If they can't or won't reform then excellent, let's be rid of them. I don't want to give any business to a company that are seeking to become a worldwide cab monopoly, and squirrel away any profits to the US. We have a perfectly healthy cab ecosystem in my city, app-driven and with fare competition and city regulation. Which I suppose is why Uber, though present, hasn't really taken off here. That said, talk of profi…
>We have a perfectly healthy cab ecosystem in my city, app-driven and with fare competition and city regulation Sure, but that doesn't exist in the majority of cities. The user experience is why I use Uber.
Uber's rhetoric doesn't seem appreciably different in London from elsewhere.
And yeah, I'm a Londoner, don't really feel the need for Uber to exist in my area.
For now, sure, but you may have missed the word "monopoly". Fact is, Uber is running an unsustainable business in a lot of markets to gain market share. It's anticompetitive business practice. Free market fanboys will argue that the issue will fix itself after Uber raises prices - thus allowing more healthy competition, but this takes time. Not everyone can drive or rely on public transportation. In modern society, t…
> Free market fanboys will argue that the issue will fix itself after Uber raises prices - thus allowing more healthy competition Yup, by which time the current players may well have been driven out by the undercutting. Not really a sign of 'healthy' competition.
All London black cabs must take card payments. If their machine isn't working, they're not allowed to be on the road.
True, but not taken seriously by cab drivers. I've had many broken card machines in a black cab, and when challenged, it almost always lead to a, "alrite, get out mate" — or a, "well I can try if it works again, it didn't earlier..." I didn't report them, and with their ongoing nonsense and this now, I'll definitely make sure I will from here on forward.
More than 400 London cab drivers charged with crimes last year [0]. Not sure if this includes Uber, but from your comment, Uber doesn't report to DBS, so it doesn't. When you judge a service, you should really ask "compared to what". I prefer knowing the name and track record of my driver, not to mention an easy way to report mis-behavior, a history of my ride and ability to share my location. I don't have any stats,…
> The FOI showed the number of people charged who gave their occupation as a taxi driver or minicab driver. That would include Uber drivers. > I prefer knowing the name and track record of my driver You know their name, but their track record? You can see previous ratings, but that's not exactly going to include "1*, driver sexually assaulted me" is it?
I personally never had a negative enough of an experience to warrant a bad rating, but I know people in the US that rated their drivers a low score for some reason (poor navigation, speeding, cell phone use), and they subsequently had an Uber rep reach out to them to discuss. It seems that they take the ratings very seriously. And it also shows because many of the drivers I spoke to were concerned about their ratings and even offer such amenities like water and cell chargers to make the ride more pleasant. As for yellow cabs in NY, many times I've witnessed the cab driver speaking on his phone and refusing to open the door before final destination is disclosed. Also, reports about not picking up minorities or people in less wealthy neighborhoods. These bad behaviors have gotten better over the years, but I attribute that to more competition from Uber
If they can't or won't reform then excellent, let's be rid of them. I don't want to give any business to a company that are seeking to become a worldwide cab monopoly, and squirrel away any profits to the US. We have a perfectly healthy cab ecosystem in my city, app-driven and with fare competition and city regulation. Which I suppose is why Uber, though present, hasn't really taken off here. That said, talk of profi…
However, the article would greatly benefit from more factual information. What "threat to Londoners' safety and security"? Be specific please.
That is factually a quote from the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, as reported in the article. It is not the journalist's job to provide specifics on the behalf of others.
The same week I read about the Gett-Blackcab bus partnership (woohoo one route, that will make a difference..).
£20 for a hour's drive in a Mercedes E class (with a driver) is hurting the protection racket?
Other news, the government is offering huge subsidies/ grants for conglomerates working on driverless cars and lorries.
Btw: I trust a computer more than most London drivers.
That's why many people prefer small, local cab companies that pay license fees and taxes to a local budget.
In the US, I don’t think I’ve ridden in a small, local cab company whose cars didn’t smell like cigarettes and was barely legal to drive, and often had drivers trying to scam you. It was always nice expensive black car service, or shitty local taxi company, which was a super last resort. The transparency and accountability that Uber brought has been preferred by everyone I know, and people are voting with their dolla…
I've never had that experience with local cabs. Now what?
The tube is fine for the most part but it can be a drag going from the eastern parts of London to LHR directly (or to Paddington or Victoria)
There are lots of private hire car firms, Addison Lee springs to mind immediately. And practically every street in the city has a minicab firm...
In my experience Addison Lee, Kabbee and the other private mini cabs are completely useless for uber use case.
Unless you booked them in advance you need to be prepared to wait up to 30 minutes or more.
With uber I can request a ride and I'm pretty sure that at worst in 5 minutes I'm inside the car.
While I don't particularly feel good about the business model and lack of employee rights etc, one thing I prefer Uber for over Black Cabs is the pollution. Many Ubers are Toyota Purises. Black cabs have 2.7L Diesel engines which contribute to London's terrible air quality. Especially as I often see black cabs without passengers driving around - not sure if the're looking for rides or not, but there is no reason for…
Priuses can't take wheelchairs, have a wider turning circle and have other drawbacks that make them unsuitable for black cab workloads. That said, the UK is committed to eradicating all petrol and diesel cars over the next 22 years, and the black cab drivers are looking at what you're talking about: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jul/11/black-cab-t...
Yes, from 1 Jan 2018 all new registered taxis are required to be all-electric or petrol-electric hybrids. There's going to be a £5k grant for taxis over 10 years old (note there is a maximum age of 15 years that has long been in force), which will hopefully push the oldest third of taxis to get replaced more quickly than normally.
> They behave as if they are attempting this, IMHO. Every rational company should behave as if they're attempting to become a monopoly, this is a completely meaningless point to argue either way.
Some companies are happy to serve a restricted demographic, provide work for the owners and employees; you don't have to be a megalomaniac to lead a company. That seems rational, can you explain why it isn't? Some people aren't primarily motivated by power and profit.
> Some companies are happy to serve a restricted demographic
Right, but whatever their target demographic is, they're still going to want to have an exclusive stake in it. I'm not saying that Taco Bell can/should seek to monopolize all food.