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Uber London loses licence to operate

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#511

Post by markman »

zeveb wrote: post #490
vertex-four wrote: post #385

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> Uber isn't magic - if there's pent-up demand for a company that fills Uber's boots, one will pop up. The thing is, until Uber popped up, that pent-up demand simply wasn't being satisfied. The taxi monopolies and regulators were quite happy with their rents (in the economic sense of rent-seeking), and consumers suffered from it (I suspect that Uber & Lyft have prevented thousands of drunken-driving deaths). A lot of…

Yeah but a taxi driver can buy a home and put a kid through college, perhaps even take a vacation once a year. An uber driver may have 6 or 8 months of economic boom but eventually the house of cards will come tumbling down. It is exactly the type of company that is destroying the middle class. It is also the status quo of making a few people extremely wealthy. If you use uber you're just contributing to the decline of western civilization. That seems a bit melodramatic and believe me I'm the first guy to be looking for a deal and stick it to the bloated establishment but uber cuts all the necessary corners, sticks it to the drivers yet it's so popular because it's cheap.

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#512

Post by JBlue42 »

vertex-four wrote: post #385
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…

>if there's pent-up demand for a company that fills Uber's boots, one will pop up.

I think we saw that in Austin after Lyft/Uber were banned and people started the various Facebook and other groups to do the same thing. Not formal businesses, or even set charges.

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#513

Post by thecrazyone »

aianus wrote: post #412
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.

Why would I pay more money for a higher chance of getting into an argument with some asshole cab driver instead of using Uber, saving money, and avoiding the hassle entirely?

So on-point. Let markets figure it out.

All this central planning is annoying me a lot these days

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#514

Post by aaroninsf »

sol_remmy wrote: post #498
vertex-four wrote: post #385

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> 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 You act like Uber flaunting local flaws is a flaw for the company. Ignoring 10,000 different sets of local laws in all the localities Uber operates is what made them successful. It would have been impossible to expand as much as they had if the bothered dealing with the loc…

This is a marvelous summation of exactly what is polarizing about Uber's business model, in specific, and the recently popular disregard for regulation and oversight of the Valley, in general.

Whether you read this as praise, or damnation, depends entirely on your belief system.

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#515

Post by Pyxl101 »

vertex-four wrote: post #418
UK-AL wrote: post #409

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There have been few companies that have tried. Some mentioned in thread. They all had trouble working with tfl. One company licenced their software with an existing cab company in order to work with them. TFL started an investigation and unlicensed the previously legally licenced private taxi company for no stated reason. Make no mistake they are activity hostile against innovation that could make taxi travel cheaper…

Reading Taxify's side of the story alone reveals significant bias, and even that seems to suggest that what happened is that Taxify bought an existing company for its minicab license - which is practically bound to be a problem. Why couldn't they find a customer to sell their product to without acquiring that customer? The problem wasn't the app - it was the company bypassing the licensing process. Interestingly, the…

Buying a company that owns an asset or holds a license is a reasonable way to obtain said asset or license. Nothing wrong with that.

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#516

Post by ghostwriter »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #499
sjcsjc wrote: post #444

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I signed it.

Valuing ethics over consumerism requires time and life experience.

What is the ethics of those who deny private companies the right to engage in volunteer transactions among people in the market?

Secondly, consumerism is possible only in the presence of production, and it cannot exist unless there's a product to consume. Are you questioning the ethics of value-production?

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#517

Post by DanBC »

Jaruzel wrote: post #413
UK-AL wrote: post #383

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Black Cabs in London are wonderful, except: 1. When you need one at about 10pm in the City, and stand on the street corner for ages watching dozens of them go by with their lights off and no passengers. 2. When you are less than 1/2 a mile north of the Thames, and the cabbie refuses the ride because he 'doesn't go south of the river, mate' 3. Same as #2 but 'doesn't go north of the river, mate' 4. Same as #2 and #3 b…

> (Black Cabs charge by time, not distance).

that's incomplete.

https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/taxis-and-minicabs/taxi-fares/tarif...

> The meter automatically adds a charge based on time for any part of a taxi journey when the speed drops below 10.4mph.

https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/taxis-and-minicabs/taxi-fares

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#518

Post by disordinary »

dbbk wrote: post #476
vertex-four wrote: post #385

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

For sure, a lot of the value proposition of Uber could be seamlessly be replaced by a different company. However one thing that Uber has that is totally proprietary to them is their global mindshare. For example, when I go to the US, I use the Uber app whenever I can, because it's the exact same experience as at home and I know what I'm going to get. For travellers, this continuity of experience is great.

I actively avoid Uber wherever I go because of that mind share and the negative connotations that it has. Not all news is good news.

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#519

Post by mijoharas »

Nursie wrote: post #335
mijoharas wrote: post #332

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Sorry, I had misunderstood and thought you were talking about London.

Fair point.

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#520

Post by twic »

SilasX wrote: post #493
vertex-four wrote: post #385

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

>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. But that just begs, er, fully reduces to the question of ... why haven't they? Is a slick, user-friendly app really that much of a barrier? The article has tweets…

They have:

https://www.addisonlee.com/apps/

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