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Uber London loses licence to operate

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#381

Post by arethuza »

Nursie wrote: post #184
arethuza wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not that I use Uber (not really necessary in Edinburgh and they don't operate where I live) - but one of the problems with there being so many taxi and minicab firms is how do you tell which ones are actually any good when traveling to a new location? I've had great experiences with taxis, but also appalling ones... At least Uber seemed to be trying to solve that problem - shame they decided to solve a real problem w…

I agree to some extent. Having a single app you can open, regardless of what city or even country you're in, and knowing you'll get a good service at a good price, that's a great idea! The behaviour of Uber has been terrible, and it's a shame they don't operate much more like a passenger->service matching system with ratings, rather that operating their own fleet kinda-sorta-maybe (but they're all self-employed!)

It would be kind of neat to have a standard platform for location based services....

Edit: Not just discovery, but transactions as well

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#382

Post by djsumdog »

8ytecoder wrote: post #337
cyclonetiger wrote: post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Uber has a maximum driver count in most cities. In many places if you get below a 5 from multiple riders, you get cut. In Seattle, this meant a lot of them switched to Lyft exclusively after Uber dropped them. Lyft drivers in Seattle were terrible. One didn't stop for an ambulance. Another cut off several cars in an intersection.

I still prefer Lyft and haven't had big problems in other cities. But it's worth mentioning.

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#383

Post by UK-AL »

squigg wrote: post #358
erwan wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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'm sorry but you will have to do more to explain your point on black cab user experience being horrendous. Whilst it can be hard to get a hold of one at times, in my experience of 20 years of using them, the user experience is great - the drivers are typically friendly and get you there as quickly as they can. I have used Uber many times in London and abandoned it months ago, as the drivers don't have the local know…

I've had black cab drivers insist that I can't use my card, and that I must get out.

I've had cab drivers refuse to drive me to certain parts of London because it's inconvenient for them.

They are also really expensive.

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#384

Post by Nursie »

snakeanus wrote: post #142
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…

> app-driven Does that mean that you can only order for a cab via an app? Or are apps an alternative?

>> Does that mean that you can only order for a cab via an app? Or are apps an alternative?

Well, apps are my primary way of ordering cabs now, because I can set the pick-up and drop-off precisely by map, and track the vehicle before it arrives etc.

But they still have their phone lines too.

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#385

Post by vertex-four »

tomblomfield wrote: post #372

I don't think the Mayor of London or TfL really expect to shut down Uber. It would be a deeply unpopular move. There's an acceptance that Uber has improved things for riders, albeit at the expense of the Black Cab industry, and London wants to welcome innovative technology firms. However, I also suspect that Uber hasn't been as co-operative as TfL would like on several issues mentioned, and so this feels like a warni…

They already had a warning shot four months ago, when their license renewal was denied in favour of a temporary renewal for four months. This one is the next step in the process.

Uber isn't magic - if there's pent-up demand for a company that fills Uber's boots, one will pop up. The issues TfL have with Uber aren't to do with the service they provide, it's failing to comply with TfL's administrative requirements. You could easily build a company that does what Uber does in London without the hate for local Government that is ingrained into Uber's culture - and there already are a number of minicab companies that do what Uber does, just minus quite as fancy an app.

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#386

Post by djsumdog »

foldr wrote: post #291
AsyncAwait wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I hailed a cab during the big tube strike a few years back. 60 GBP got me, not to the airport, but the DLR (automated trains; no drivers). We had to stop by an ATM since he didn't take cards. Uber had surge pricing at the time due to the strike, so I'm not really sure which one would have been worse.

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#387

Post by falsedan »

notyourday wrote: post #279
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…

Wait. What? In 2017? There are instructions and I have to report broken equipment? I have to figure out instructions on payment system?! There's no button to handle it all on my phone? Cabs should either operate as well as Uber or die. Instead of figuring out how to become as good or better than Uber they are trying to push Uber out. That just means someone else would show up.

> Wait. What? In 2017? There are instructions and I have to report broken equipment? I have to figure out instructions on payment system?! There's no button to handle it all on my phone?

lol nice bit

wait are you serious

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#388

Post by jamiegreen »

vertex-four wrote: post #343
jamiegreen wrote: post #329

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean where you draw the line is up to you, but if there are three of you x £15, plus drinks lets say total of £64 , I would normally round it up to 70. By good restaurants I meant anything that isn't fast food (Subway, McDs). But perhaps I am not a typical customer, I don't know.

Often I go out to a restaurant with a friend and order fairly common food - totalling On the other hand, if I were to go with a reasonably sized group of people, had to get a table big enough for the lot of us, have people with dietary requirements or order cocktails or who otherwise make many demands of the staff... it's worth tipping as we're a pain in the ass, basically. And many restaurants automatically add a se…

Seems reasonable!

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#389

Post by mattlondon »

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.

Pardon?

John Warboys - a registered black cab driver - was convicted of 12 rapes in 2009, and was thought to have carried out over 100. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Worboys

David perry - a registered black cab driver - was convicted of 2 rapes in 2010. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-32118391

Edward Chapman - a registered black cab driver - was convicted of rape in 2012. http://www.romfordrecorder.co.uk/news/crime-court/black-cabb...

Musie Asgodom - a registered black cab driver in Sheffield (not all black cabs are in London) - was convicted of 2 rapes in 2012 and failed to overturn his conviction. http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/rapist-sheffield-cab-driver-fa...

I could go on but those were the first 3 or 4 links I found, and even those are in the past 5-8 years.

I dont see how some background checks are going to prevent people from raping someone if the opportunity presents itself. Rapists are rapists regardless of what license they have been given by filling in some forms.

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#390

Post by zimablue »

moogie wrote: post #206
zimablue wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Public transport isn't great - often cramped and with delays. It's expensive - if anything involves bus then tube then for two people Uber Pool is often cheaper. Uber is often faster, and it's widely used and supports a massive amount of employment. Most people don't order taxis much daily true, but they do widely order Ubers because there's a massive price difference. And on nights out, taxis are often used because…

Did you read the comment you replied to? It specifically says that people who miss the last train get cabs. So yeah, you've not really disputed anything they said. You like to get Uber? That's nice for you. I just use my local minicab company as they're almost as cheap and way more reliable. The price difference is only massive if you're silly enough to ask a black cab to take you 20 miles. Otherwise it's not really…

I live here, on a pretty much average London income, from zones 1 to 3 and have for ten years. I cycle so I don't have a travel card. The general point of the post above was that London doesn't want/need Uber, which just isn't true. The point about us having a great public transport system also isn't true, Londoners infamously hate the tube. It didn't get to support 40k drivers from novelty value.

Basically I _am_ your average Londoner, by income etc, and Uber has made my life better. And it's not because I'm rich or stupid. The post I replied to was just too heavily biased against Uber to see the obvious utility for a lot of Londoners.

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