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Uber now has to wait 15 minutes before picking you up in France

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Re: Uber now has to wait 15 minutes before picking you up in France

#31

Post by Crito »

RBerenguel wrote: post #21
thenmar wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What a meaningless platitude. The world isn't quite as simple as that.

Every time I see an Uber post related to Europe I wonder if in the US taxis don't need to pay the outrageous license fees (in addition to a whole lot of other things, like freelance income taxes.) It seems very beautiful on the outside, but in the end it seems like the service offered is a way for people to earn money without passing through the same hoops as others do. Seen from afar it seems innovation, but think a…

> Every time I see an Uber post related to Europe I wonder if in the US taxis don't need to pay the outrageous license fees (in addition to a whole lot of other things, like freelance income taxes.)

A single NYC taxi medallion goes for millions of dollars: http://www.nyc.gov/html/tlc/html/about/average_medallion_pri...

Most Taxi drivers have to rent one; which is not cheap. The medallion owners get to sit on their asses in rake in the cash.

Your concern is misplaced.

Re: Uber now has to wait 15 minutes before picking you up in France

#34

Post by Crito »

sgdesign wrote: post #32

Maybe I'm not as smart as french lawmakers, but I can't really figure out how they'd even enforce this?

Either occasional stings to take make an example of people, or using it as a possible additional charge to pile on in situations where there is already an investigation. Most laws do not have vigilant enforcement.

For example, (barring illegal searches or likely illegal 'stop and frisk') how do you enforce possession laws?

Re: Uber now has to wait 15 minutes before picking you up in France

#36

Post by gioele »

southpawgirl wrote: post #23
spindritf wrote: post #3

Presumably, the taxi industry is "heavily regulated" for the benefit of the customer, then shouldn't customers flock to this excellent, regulated service on their own? Why are those artificial and arbitrary limits necessary?

In some Italian cities the situation is no different: taxi licenses are issued only on a fixed, limited number and are sometimes inherited from father to child, often sold for mind-boggling amounts (comparable to the price of a house). The service as a result is quite crap: long waits, high prices per km and all the most contrived surcharges you can think of (5 additional Euros for the airport and some tourist destin…

> high prices per km

In Italy, and in other European countries, the taxi prices are set by the city councils, not the taxi drivers.

Re: Uber now has to wait 15 minutes before picking you up in France

#37

Post by spindritf »

onebaddude wrote: post #30
spindritf wrote: post #3

Presumably, the taxi industry is "heavily regulated" for the benefit of the customer, then shouldn't customers flock to this excellent, regulated service on their own? Why are those artificial and arbitrary limits necessary?

> the taxi industry is "heavily regulated" for the benefit of the customer I get your point, but people decry the regulation that Uber is fighting against...until Uber implements free market "surge pricing". Then people are more than happy to leap back into the yellow cabs, which have their price regulated. Just read through some of the fallout. In other words, all the free market vs regulation talk is lip service. P…

until Uber implements free market "surge pricing". Then people are more than happy to leap back into the yellow cabs, which have their price regulated

That is assuming they can find one. Surge pricing incentivizes drivers to actually show up and compensates them for tougher conditions and additional risk.

Re: Uber now has to wait 15 minutes before picking you up in France

#38

Post by mikeash »

southpawgirl wrote: post #23
spindritf wrote: post #3

Presumably, the taxi industry is "heavily regulated" for the benefit of the customer, then shouldn't customers flock to this excellent, regulated service on their own? Why are those artificial and arbitrary limits necessary?

In some Italian cities the situation is no different: taxi licenses are issued only on a fixed, limited number and are sometimes inherited from father to child, often sold for mind-boggling amounts (comparable to the price of a house). The service as a result is quite crap: long waits, high prices per km and all the most contrived surcharges you can think of (5 additional Euros for the airport and some tourist destin…

The same basic situation exists in New York City. They're called taxi medallions there, and the small supply and large demand causes them to cost a surprisingly large amount of money. The government even has a convenient graph of the average price over time:

http://www.nyc.gov/html/tlc/downloads/pdf/price_trends_chart...

That shows a cost of 359,000 in 2006. More recent data is even crazier:

http://www.nyc.gov/html/tlc/downloads/pdf/avg_med_price_2013...

According to that, they cost a million dollars apiece these days.

Re: Uber now has to wait 15 minutes before picking you up in France

#39

Post by sgdesign »

Crito wrote: post #34
sgdesign wrote: post #32

Maybe I'm not as smart as french lawmakers, but I can't really figure out how they'd even enforce this?

Either occasional stings to take make an example of people, or using it as a possible additional charge to pile on in situations where there is already an investigation. Most laws do not have vigilant enforcement. For example, (barring illegal searches or likely illegal 'stop and frisk') how do you enforce possession laws?

As a french person, I would be pretty upset to think my taxes are going towards paying people to order Ubers and make sure they take at least 15 minutes to arrive. It almost seems like something out of a Monty Python sketch.

Re: Uber now has to wait 15 minutes before picking you up in France

#40

Post by nationcrafting »

France is one of the most frustrating countries a young entrepreneur could ever work in. As soon as you find some way to bypass the rigidity of the system to create something new, to make life easier for people and actually create wealth, the octopus grows another arm to strangle you with. It just sucks the energy right out of you...

The UK may have its problems, but it's a breath of fresh air by comparison. It's no wonder 600,000 French people now live in London (and that's just the ones who registered at the embassy).

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