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Protests against Uber are heating up in Europe

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Re: Protests against Uber are heating up in Europe

#41

Post by ZoFreX »

cromwellian wrote: post #8
jontro wrote: post #6

I just do not see why uber can be disruptive AND follow the rules. Here in Sweden they are lobbying to get exception from the rules, i.e. not having a meter and not having price comparisons on the cars. It's not hard to be disruptive if you break the rules

But why require every car to have this bulky fixed function meter device when a smartphone app can do the job just as well? Sometimes the rules themselves need to be disrupted.

> when a smartphone app can do the job just as well?

Can it? GPS isn't to be relied upon, and a bad actor can mess with it pretty easily.

Re: Protests against Uber are heating up in Europe

#42

Post by lukasm »

basicallydan wrote: post #4

I'd like to highlight this part of the article: > In several of the protests, drivers aren't specifically targeting Uber and other service providers, but what they say is outmoded regulation that makes it hard for them to compete. Part of Uber's challenge in Europe is the variety of regulations governing the continent, even among the 28-member European Union, each of which has different unions and different rules. It…

There is no point in this training and buying extra hardware. I don't believe that there should be any extra regulations for it, but to solve the problem you need political capital. Make it simple and fair to everybody. For licence pay x for month. For entering strict city centre, extra y.

Re: Protests against Uber are heating up in Europe

#43

Post by collyw »

atmosx wrote: post #13

Sad to see the taxi drivers. What they don’t understand is that soon they will be obsolete. As many other groups. IT startups are extremely disruptive and changes like these are hard to stop. With Google driverless cars around, it’s safe to say that in 30 years no one will need a driver. Uber and competitors could just buy driverless, extra-comfortable cars and get over with. The problem is, what do you do with thous…

I give as much of a shit about London cab drivers as when they refused to take me for their stuck up their arse reasons.

Re: Protests against Uber are heating up in Europe

#44

Post by collyw »

bowlofpetunias wrote: post #40

It's interesting how the tech start-up community suffers from the same inability to shift perspective that Microsoft had when it became a powerful megacorp but still saw itself as the underdog. Uber is not the plucky little start-up going up against big, slow incumbent corporations, like many tech start-ups did in the past. Uber is the heavily funded 800-pound gorilla going after the livelihoods of the little guy. So…

I guess you haven't had the misfortune of being ripped of by London taxi drivers.

Re: Protests against Uber are heating up in Europe

#46

Post by davidw »

davidgerard wrote: post #7
basicallydan wrote: post #4

I'd like to highlight this part of the article: > In several of the protests, drivers aren't specifically targeting Uber and other service providers, but what they say is outmoded regulation that makes it hard for them to compete. Part of Uber's challenge in Europe is the variety of regulations governing the continent, even among the 28-member European Union, each of which has different unions and different rules. It…

>It's easy to dismiss off the protestors as old hat for not reacting gracefully to a changing market, but the issue at least in London seems to largely be with the fact that their existing businesses are subject to more costs and regulations than the kinds that Uber and other services are facing. This is the fundamental issue: Uber's business advantage is to evade regulations that apply to its competitors; its busine…

Don't you think that's a bit simplistic? In some places, like here in Italy, the taxi folks are pretty nasty:

http://www.corriere.it/Primo_Piano/Cronache/2006/07_Luglio/2...

Short English version: economist and professor writes an editorial advocating liberalizing taxis, and some taxi drivers printed a flyer with his face, home address and phone number, inviting taxis to honk when they go by his house.

And don't forget that a lot of that regulation - in some places - may have been written by the industry in question in order to maintain the status quo:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulatory_capture

Re: Protests against Uber are heating up in Europe

#47

Post by izolate »

rwmj wrote: post #29
basicallydan wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

EDIT: I misread, this is my response when thinking they wanted to go TO Heathrow Well then, that's a perfect example of a situation where Uber would be more appropriate. Black Cab drivers are meant for quick journeys through London. Why should they go well out of their way? It's their business. (although, there's no need for people to scream and swear at you)

FROM heathrow.

LHR is on the outskirts of London. Asking a cabbie to go even further out from the airport is kinda rude. That's what minicabs are for.

Re: Protests against Uber are heating up in Europe

#48

Post by Xylakant »

davidw wrote: post #46
davidgerard wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>It's easy to dismiss off the protestors as old hat for not reacting gracefully to a changing market, but the issue at least in London seems to largely be with the fact that their existing businesses are subject to more costs and regulations than the kinds that Uber and other services are facing. This is the fundamental issue: Uber's business advantage is to evade regulations that apply to its competitors; its busine…

Don't you think that's a bit simplistic? In some places, like here in Italy, the taxi folks are pretty nasty: http://www.corriere.it/Primo_Piano/Cronache/2006/07_Luglio/2... Short English version: economist and professor writes an editorial advocating liberalizing taxis, and some taxi drivers printed a flyer with his face, home address and phone number, inviting taxis to honk when they go by his house. And don't forg…

Uber tries to sell on the same, simplistic narrative: We're disruptive, we're good! Berlin for example has a very different Taxi market - it's mostly small players, 1-3 cars (there's roughly 7600 taxi in Berlin, distributed over around 3000 companies). Still, Uber tries to sell based on "we're breaking a monopoly" while skirting the regulation and strong-arming the competition.

The recent injunction against Uber in Berlin is ignored by Uber and the taxi company that fought for it in court stated that they won't pursue that since Uber threatend to countersue for damages, effectively threatening to use their funding as leverage over a company that owns three cars.

The case you're citing is also a bit problematic: Italy is a bit a problematic state when it comes to threatening and lack of help from courts. The same thing could happen to an economist and professor writing an editorial advocating against Uber - just not by taxi drivers, but by Uber drivers. I'd blame that on Italy, not on Taxis.

Re: Protests against Uber are heating up in Europe

#49

Post by atmosx »

archagon wrote: post #35
atmosx wrote: post #13

Sad to see the taxi drivers. What they don’t understand is that soon they will be obsolete. As many other groups. IT startups are extremely disruptive and changes like these are hard to stop. With Google driverless cars around, it’s safe to say that in 30 years no one will need a driver. Uber and competitors could just buy driverless, extra-comfortable cars and get over with. The problem is, what do you do with thous…

30 years?! Good luck with that. Manual cars will be around for a long, long time.

Sure, F1 cars won't drive alone and I will always be eager to get the breeze on my back when riding my car.

But driverless cars will be available for usage in 10 years from now IMHO. Then what everyone would ask is why pay a cab driver?

Re: Protests against Uber are heating up in Europe

#50

Post by atmosx »

vdaniuk wrote: post #18
atmosx wrote: post #13

Sad to see the taxi drivers. What they don’t understand is that soon they will be obsolete. As many other groups. IT startups are extremely disruptive and changes like these are hard to stop. With Google driverless cars around, it’s safe to say that in 30 years no one will need a driver. Uber and competitors could just buy driverless, extra-comfortable cars and get over with. The problem is, what do you do with thous…

Who is that "you" that is supposedly don't give a shit? What's even more important, the tech disruption is coming to the vast range of industries and many jobs will be obsolete much sooner than most expect.

Sorry, might have made it clear. By 'you' I was referring to governments. What do you do as a government.
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