compensating the current beneficiaries as a one-off, then opening up the market would do everyone a world of good.
Re: Uber becomes legal in NSW, Australia – taxi owners to be compensated
#8Why aren't we addressing the safety aspects of Uber rather than making it legal? Can we not ensure that the cars are professionally insured, professionally driven and kept up to standard and safe to be in? That should be our number one priority before allowing the company to continue operating. Some random examples: http://www.cnet.com/au/news/sydney-ridesharing-driver-charge... http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-o…
None of the particular examples you link to are somehow impossible to occur in existing "legal" taxis. Anecdotally, Uber cars are safer in those regards than taxis, despite regulation there.
Re: Uber becomes legal in NSW, Australia – taxi owners to be compensated
#9Why aren't we addressing the safety aspects of Uber rather than making it legal? Can we not ensure that the cars are professionally insured, professionally driven and kept up to standard and safe to be in? That should be our number one priority before allowing the company to continue operating. Some random examples: http://www.cnet.com/au/news/sydney-ridesharing-driver-charge... http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-o…
> Can we not ensure that the cars are professionally insured, professionally driven and kept up to standard and safe to be in?
Could the same question not be asked about taxis? A more objective question would be to ask if they are professionally insured, professionally driven and kept up to standard to a level comparable to taxis in the area.
Examples of incidents don't mean much without a statistical comparison with comparable incidents with taxis.
Re: Uber becomes legal in NSW, Australia – taxi owners to be compensated
#10Why aren't we addressing the safety aspects of Uber rather than making it legal? Can we not ensure that the cars are professionally insured, professionally driven and kept up to standard and safe to be in? That should be our number one priority before allowing the company to continue operating. Some random examples: http://www.cnet.com/au/news/sydney-ridesharing-driver-charge... http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-o…
Part of the announcement is that ride sharing services will come under regulation of a new regulator and Commissioner, which I assume means that they'll be required to have the same standards as existing taxi services (FWIW, currently at least in NSW Uber drivers require criminal history checks, car inspections and insurance before becoming an Uber driver).