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Uber London loses licence to operate

bbc.co.uk

71–80 of 609 posts

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#71

I don't understand why Uber can't get their shit together. In the US they have competition from Lyft and I can almost understand why they have to push the boundaries. In London they have very little competition and therefore don't need to engage is controversial business practices. Personally I don't see what my alternative will be if their service ceases, they have that little competition. Although I am kind of anno…

To be honest, few people here in London bother with taxis. Public transport is very good, can be faster than sitting in traffic, and is cheaper. Most folks ordering taxis either don't know where they are going, missed the last train or are wealthy enough to not care about the cost. Uber literally made no impact on the quality if life to your average Londoner and won't be missed.

Public transport isn't great - often cramped and with delays. It's expensive - if anything involves bus then tube then for two people Uber Pool is often cheaper. Uber is often faster, and it's widely used and supports a massive amount of employment.

Most people don't order taxis much daily true, but they do widely order Ubers because there's a massive price difference. And on nights out, taxis are often used because until recently we had no night tubes and now we only have a few lines and only on weekends.

I don't want to flame but this post is so wrong it makes me wonder if you're living in a different London.

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#72
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not suggest one of London's myriad of other options, which don't have so much in the way of unethical baggage?

The tube is fine for the most part but it can be a drag going from the eastern parts of London to LHR directly (or to Paddington or Victoria)

Addison Lee is a good alternative. Drivers tend to be a bit more professional, prices are not that much higher and cars are generally nice.

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#73
post #40

If they can't or won't reform then excellent, let's be rid of them. I don't want to give any business to a company that are seeking to become a worldwide cab monopoly, and squirrel away any profits to the US. We have a perfectly healthy cab ecosystem in my city, app-driven and with fare competition and city regulation. Which I suppose is why Uber, though present, hasn't really taken off here. That said, talk of profi…

In what city do you live?

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#74

Is this the first domino? Will France (and other European countries) then turn around and say, ah oui we too don't think Uber is fit to operate. Uber is pretty crappy in London, I had one the other night and the guy wasn't even the guy who's picture was on the app (yes the driver did not match the registered uber driver). This is before we even get onto the fact that he didn't know where he was going.

Germany has practically banned Uber for sometime now.

It was never even allowed in the first place. Uber is just regular cabs in Germany.

That being said I've never heard anyone had any problems with German cabs e.g. scams, misleading etc..

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#75
post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I could not disagree more - often times, especially if travelling with multiple people it is far more convenient, comfortable and can even be more affordable than taking public transport. While I agree that London has great public transport, Uber has been a game changer for myself and many people I know.

>"While I agree that London has great public transport" This must be a different London from the one I was in ten years ago.

No, same London as it was ten years ago. You just have no idea what you are talking about.

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#76
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not suggest one of London's myriad of other options, which don't have so much in the way of unethical baggage?

The tube is fine for the most part but it can be a drag going from the eastern parts of London to LHR directly (or to Paddington or Victoria)

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...

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#78
post #23

This is after the original (5 year) renewal in May 2017 was not granted and they only got a 4-month extension which expires Sept 30th. So Uber have been on-notice since May that they need to comply with the regulator's requirements for an operators license and haven't done so.

This is an important piece of information missing from the article.

Namely this is not out of the blue.

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#79
post #40

If they can't or won't reform then excellent, let's be rid of them. I don't want to give any business to a company that are seeking to become a worldwide cab monopoly, and squirrel away any profits to the US. We have a perfectly healthy cab ecosystem in my city, app-driven and with fare competition and city regulation. Which I suppose is why Uber, though present, hasn't really taken off here. That said, talk of profi…

> a company that are seeking to become a worldwide cab monopoly

Who said anything about them seeking to become a worldwide cab monopoly?

They are a cab company, expanding globally. Any other company can do that too, if they want.

Re: Uber London loses licence to operate

#80
post #37

Is this the first domino? Will France (and other European countries) then turn around and say, ah oui we too don't think Uber is fit to operate. Uber is pretty crappy in London, I had one the other night and the guy wasn't even the guy who's picture was on the app (yes the driver did not match the registered uber driver). This is before we even get onto the fact that he didn't know where he was going.

This happens all the time in black cabs. My wife and I rely on uber all the time. It feels right for a city like London. This is a step backwards in my opinion I’d like to add that most black cab drivers make out like their card machine doesn’t work. It’s a total cash scam to avoid VAT. I’ve had a black cab deny picking me up before because I didn’t want taking very far (I had a twisted ankle and just wanted to short…

> I’d like to add that most black cab drivers make out like their card machine doesn’t work.

Weird - every black cab I've taken in the last 3 months (something like 30 of them) has had a working card machine.

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