Sweden proposes ban on ride-sharing services that make profits • Hacker News Board

Re: Sweden proposes ban on ride-sharing services that make profits

#11

Post by edblarney » Thu, Dec 01, 2016, 2:21 PM UTC

Shivetya wrote: post #5

Sorry, but either regulate it as the taxi industry or force the taxi industry to be a profitless business as well. If being professional is defined by having a certificate or such then simply have these services require their drivers provide such certification. Honestly, just how many ways can we find to prevent innovation from disrupting the protected by daunting regulations from occurring? At times I am beginning t…

I think in this case it may be a 'fine point - but that fine point is fair.

Tax authorities are gods in Nordic countries.

'No meter' = 'no way for tax guys to know what's what'.

Swedes are not stupid though ... Uber might respond with giving up GPS data of rides to tax authorities. This would not be entirely unreasonable and would quash the specific legal point.

My bet is there is more going on here though ...

Re: Sweden proposes ban on ride-sharing services that make profits

#12

Post by daenney » Thu, Dec 01, 2016, 2:23 PM UTC

edblarney wrote: post #9

kalleboo wrote: post #3

So, they want to encourage ride-sharing in the original meaning - carpooling. Not the "taxi company in disguise" meaning. Sounds fair enough to me. For context, the taxi regulation in Sweden is very light. There is no medallion system limiting the number of cars, and no regulation of prices. You just need an extended driver's license, an approved taxi-meter (same as how grocery stores need their scales to be approved…

"So, they want to encourage ride-sharing in the original meaning - carpooling. Not the "taxi company in disguise" meaning. Sounds fair enough to me." I'm not necessarily a fan of Uber, but this is ridiculous. If 'taxis' are legal in Sweden then there's no reason Uber should not be able to operate so long as they are obeying the laws . Ostensibly, this is about a specific issue - distance travelled and the lack of abi…

> "So, they want to encourage ride-sharing in the original meaning - carpooling. Not the "taxi company in disguise" meaning. Sounds fair enough to me."

> I'm not necessarily a fan of Uber, but this is ridiculous.

> If 'taxis' are legal in Sweden then there's no reason Uber should not be able to operate so long as they are obeying the laws.

I think you've misunderstood what was said in the original article. This doesn't make Uber illegal at all in Sweden, they can continue providing taxi services like they have done. However, it makes the ride-sharing part of it, UberPOP for example, illegal. I.e if you want to ride share then that's fine, but you shouldn't be compensated for it. Bringing it back to the original concept of carpooling.

However, Uber Black or UberX would be, from my understanding of it, perfectly fine and they can continue to offer those services.

Re: Sweden proposes ban on ride-sharing services that make profits

#13

Post by daenney » Thu, Dec 01, 2016, 2:26 PM UTC

shocks wrote: post #4

Stockholm is full of 'fake' taxis that take you longer routes and charge you more money. I'd much rather use Uber.

Regular, real/official, taxi's are easily recognisable by their number plate which is orange with black letters whereas regular vehicles are white with black letters.

You don't have to use fake taxi's, that's your choice. A regular taxi ride in Stockholm and a Uber ride (depending on the time of day) usually don't have a big price difference between them. Unless you want to take one of the Tesla taxi's.

Re: Sweden proposes ban on ride-sharing services that make profits

#14

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Dec 01, 2016, 2:28 PM UTC

edblarney wrote: post #9

kalleboo wrote: post #3

So, they want to encourage ride-sharing in the original meaning - carpooling. Not the "taxi company in disguise" meaning. Sounds fair enough to me. For context, the taxi regulation in Sweden is very light. There is no medallion system limiting the number of cars, and no regulation of prices. You just need an extended driver's license, an approved taxi-meter (same as how grocery stores need their scales to be approved…

"So, they want to encourage ride-sharing in the original meaning - carpooling. Not the "taxi company in disguise" meaning. Sounds fair enough to me." I'm not necessarily a fan of Uber, but this is ridiculous. If 'taxis' are legal in Sweden then there's no reason Uber should not be able to operate so long as they are obeying the laws . Ostensibly, this is about a specific issue - distance travelled and the lack of abi…

[deleted]

Re: Sweden proposes ban on ride-sharing services that make profits

#15

Post by jycr753 » Thu, Dec 01, 2016, 2:28 PM UTC

So I guess Uber is on the clear

Re: Sweden proposes ban on ride-sharing services that make profits

#16

Post by GFK_of_xmaspast » Thu, Dec 01, 2016, 2:33 PM UTC

miguelrochefort wrote: post #6

Can someone explain what goes through the head of people that propose such things? Do they not understand basic economics?

What about this proposal is in violation of your model of 'basic economics.'

Re: Sweden proposes ban on ride-sharing services that make profits

#17

Post by staticelf » Thu, Dec 01, 2016, 2:35 PM UTC

edblarney wrote: post #9

kalleboo wrote: post #3

So, they want to encourage ride-sharing in the original meaning - carpooling. Not the "taxi company in disguise" meaning. Sounds fair enough to me. For context, the taxi regulation in Sweden is very light. There is no medallion system limiting the number of cars, and no regulation of prices. You just need an extended driver's license, an approved taxi-meter (same as how grocery stores need their scales to be approved…

"So, they want to encourage ride-sharing in the original meaning - carpooling. Not the "taxi company in disguise" meaning. Sounds fair enough to me." I'm not necessarily a fan of Uber, but this is ridiculous. If 'taxis' are legal in Sweden then there's no reason Uber should not be able to operate so long as they are obeying the laws . Ostensibly, this is about a specific issue - distance travelled and the lack of abi…

I am a Swede and I kind of disagree with what you are saying. Maybe creating a company was considered "dirty" in the 80s but nowadays it is completely reversed.

I don't believe anyone is skeptical of anyone creating a business, in fact I think most people would be very positive towards it.

Also, I like Uber and have used it several times when in Stockholm. Altough, more often than not it's a normal taxi that picks you up. Why I like Uber is simply because of the app and that it is so much better than any competition.

Plus, I hope that soon I will get picked up by a robot driver and want to contribute to that happening asap.

Re: Sweden proposes ban on ride-sharing services that make profits

#18

Post by aedron » Thu, Dec 01, 2016, 2:36 PM UTC

shocks wrote: post #4

Stockholm is full of 'fake' taxis that take you longer routes and charge you more money. I'd much rather use Uber.

I would use any taxi company that charged me the price up front, paid through the app, calculated based on distance from source to destination and some heuristics about time-of-day, time-of-year, etc.

The driver would be incentivized to get you to your destination quickly and there wouldn't be that awkward tension about whether the guy is taking the best route, driving too slow or whatever.

Even if they occasionally lost money because of freak traffic conditions, I'll bet they would win over a lot of customers.

Re: Sweden proposes ban on ride-sharing services that make profits

#19

Post by nothrabannosir » Thu, Dec 01, 2016, 2:37 PM UTC

kalleboo wrote: post #3

So, they want to encourage ride-sharing in the original meaning - carpooling. Not the "taxi company in disguise" meaning. Sounds fair enough to me. For context, the taxi regulation in Sweden is very light. There is no medallion system limiting the number of cars, and no regulation of prices. You just need an extended driver's license, an approved taxi-meter (same as how grocery stores need their scales to be approved…

some private taxi drivers will prey on tourists by overpricing their services by 3x and waiting at airports. Since their rip-off prices are displayed right there in the window, it's fully legal. Tourists don't know the typical price of a taxi, and fresh off an airplane are not sure what the local currency rate is (Sweden isn't on the Euro), and hence get ripped off.

Typically this should lead to more competition there. Is something preventing that? Taxi thug groups (i.e. cartels), lack of space, ..?

If the price and product are clear, and if there's opportunity for competition, well.. I don't want to sound too libertarian, but, you know... :)

Re: Sweden proposes ban on ride-sharing services that make profits

#20

Post by Tangokat » Thu, Dec 01, 2016, 2:39 PM UTC

edblarney wrote: post #9

kalleboo wrote: post #3

So, they want to encourage ride-sharing in the original meaning - carpooling. Not the "taxi company in disguise" meaning. Sounds fair enough to me. For context, the taxi regulation in Sweden is very light. There is no medallion system limiting the number of cars, and no regulation of prices. You just need an extended driver's license, an approved taxi-meter (same as how grocery stores need their scales to be approved…

"So, they want to encourage ride-sharing in the original meaning - carpooling. Not the "taxi company in disguise" meaning. Sounds fair enough to me." I'm not necessarily a fan of Uber, but this is ridiculous. If 'taxis' are legal in Sweden then there's no reason Uber should not be able to operate so long as they are obeying the laws . Ostensibly, this is about a specific issue - distance travelled and the lack of abi…

Would you mind providing a source for 2)?

In my experience you couldn't be more wrong.