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Uber loses licence to operate in London, will still operate while appealing

bbc.com

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Re: Uber loses licence to operate in London, will still operate while appealing

#201

Post by itamarst »

omarhaneef wrote: post #191

Something about this doesn't make sense to me. I take it for granted that the staff at Uber would do anything not to lose the license. I am sure that, for 17 months, they've been investing heavily in security systems, ID verification etc. They must have followed up on every complaint. If I were them, I would have just manually followed everything that the Cabs do till I had a technology in place. It also seems that t…

You would think Uber Autonomous Vehicles group would do everything they can not to hit pedestrians. Yet according to the NTSB, previous to killing a pedestrian in Arizona Uber had a weak safety culture (https://www.ntsb.gov/news/events/Documents/2019-HWY18MH010-B...).

Even worse, "Pedestrian outside crosswalk not assigned goal of crossing street", "Tracking history not considered when classification changes", "Predicted path depended on object’s goal".

Basically they configured it to run over people who crossed outside a sidewalk.

I would not assume Uber are doing their best. Or, insofar as they define "best", it's "what can we do as quickly as possible with no consideration to what is legal".

Re: Uber loses licence to operate in London, will still operate while appealing

#202

Post by sam0x17 »

omarhaneef wrote: post #191

Something about this doesn't make sense to me. I take it for granted that the staff at Uber would do anything not to lose the license. I am sure that, for 17 months, they've been investing heavily in security systems, ID verification etc. They must have followed up on every complaint. If I were them, I would have just manually followed everything that the Cabs do till I had a technology in place. It also seems that t…

At the corporate level, Uber has a culture of not complying with orders and doing whatever they want and just paying the fines for doing so (see other Uber-related posts on HN). With that in perspective, it's not surprising they seem to have ignored this.

Re: Uber loses licence to operate in London, will still operate while appealing

#203

Post by thathndude »

oefrha wrote: post #174
ourlordcaffeine wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same here. Most of the taxi drivers in the city where I live only take cash, and every time I have ridden with one, they have cheated and taken a detour. Uber, automatic payment by card and no cheating on the route.

Wow, care to share where you live? I’ve hardly ever heard stories of taxi drivers cheating locals (needless to say tourists are cheated all the time).

This was common in Chicago when I lived there from 2011-2013.

"I'd like to pay with credit card" "Machine is broken." "It's all I have." "Fine."

Re: Uber loses licence to operate in London, will still operate while appealing

#204

Post by brazzy »

omarhaneef wrote: post #191

Something about this doesn't make sense to me. I take it for granted that the staff at Uber would do anything not to lose the license. I am sure that, for 17 months, they've been investing heavily in security systems, ID verification etc. They must have followed up on every complaint. If I were them, I would have just manually followed everything that the Cabs do till I had a technology in place. It also seems that t…

From everything I've seen (and admittedly, that's all hearsay), Uber isn't really interested in "doing their best". Their fundamental philosophy from the get go has been to be "disruptive" by simply ignoring regulations and aim at becoming "too popular to ban".

I would not be surprised one bit to learn that they did very little or even nothing at all to address the concerns.

Re: Uber loses licence to operate in London, will still operate while appealing

#205

Post by stale2002 »

oefrha wrote: post #189
stale2002 wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What? There are quite a few people in the very thread, talking about their bad experiences with Taxis. It is a common thing, to hear stori es that people have of bad experiences with Taxis.

> It is a common thing, to hear stories that people have of bad experiences with Taxis. Stories of bad experiences with taxis != stories of taxi drivers cheating locals.

Stories of overcharging people are also common.

It is common to hear people talk about a "broken" credit card machine, or about a taxi "taking the long way", or the like.

Re: Uber loses licence to operate in London, will still operate while appealing

#207

Post by ghaff »

thathndude wrote: post #200
harel wrote: post #198

I'm not a fan of companies like Uber or AirBnB who attempt a violent takeover of a market. However, as a consumer who needs to get from A to B, or stay at some random city, I find those services invaluable. The black cabs in London are expensive, never around when you need them, and until recently might have refused card payments (now they just seem unhappy about it). At the very least I was hoping Uber would make th…

Yep. I'm always amazed at how quickly people crap on Uber. In hindsight it's not a particularly revolutionary service. But does everyone remember how much the Taxi system sucked?

London it's really not bad in my somewhat limited experience. (Usually take transit.) Yes it's more expensive than VC-subsidized rides but is better than taxis in most places.

Re: Uber loses licence to operate in London, will still operate while appealing

#209

Post by phatfish »

Mengkudulangsat wrote: post #66
Traster wrote: post #23

It's pretty amazing how consistently Uber fails to abide by even the most basic regulations. How many times does a billion dollar company get a second chance? Every time this happens people talk about how the Mayor will get in trouble for this, but let's face it, ride hailing apps are 10 a penny. Lyft, Taxify, MyTaxi? No one in London is going to miss Uber.

Uber exited our market of Southeast Asia and we are left with a giant monopoly (Grab) that intends to become a SuperApp a-la WeChat in China. That is a scary prospect. Their race to the bottom was absolutely beneficial to consumers while it was going on. Smaller rivals have nowhere near the resources of Uber when competing with Grab. We surely missed Uber when it left.

London and the UK has plenty of other taxi companies with an app for consumers to choose from (which are following the rules one assumes). So your experience in Southeast Asia although depressing is irrelevant.

Re: Uber loses licence to operate in London, will still operate while appealing

#210

Post by briandear »

oefrha wrote: post #189
stale2002 wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What? There are quite a few people in the very thread, talking about their bad experiences with Taxis. It is a common thing, to hear stori es that people have of bad experiences with Taxis.

> It is a common thing, to hear stories that people have of bad experiences with Taxis. Stories of bad experiences with taxis != stories of taxi drivers cheating locals.

Most people being cheated don’t know it. Taking a little extra detour “because on construction,” or taking a drunk person home the long route — people being cheated generally don’t know it.
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