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Uber London loses licence to operate

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#331

Post by trentnix »

kbart wrote: post #274
trentnix wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They do? You sure about that? Then why not just let them compete?

"They do? You sure about that?" Yes, I pay with credit card 9/10 times and get a receipt. I doubt any of these companies are big enough to have offshore companies to route their income through. "Then why not just let them compete?" They do. There's quite big competition in my city among public transport (city owned), many local taxi companies, private taxi drivers and Uber. Competition is quite fierce and costumers c…

I was responding to the "lots of people prefer" part.

The competition you describe is exactly what's needed, but that's not always the competition that's allowed.

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#332

Post by mijoharas »

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…

> Which I suppose is why Uber, though present, hasn't really taken off here.

This is very far from my understanding, most people I know use Uber quite regularly.

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#333

Post by Nursie »

kodablah wrote: post #328
Nursie wrote: post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> ...it seems to be explicitly about... The BBC article is a bit light on details. Do you have a link where I can read the detailed license revocation reasons so I can make my own judgement?

Check out the rest of the thread, onion2k gave a few

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#334

Post by vixen99 »

abbot2 wrote: post #185
vixen99 wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And that applies to tips?

It's England. You don't tip here.

http://www.visitlondon.com/traveller-information/getting-aro...

"You can tip taxi drivers as much as you like, but most people round up to the nearest pound."

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#335

Post by Nursie »

mijoharas wrote: post #332
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…

> Which I suppose is why Uber, though present, hasn't really taken off here. This is very far from my understanding, most people I know use Uber quite regularly.

Note that I said in my city.

I know nobody that uses them in Southampton, though they are here.

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#336

Post by kbart »

trentnix wrote: post #331
kbart wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"They do? You sure about that?" Yes, I pay with credit card 9/10 times and get a receipt. I doubt any of these companies are big enough to have offshore companies to route their income through. "Then why not just let them compete?" They do. There's quite big competition in my city among public transport (city owned), many local taxi companies, private taxi drivers and Uber. Competition is quite fierce and costumers c…

I was responding to the "lots of people prefer" part. The competition you describe is exactly what's needed, but that's not always the competition that's allowed.

Yes, I was talking only about my city and my personal experience, I agree that it's more of an exception than a rule (at least judging by many comments here, especially coming from USA).

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#337

Post by 8ytecoder »

cyclonetiger wrote: post #312
bsmithers wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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.

Yes, I hate that about Uber and Lyft drivers but I don't blame the company for it. It's the passengers. They could rate these aggressive drivers one star. It will correct driver behavior.

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#338

Post by icebraining »

kbart wrote: post #253
kofejnik wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

most taxi services in Europe are quite bad and hugely overpriced due to artificial monopoly, to the point that I try to stay away from the countries without Uber

From your description and my personal experience, only London falls under this category. What other cities do you have in mind?

In my opinion as a local, Lisbon is pretty bad. Scamming and rude drivers, unreliable when requested by phone, forget about paying by card (now some have apps, but that's a post-Uber development), plus the organization leadership is very corrupt (getting around licensing limits by putting them under their families names, outright snatching licenses from members when they ask for help renewing them, leaving small towns without cars by using the licenses to drive in big cities, etc).

Before Uber, I already avoided taxis as much as I could, only taking a couple per year.

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#339

Post by kodablah »

PaulRobinson wrote: post #284
mittermayr wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

You absolutely 100% must report them. Seriously. Every time. It's the only way we make it better for everybody. The requirement for it to always be available is a new one - it was introduced in recent months. So if your experience pre-date that, that behaviour may have changed. If it hasn't you absolutely 100% need to report the driver to TfL.

> It's the only way we make it better for everybody.

Not true. Alternatively, you can have competition and consumer choice which can also make it better for everybody. Not everyone wants to be a squeaky wheel on these things, nor should they be forced to.

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#340

Post by JonAtkinson »

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…

> In the entire history of the hackney carriage (black cab) license - going back to 1662 - I know of only one case of a driver having been prosecuted for rape, about 5 years ago.

That's absolute bollocks.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Worboys

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