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Uber London loses licence to operate

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#311

Post by beager »

cityzen wrote: post #285
overcast wrote: post #254

Uber needs to license their software to existing companies. Stop trying to push cab companies out of business, and start trying to be cabOS. The user experience is why we use the thing, I don't give a rats ass who is picking me up, as long as they are safe and courteous. And they come pick me up with a few taps of a phone app.

I've been thinking about this as well and not only for Uber. Airbnb and other similar companies could create platforms to allow people to do this on their own. The sad reality, though, is you don't make billions by enabling people, you make billions by controlling people.

Yup, cabOS is a niche, even FOSS-with-SaaS company. Not a $60bb company.

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#312

Post by cyclonetiger »

bsmithers wrote: post #238
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…

>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.

> The user experience is why I use Uber.

User experience is why I avoid Uber. I've only used ride hailing services at airports, and Uber drivers tended to be very aggressive on the roads compared to Lyft or regular cab drivers. I had one driver miss an exit on a freeway, and then proceed to REVERSE on the freeway to get back to the exit. That about sealed it for me with Uber.

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#313

Post by vertex-four »

mnx wrote: post #232
lmm wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Yes", or if they make a fuss, report them - you've got their license number on the plate right in front of you, and actual accountability rather than an unaccountable star-review system.

Yeah, except most people won't bother. So it gives in fact less accountability.

If this is a problem, write an app that emails/faxes/whatever a report to TfL? Could even integrate some CV stuff to read a license plate number from the phone's camera. This is the sort of thing that takes large organisations a while to build, but could be a weekend project for an interested developer.

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#314

Post by lol768 »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #257
jmkni wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Monzo, Monese and Revolut all offer this.

No banks I'll have heard of, then? Do you use one you'd recommend?

I use Monzo, and would highly recommend them. Great customer support, very transparent (you can see their trello roadmap, they interact with the community via forums and Slack) and I love their product too (have switched over to their current account as primary bank account now). They have somre really great people working there too - if you're in London they have a lot of events and talks that are pretty interesting.

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#315

Post by realityking »

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…

In Berlin it's now illegal for them to transport passengers if their card reader is not operational.

Drivers have still pulled the ""my reader doesn't work" on friends.

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#316

Post by astura »

cjsuk wrote: post #270
dx034 wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You didn't get mugged. Please don't downplay muggings. Getting mugged is much worse than paying too much because of a software error. Tfl always reimburses and they pay out to any bank account, you just have to call them for the details. I can understand that it's annoying but that wasn't mugging. Did you report the faulty purple reader? Those are used by several thousand people per day, I've never seen card readers…

Mugging is a colloquial term. Yes I did report the faulty reader. The reader was reading cards and acknowledging them ergo it wasn't faulty and I was charged correctly apparently. Unfortunately this was, to use another colloquial term, bollocks.

No, "mugging" is not a colloquial term for "overcharged" or anything else for that matter.

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#317

Post by overcast »

cityzen wrote: post #285
overcast wrote: post #254

Uber needs to license their software to existing companies. Stop trying to push cab companies out of business, and start trying to be cabOS. The user experience is why we use the thing, I don't give a rats ass who is picking me up, as long as they are safe and courteous. And they come pick me up with a few taps of a phone app.

I've been thinking about this as well and not only for Uber. Airbnb and other similar companies could create platforms to allow people to do this on their own. The sad reality, though, is you don't make billions by enabling people, you make billions by controlling people.

You mean like Oracle, and Microsoft? Taking a small % of every cab transaction, sounds like a billion dollar business to me. Right now the only thing Uber is doing is spending more money than it makes.

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#318

Post by Nursie »

erwan wrote: post #292
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 a…

I didn't mention taxes, but it seems to be explicitly about non-cooperation in criminal matters, workers rights and all sorts of other areas.

Black cabs are far from a monopoly, and Uber are far from the only alternative.

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#319

Post by foldr »

chillydawg wrote: post #214
vizzah wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read what many Londoners say about Uber like they never heard about Addison Lee cabs, which existed years before, offer a nice app, professional drivers and fixed tariffs. Last time I checked, tariffs were about 20% higher than Uber. But depending on congestion, could end up cheaper. Most of my friends were praising Uber, but I was warning them that their prices are unsustainable and slightly higher easy-to-hail ca…

AL charge a fortune for airport runs last I checked. Central London to LHR via uber-x is 30 quid or so.

But there are fast and frequent train services that cost less than that, so it doesn't make a huge difference whether or not Uber is an option for that route.

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#320

Post by Tharkun »

xedarius wrote: post #20

Is this the first domino? Will France (and other European countries) then turn around and say, ah oui we too don't think Uber is fit to operate. Uber is pretty crappy in London, I had one the other night and the guy wasn't even the guy who's picture was on the app (yes the driver did not match the registered uber driver). This is before we even get onto the fact that he didn't know where he was going.

Uber is already banned in Belgium. With the exception of some variations, like Uber VIP or something.
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