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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

#81

Post by asah »

_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…

NYer here: you should read how the taxi companies exploited their workers. And NYC was at least regulated.

Moreover, the cabs were filthy, they often refused passengers due to race, disability or other illegal prejudice, refused certain destinations, spoke little English, didn't know the city, would drive inefficiently to drive up costs and on and on.

Oh, and cellphones arrived and they did NOTHING until Uber pushed them to accept mobile payments. You STILL can't see your ETA or share the ride, and there's no ratings/reputation system.

So between the demons, I'll take the ride-sharing companies.

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

#82

Post by najtsirk »

_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…

It is unpopular, because the premise is so completely wrong. What exploration? You want to drive for Uber, drive for Uber. You do not want to drive for it, don't. As simple as that.

What I heard from drivers is Uber has by far the best tech for predicting/connecting routes. And I am really tired of of screaming "workers rights" all the time.

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

#83

Post by Terretta »

xorcist wrote: post #30
_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…

> 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.

> I don’t want to rate my driver. I want to be able to rely on a third party...

You sure can’t rely on the Uber, Lyft, Juno ratings. It’s 5 stars or bust. The social pressure on 5 stars is enormous.

Netflix moved to thumbs up, thumbs down. YouTube did the same, after showing a graph of the 5s and 1s:

https://techcrunch.com/2009/09/22/youtube-comes-to-a-5-star-...

I relentlessly give an average delivery or ride 3 stars, but feel bad every time. When the ride is quite good, 4 stars, and exceptional, 5 stars. Exceptional is the exception.

Three stars doesn’t make you a bad rider or a bad driver, just average. If it’s not the bulk of the ratings you give, you’re an unreliable rater and not helping the ratings anyway.

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

#84

Post by mellosouls »

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!

Misrepresentation. The comment was clearly talking about this company with it's toxic history and the worker abuse problems by it and within its sector.

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

#85

Post by isostatic »

Cougher wrote: post #72
eyko wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Private hire drivers are vetted, and their cars have to undergo enhanced MOTs

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

#86

Post by asah »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #54
djohnston wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can agree with you on worker treatment but I take issue with "So many years of labour rights fights being attacked by these startups that do not invent anything but base their business model on lower wages." The only reason ANY of the taxi companies have improved service with new apps and lower prices is because of the competition introduced by ride sharing companies.

Let's not conflate Uber with ride sharing/app-taxi in general. Uber wasn't the first company of its type, it's only the one that became most known. It also wasn't like all the other ride share companies, it was well-known for utter disregard for laws and deeply sociopathic management. And it's not like this behavior was necessary to bring in all the innovation; disruption of the taxi space by private companies was ha…

Very interesting, I sense you're right. Got examples?

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

#87

Post by zxcvbn4038 »

I tried to use Uber three times in my life, including once in London, and every time I get all the way to try the point where it is looking for nearby cars then it stops and says my phone number is invalid. Contacted their support, sent them a screen shot of my iPhone screen showing my number, they said it was fixed. A few months later I tried to book a car again and exact same thing happened. So I don’t have a lot of sympathy when they fall on hard times. I eventually gave up on Uber and tried Lyft, works painlessly and reliably, a little extra comfort when I’m in a unfamiliar city.

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

#88

Post by loriverkutya »

Brakenshire wrote: post #48
browsermostly wrote: post #35

TFL should actually provide a reliable service if they want to start pointing fingers. They talk about security and safety but it's not safe to have to wait around hoping for the off chance a scammy black cab will spot you after your TFL train gets cancelled for whatever reason.

It sounds like you've never been to London? Who says 'TFL train'?

Anybody who is aware, that TFL operates trains too :)

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

#89

Post by bloke_zero »

NeedMoreTea wrote: post #77
daneyh wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 c…

In London minicabs and black cabs are very different. Black cabs can be hailed whereas minicabs have to be booked and are regulated differently.

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

#90

Post by tompccs »

A few things going on here. This is a continuation of an ongoing battle between Tfl and Uber. Last year Tfl threatened to revoke Ubers' license unless it complied with regulations involving basic safety checks and coorporated with British Transport Police over crimes committed by drivers.

Well, one year on and Uber has not been able to get its house in order. This move will doubtless be extremely unpopular with Londoners, many of whom will suspect that the black cab unions are behind it. Uber called Tfl's bluff last year knowing there would be a public backlash if their services were withdrawn. It will be interesting to see how it plays out this time.

Regardless of your opinion of Uber and their labour practices, they offer an incredibly valuable service to millions of people. They have massively increased the availability of minicabs, made booking them incredibly easy and safe (not to mentioned with far better coverage than was previously possible) and affordable to more people. Not only that, thousands of people now make a living driving Ubers whom before wouldn't have been able to get a job as a minicab driver at all, as the firms would artificially limit numbers to keep fares high.

Uber and Tfl are both playing a risky game here.

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