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Uber London loses licence to operate

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#571

Post by jaredklewis »

twic wrote: post #534
Pyxl101 wrote: post #515

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

If you're talking about a license in the sense of a right, like a copyright or patent license, or a license to drill for oil somewhere, then yes. But this is a license in the sense of regulatory approval of a specific organisation, which is not something it's proper to buy and sell. You can't buy someone's driving license, gun license, medical license, license, etc.

Not sure the drivers license is a fair metaphor. That makes some sense: the government is saying this particular individual appears to be capable of driving. People change (thus the need for periodic renewals) but usually don’t change so dramatically that they can no longer drive.

But how does regulatory approval work with institutions? Institutions are ever changing, and like the ship of Theseus, eventually the original company will replace all of its employees, management, and even processes.

So what triggers a need for renewed regulatory approval? If the original company switches out 50% of its workforce it can keep its license, but if the owner changes suddenly the license is invalid. How does that make sense?

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#572

Post by isostatic »

walshemj wrote: post #441
notyourday wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

They do in the uk in my experience I call them up tell them where I want to go I get a SMS when they dispatch the cab and another when it arrives. Only problem is during the school run time as many parents don't want "Oliver" or "Lucinda" to slum it with the poor kids on the school bus

Not in my experience, the cab is always "just round the corner" when it's 10 minutes late and I ring to chase it up. Another 15 minutes and maybe it arrives, or maybe I ring again and "oh we had to cancel it".

When uber is available it's a glorious system - know exactly where the cab is, which one it is (when it's busy and there are many outside), no "I don't go south of the river" type drivers, takes credit card (no "the machine is broken" at the end of the trip, or try to flag down a black cab that does take card), always get a receipt, not a scrap of paper you have to fill yourself, etc etc.

The only problem is it's not available in the town I live in. The local mini cab firms usually refuse to take bookings for short trips (2 miles), and usually refuse them even when you want one asap

Phoning for a cab is 1980s technology. I've used uber in a dozen countries on 4 continents, the same experience every time, far better than any mini cab or taxi (in NYC taxis force adverts down your throat!)

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#573

Post by isostatic »

sammoth wrote: post #229
cjsuk wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not a bad idea actually and the prepaid card actually stays as real money, not "non refundable blue TFL smart card arbitrary number"

In what way are Oyster cards/credit not refundable?

Don't you have to take them to a ticket office?

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#574

Post by isostatic »

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!)

Mini cab drivers are often self employed, they pay a "radio fee" for the booking office, provide their own vehicle, licensing etc, have fares set centrally, and they keep their fares (and take cash to avoid paying tax).

How is uber any different?

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#575

Post by isostatic »

tigershark wrote: post #248
Nursie wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are lots of private hire car firms, Addison Lee springs to mind immediately. And practically every street in the city has a minicab firm...

In my experience Addison Lee, Kabbee and the other private mini cabs are completely useless for uber use case. Unless you booked them in advance you need to be prepared to wait up to 30 minutes or more. With uber I can request a ride and I'm pretty sure that at worst in 5 minutes I'm inside the car.

And you're just as likely to be attacked/raped/whatever with a local minicab firm, probabpynmore as there's less tracking of what's happening.

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#576

Post by isostatic »

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.

I had a non uber cab back from the airport once. The driver started slowing down on the motorway which was unusual at 11pm at night so I looked up from my phone, he stopped on the hard shoulder in the dark to fiddle with his sat nav and refused to move until I phoned the cab firm (I told them clearly I would not use them again as if I was about to ring 999).

Haven't used manchester Cars since.

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#577

Post by isostatic »

danpalmer wrote: post #423
kaishiro wrote: post #290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In that case it was working when you sat down so it's not like the driver was trying to pull a fast one on you. What did you expect him to do? Like you said, he couldn't just pull over.

Sure, there wasn't a lot he could do right then, but Uber could have: - Acknowledged the situation. - Agreed that it was not right. - Committed to not using that vehicle until the issue was rectified (not that I'd necessarily trust them on this, but it would be good to say). - Could have refunded me or given me credit for the risk. I think in a perfect world, the driver would have stopped at the nearest safe place, a…

And how would this have gone down with "Dave's minicab firm"? You really think they'd give a stuff? If the driver doesn't have a legal vehicle he's risking his license, be it uber or daves cabs.

How does a seatbelt break on the motorway in any case? Did it just spring out of the socket?

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#578

Post by isostatic »

confounded wrote: post #458
djsumdog wrote: post #376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've only taken a London cab a handful of times, but I never had a bad experience. I don't think I've had a bad experience with Uber drivers either...maybe one or two weird conversations .. same with Lyft drivers. I just want to know if Uber drivers can average the same income as cabbies working the same hours. In New Zealand, several Uber drivers use to be cabbies and switched from Wellington Combined because they e…

> I just want to know if Uber drivers can average the same income as cabbies working the same hours. I have no data, but my prior based on conversations in London is "no way". Uber pays similarly to minicabs --- minimum wage-ish when car maintenance is accounted for. Pre-Uber, I heard cabbies made £40k-£60k pretty steadily.

£50k is more than 90% of the country, its no wonder they hate the competiton.

(I suspect they make £60k but they don't declare anywhere near that)

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#579

Post by isostatic »

Anderkent wrote: post #527
squigg wrote: post #358

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 been turned away by a black cab driver because they didn't want to go where I wanted to go. Yes, during the rush hours they are faster than ubers (mostly because they have priviledged access to bus lanes etc). But catching a black cab at night is almost impossible. Also some of my friends regularly get ignored by black cabs when they try to hail it.

Black cabs need to be kicked out of bus lanes. They should be for mass transport of people, not chauffeuring businessmen from Euston to Canary Wharf quickly.
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