Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

bbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 520 posts

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

#71

Post by lysp »

caithrin wrote: post #3

"Only in the last few months it has been established that 14,000 Uber journeys have involved fraudulent drivers uploading their photos to other driver accounts - with passengers' safety potentially put at risk getting into cars with unlicensed and suspended drivers." This seems, from a technical perspective, an easy problem to solve with the resources of a public company. Is it the desperation of people who need the…

That happens with taxis too in Australia.

Unauthorised drivers who don't match their picture ID driving.

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

#72

Post by Cougher »

eyko wrote: post #49
xorcist wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> you can see your trip, its aproximate cost, the driver's rating Here's the thing: I don't want to rate my driver. I want to be able to rely on a third party that all available drivers are punctual and competent. It is not a choice I want to make. Too much responsibility is already dumped on consumers under the guise of choice. Quality control of services I utilize is something I expect to pay for.

It's not like Black cabs in London are guaranteed to be safe: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Worboys

Given that there are something like 20,000 black cabs in London, I'm seeing your one outlier from 10 years ago as a pretty solid argument in favor of them. And that's before we start debating about the merits of driver vetting processes and vehicle maintenance requirements.

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

#74

Post by tolqen »

98Windows wrote: post #63
saberience wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you even live in London? I love when people talk about a whole city in general terms like they can speak for millions of people. Well get this, I live in London and I love Uber and I would definitely miss Uber if they stopped operating here. So your statement is wrong. In fact, our general slack channel at work had a ton of people posting sad faces about this news. But yeah sure I guess you know what every Londone…

I live in London, there are plenty of alternatives to Uber, the only downside is they might be like 5-10% more expensive

What you said was correct a year ago but Kapten and Bolt exist now, they’re often the same fare or cheaper than Uber.

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

#75

Post by isostatic »

_vrmm wrote: post #10

I know this opinion is not popular but I'm so happy everytime I see bad news for Uber and all these companies that only exist thanks to basically exploiting THEIR workers. Private transporting is not sustainable and it is not something that has to be affordable for everyone, even less by lowering workers wages or playing with the tariffs by demand. Taxi regulations gives us passengers safety and fair prices. There ar…

> I know this opinion is not popular but I'm so happy everytime I see bad news for Uber and all these companies that only exist thanks to basically exploiting THEIR workers.

Yes comrade! All companies only exist by exploiting their workers, viva la revolution!

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

#76

Post by ablation »

flurdy wrote: post #53
m_t wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is an interesting thing. Free Now for instance, previously MyTaxi, previously Hailo. How many time will this thing get rebranded? How many times will my data be shared with new entities?

I deleted the app. I presumed Hailo/MyTaxi had been taken over. FreeNow just sounds like a scam. Saw no reason to open up the app to find out.

FreeNow is as good as it's ever been. Better, in fact. It's the only app I use for this kind of thing as it uses legit, local taxis.

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

#77

Post by NeedMoreTea »

daneyh wrote: post #29
_vrmm wrote: post #10

I know this opinion is not popular but I'm so happy everytime I see bad news for Uber and all these companies that only exist thanks to basically exploiting THEIR workers. Private transporting is not sustainable and it is not something that has to be affordable for everyone, even less by lowering workers wages or playing with the tariffs by demand. Taxi regulations gives us passengers safety and fair prices. There ar…

Typically i'd agree with your sentiment. Unfortunately I remember what getting around was like pre-Uber and that unregulated minicab companies are no better for workers exploitation or working rights and passenger safety...where is TfL(Transport for Londons) action on those firms? or the many uber clones that have popped up recently (Bolt, Kapten et al.) Uber is really an easy target for them. The alternative is the…

Funny, I remember London black cabs as mainly being a reliable service with reliable drivers. I'd rather have a driver with their route knowledge in their head than one blindly relying on GPS. At least they can make intelligent choices when problems crop up.

Not that it was completely without problems, but compared to say NYC cabs they were worlds apart. Sure, there was a problem for a while with rogue unregistered cabs, though IIRC that was mainly minicabs and relied on intercepting despatch radio messages, but there were some black cabs. The cliche of not going south of the river held up to some scrutiny too. Uber of course go with phone you then just don't show if they don't like the route and waste half and hour of yours. At least it was a two way conversation with a cabbie.

That London hasn't put a blanket ban on diesel cabs in the low emission zone isn't really the cab's fault - that's firmly on the authorities...

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

#78

Post by leoedin »

oliwarner wrote: post #61

I don't usually use Uber —we live in a place where it just doesn't exist— but I've been exposed to it a couple of times this last weekend. It's private hire but worse. A family member booked. A driver committed. The wait got shorter. Then it got longer. And longer. And then our trip was cancelled without reason. Another was booked. Same gig. We had no opportunity to 1-star those drivers for being dicks. The third arr…

It sounds like you had a bad experience. Almost everyone I know uses Uber regularly and almost every experience is positive. If it's 3am sometimes it takes longer, if you just got out of a bar and there's 50 other people next to you trying to get an uber you might have to walk a bit, if you're in a remote place sometimes they cancel. It's annoying. But mostly I can have a taxi outside my house in 3 minutes. I know exactly when they'll get there and there's no cash needed.

It's a hugely better process than the old phone-a-number and hope minicabs and taxi services. That would take 15 minutes minimum, often much longer, and you had no idea when it would arrive.

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

#79

Post by boudin »

isostatic wrote: post #75
_vrmm wrote: post #10

I know this opinion is not popular but I'm so happy everytime I see bad news for Uber and all these companies that only exist thanks to basically exploiting THEIR workers. Private transporting is not sustainable and it is not something that has to be affordable for everyone, even less by lowering workers wages or playing with the tariffs by demand. Taxi regulations gives us passengers safety and fair prices. There ar…

> I know this opinion is not popular but I'm so happy everytime I see bad news for Uber and all these companies that only exist thanks to basically exploiting THEIR workers. Yes comrade! All companies only exist by exploiting their workers, viva la revolution!

If only uber would consider its drivers as its workers, it would already be a huge step forward.

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

#80

Post by Cougher »

My favorite cab experiences have been in London, but I'm not gonna lie: my favoritest favorite experience was a cabbie in Tijuana forty years ago who pulled out a bottle of tequila, took a long swig from it and offered the bottle to my mother, father, aunt, and uncle, while driving like he was in a Dukes of Hazard screen test.
Post reply on HN