Uber sign-ups soar by 850 percent as cab drivers protest • Hacker News Board

Re: Uber sign-ups soar by 850 percent as cab drivers protest

#21

Post by pistle » Thu, Jun 12, 2014, 1:55 PM UTC

avz wrote: post #9

rakoo wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Taxi drivers went on strike because taxi drivers and uber drivers don't have the same requirements for doing what amounts to be the same job. In short, becoming a taxi driver is hard and extremelly expensive, becoming a uber driver is easier and cheaper. So these strikes are more against the unfair regulation than against Uber and the likes.

This is a misrepresentation. Taxi drivers are not protesting against the regulation. In fact, in most places taxi drivers and their unions are strong supporters of the said regulations and have worked for decades to get it in place. It's a typical situation where a bunch of "insiders" have striven for years to keep "outsiders" away with the goal of reducing competition. Another typical aspect to this situation is how…

Do Uber drivers pay taxes to the municipalities in which their drivers deliver service? The regulators and the regulated both get something from the status quo.

Selling medallions, etc. gets the city in which the drivers do business some revenue to pay for the services the city must provide to support the business. Taxes help fund roads, police, administration, etc.

The "situation" is more complex than you describe and the unintended consequences of Uber are nowhere in the discussion.

I'm surprised that Uber hasn't put forth licensing a version of their infrastructure for use by black/yellow cabs for dispatch. They can provide access to customers along with a pretty seamless payment process.

Re: Uber sign-ups soar by 850 percent as cab drivers protest

#22

Post by w1ntermute » Thu, Jun 12, 2014, 1:56 PM UTC

illumen wrote: post #8

antonwinter wrote: post #5

the post got me because i just signed up. I live in melbourne. it is not possible to get a cab on a friday or saturday night. trial run coming up tomorrow

Beware that you may get fined in Melbourne because it is illegal. It's more likely your driver will get fined though.

How do they know who to fine? Aren't all these transactions done purely digitally? You could just be getting into a friend's car, there's always plausible deniability.

Re: Uber sign-ups soar by 850 percent as cab drivers protest

#23

Post by avz » Thu, Jun 12, 2014, 1:56 PM UTC

ceejayoz wrote: post #11

f76 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why don't they become uber drivers, then? I guess that keeping the taxi driver status is quite expensive also.

They've already invested an average of 34 months learning the London streets. You'd get a similar reaction if itw ere possible, say, for someone to become a doctor by signing up with a startup rather than going to medical school. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxicabs_of_the_United_Kingdom#...

Every investment carries a risk. This is true about "learning the London streets", too. Especially in the era of ubiquitous GPS-enabled mobile phones.

Assuming your conjectured startup somehow conferred the medical skills you would have just found a great way to lower everyone's medical bills.

Re: Uber sign-ups soar by 850 percent as cab drivers protest

#24

Post by mseebach » Thu, Jun 12, 2014, 1:58 PM UTC

0x0 wrote: post #10

f76 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why don't they become uber drivers, then? I guess that keeping the taxi driver status is quite expensive also.

Because some would argue running a taxi-like business without a taxi license is breaking the law.

Taxis are striking in London specifically because the regulator has said that Uber is legal.

Re: Uber sign-ups soar by 850 percent as cab drivers protest

#25

Post by timclark » Thu, Jun 12, 2014, 2:01 PM UTC

paddyoloughlin wrote: post #16

Company's PR says that possibly controversial event for company results in huge benefit for said company. Hm. I'm not saying it not true, but it's playing in to an expectation that a lot of people had when they heard about this protest. So until there's independent evidence, I'll take the specifics of this claim with a dose of salt. Edit: Suggesting that one be reasonably skeptical of unverified company PR is downvot…

Uber ran full page ads in London's free newspapers yesterday, so it looks like they were planning on benefitting from the controversy.

Re: Uber sign-ups soar by 850 percent as cab drivers protest

#26

Post by rlpb » Thu, Jun 12, 2014, 2:03 PM UTC

pistle wrote: post #21

avz wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a misrepresentation. Taxi drivers are not protesting against the regulation. In fact, in most places taxi drivers and their unions are strong supporters of the said regulations and have worked for decades to get it in place. It's a typical situation where a bunch of "insiders" have striven for years to keep "outsiders" away with the goal of reducing competition. Another typical aspect to this situation is how…

Do Uber drivers pay taxes to the municipalities in which their drivers deliver service? The regulators and the regulated both get something from the status quo. Selling medallions, etc. gets the city in which the drivers do business some revenue to pay for the services the city must provide to support the business. Taxes help fund roads, police, administration, etc. The "situation" is more complex than you describe a…

> I'm surprised that Uber hasn't put forth licensing a version of their infrastructure for use by black/yellow cabs for dispatch. They can provide access to customers along with a pretty seamless payment process.

They have: http://blog.uber.com/UberTAXI

Re: Uber sign-ups soar by 850 percent as cab drivers protest

#27

Post by avz » Thu, Jun 12, 2014, 2:08 PM UTC

pistle wrote: post #21

avz wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a misrepresentation. Taxi drivers are not protesting against the regulation. In fact, in most places taxi drivers and their unions are strong supporters of the said regulations and have worked for decades to get it in place. It's a typical situation where a bunch of "insiders" have striven for years to keep "outsiders" away with the goal of reducing competition. Another typical aspect to this situation is how…

Do Uber drivers pay taxes to the municipalities in which their drivers deliver service? The regulators and the regulated both get something from the status quo. Selling medallions, etc. gets the city in which the drivers do business some revenue to pay for the services the city must provide to support the business. Taxes help fund roads, police, administration, etc. The "situation" is more complex than you describe a…

They pay income taxes.

The primary intent of medallions is not to raise funds for infrastructure. Their goal is to keep people out of the business. You can tell by the fact that they're regressive: they burden lower-income persons more than higher-income thereby preventing new competition from low-skilled workers and guaranteeing safety to the incumbents.

Re: Uber sign-ups soar by 850 percent as cab drivers protest

#28

Post by bunderbunder » Thu, Jun 12, 2014, 2:09 PM UTC

avz wrote: post #9

rakoo wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Taxi drivers went on strike because taxi drivers and uber drivers don't have the same requirements for doing what amounts to be the same job. In short, becoming a taxi driver is hard and extremelly expensive, becoming a uber driver is easier and cheaper. So these strikes are more against the unfair regulation than against Uber and the likes.

This is a misrepresentation. Taxi drivers are not protesting against the regulation. In fact, in most places taxi drivers and their unions are strong supporters of the said regulations and have worked for decades to get it in place. It's a typical situation where a bunch of "insiders" have striven for years to keep "outsiders" away with the goal of reducing competition. Another typical aspect to this situation is how…

> Taxi drivers are not protesting against the regulation.

I think perhaps both are true, though one only accidentally so. Taxi drivers' see themselves as protesting for stronger enforcement of the regulations. I suspect a large portion of the public, though, will recognize the protests as a sort of performance art designed to illustrate that the regulations are problematic and could perhaps stand to be revised.

Re: Uber sign-ups soar by 850 percent as cab drivers protest

#29

Post by vidarh » Thu, Jun 12, 2014, 2:10 PM UTC

csomar wrote: post #19

0x0 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because some would argue running a taxi-like business without a taxi license is breaking the law.

Sorry something doesn't strike me as correct here. Do you mean that "taxis" working with Uber don't actually have a Taxi-License? How is this even legal?

In many countries, including the UK, there's a big difference between "private car hire" services that are not allowed to pick up passengers without pre-arranging the hire, and taxi services which can pick up passengers at the kerb or at taxi ranks.

Private car hire services (minicabs in the UK) does not have the same licensing requirements as black cabs (licensed taxis)

Re: Uber sign-ups soar by 850 percent as cab drivers protest

#30

Post by mhd » Thu, Jun 12, 2014, 2:14 PM UTC

avz wrote: post #9

rakoo wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Taxi drivers went on strike because taxi drivers and uber drivers don't have the same requirements for doing what amounts to be the same job. In short, becoming a taxi driver is hard and extremelly expensive, becoming a uber driver is easier and cheaper. So these strikes are more against the unfair regulation than against Uber and the likes.

This is a misrepresentation. Taxi drivers are not protesting against the regulation. In fact, in most places taxi drivers and their unions are strong supporters of the said regulations and have worked for decades to get it in place. It's a typical situation where a bunch of "insiders" have striven for years to keep "outsiders" away with the goal of reducing competition. Another typical aspect to this situation is how…

Yes, because the only reason those regulations are in place is a lobbying industry trying for a monopoly. Care for the safety and treatment of the actual passengers would never enter the mind of a politician.

And of course this is true for every country affected.