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Uber London loses licence to operate

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#291

Post by foldr »

AsyncAwait wrote: post #269
moomin wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

In my city, especially as a disabled person, I've had vastly better experience with Uber than with regular cabs. Just being able to indicate precisely where to stop on a map is an incredible improvement for me over having to provide instructions to a cab driver who can't find the spot. Not having to deal with cash, drivers more willing to help etc. gives me a much better experience with an Uber.

London cabs can be hailed using apps and accept card payments, so Uber has no real advantage in those respects in London.

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#292

Post by erwan »

Nursie wrote: post #40

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…

This decision has officially nothing to do with tax evasion/optimization. It is on grounds of consumer protection that Uber's licence is not being renewed.

Anyone who has taken a black cab should immediately understand the hypocrisy motivating this decision. The user experience is absolutely horrendous and there's no good tracking system to make black cab drivers accountable. In short, as everyone knows, it is just another artificial monopoly enshrined into law by regulators.

A good thing is that same regulators are losing lots of credibility. For decades they could pretend they were acting on basis of consumer protection. Now it is clear they aren't. People love Uber (not necessarily applies in the US anymore) because the experience is amazing at decent prices. Even in a city with a high density public transportation system like Paris, you are always happy to have that option in case it is past 1:00am or you're in a hurry.

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#293

Post by shangxiao »

danpalmer wrote: post #283
kaishiro wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Endangered your safety? Did someone force you into the vehicle?

The seatbelt broke 10 mins into the journey while we were on a motorway. It's illegal to stop on the motorway, and being left at the side of the road isn't exactly a great alternative.

To be fair that does change the meaning of "didn't work" though.

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#294

Post by vvvv »

jmkni wrote: post #129
cjsuk wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same experience here. Nothing done about a virtual mugging where the cabbie had no idea where he was going, shouted at me and told me I was a cunt because I wasn’t stupid enough to fall for it and pulled him up on it. I rounded his fee down to the nearest £10 and told him to sue me. I’ve seen black cab drivers shouting “Uber scum” and spitting in the windows of Uber drivers before. This isn’t want I and my wife wante…

This is where prepaid mastercards which sync up to an app on your phone come in really handy. You get a push notification instantly as soon as a contactless transaction goes through so you know right away if you've been ripped off.

However, if you use a credit card like amex, you always have the option of resolving it with them should tfl fail.

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#295

Post by stupidcar »

osrec wrote: post #204

Uber as a company is immoral from time to time, however their service is great, and I'd be sad to see it go from London. TfL operates one of the most expensive public transport systems in the world, and is happy to license black cab drivers (who in my experience, can be rude and are an absolute rip off a lot of the time). Not only that, black cab drivers in my area regularly drive through zebra crossings while people…

Uber isn't going away in London. Never mind the passengers, consider how many thousands of (mostly Labour-voting) people drive for Uber as a job. They might not love their employer, but that doesn't mean they'll be happy become unemployed en-masse. This is a political tactic to try to force Uber into improving its safety and regulatory practices. Whether it works will depend on whether Uber or City Hall blinks first.

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#296

Post by jnsaff2 »

dx034 wrote: post #217
osrec wrote: post #204

Uber as a company is immoral from time to time, however their service is great, and I'd be sad to see it go from London. TfL operates one of the most expensive public transport systems in the world, and is happy to license black cab drivers (who in my experience, can be rude and are an absolute rip off a lot of the time). Not only that, black cab drivers in my area regularly drive through zebra crossings while people…

Did you try Taxify? Started in London recently, could imagine many drivers will sign up there now. Haven't tried it yet (didn't take an uber over the past weeks) but their offering appears very similar.

They've been shut down as well: https://blog.taxify.eu/2017/09/bringing-fairer-ride-hailing-...

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#297

Post by bspn »

PaulRobinson wrote: post #189

Londoner here. The license is not being renewed not because TfL isn't interested in innovation (they actively encourage it), not to retain power for the black cab drivers, and not because London isn't interested in companies like Uber operating here. It's because of the rapes. The Metropolitan Police (the part of the UK police force that polices London), has objected to their license. In 2015 alone, they had to deal…

> If the regulators bring about these changes, they are doing their job and I'm happy for them to scare the holy fuck out of Uber and their management team in the process to make that happen..

Not a Londoner, but this was similar to my take on it. This feels like a ceremonial ban designed to wake Uber up and force them to lift their corporate behavior standards. TFL would have known that a multi-year appeal process was almost guaranteed, so it's an easy way to put Uber on notice while also gauging public sentiment towards them during that process.

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#298

Post by jackvalentine »

throwaway287391 wrote: post #282
overcast wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Had a terrible experience my first trip to London with black cabs. Headed to Heathrow express, late for flight as it is, He tells me 3/4 of the trip through, no cabs accept credit. We pull up to a stop light, and a cab directly to our left, has "we accept credit" on the window. So now I'm sitting here driving around with the cab guy to find an ATM at 5am just to pay him.

I've learned to always, ALWAYS ask when I first step into a cab whether they accept card payments, anywhere in the world. As far as I can remember, every time I've done this the answer has always been "yes" and the card payment worked without a hitch at the end of the ride. Yet just about every time I took a cab without asking about cards upfront, the driver would tell me his reader isn't working and he'd have to dri…

Many places (check in advance!) require the driver to be upfront if their card reader isn't working or you're not obligated to pay.

It's amazing how those finicky card readers miraculously start working when you say 'oh well, too bad I guess' and step out of the car!

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#299

Post by foldr »

microcolonel wrote: post #161
Aethelwulf wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/taxis-and-private-hire/accepting...

If the anecdote and the law are both accurate, then that certainly goes to show exactly how effective all those stringent regulations are. It seems like this one would be simple to check.

You can just refuse to pay any other way except by card. There is not much a black cab driver can do in response to that, since they are now not even allowed to be on the road accepting customers if they don't have a working card machine.

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#300

Post by cjrp »

bko wrote: post #244
cjrp wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

Oh definitely. I think Uber has, on the whole, improved the rider experience here in London. That doesn't excuse them from complying with regulations like ensuring drivers have valid DBS checks though.
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