London cabbies to protest over smartphone app.

[speedchick]

From all the dealings I have had to have with Uber drivers, I am definately of the opinion that they are all taxi driver school rejects. They cannot recognize a no entry sign, read one way systems or even know where they can and cannot park, I even had one tell me that you can only get a parking ticket from the police and that they only ticket for double yellow lines!

So I am not sure that I would even trust them to find me at A, never mind get me from A to B

[Negative Creep]

speedchick said:

From all the dealings I have had to have with Uber drivers, I am definately of the opinion that they are all taxi driver school rejects. They cannot recognize a no entry sign, read one way systems or even know where they can and cannot park, I even had one tell me that you can only get a parking ticket from the police and that they only ticket for double yellow lines!

Sounds like they're over qualified to be taxi drivers

[brickwall]

I reckon the average standard of customer service I receive is about the same between UberX and a black cab. Most are pretty good and trouble free, there's a couple who are bad, and a few who go above and beyond.

But UberX is half the price.

[Rich_W]

okgo said:

You not familiar with 'fake taxi dot com' then?

Is it wrong that as I watched the hot blonde "in action" I noticed from the skyline in the background that it was evidently filmed 3 miles from my home?

[mondeoman]

Burwood said:

s1962a said:

sjg said:

drainbrain said:

Chris George
12k Views
I'm a freelance photographer with an erratic income; so I thought that I could supplement my income with Uber-X driving in London.

Doesn't most of that apply to all minicab work? The vast majority are self-employed (even if a firm is providing a vehicle, insurance, etc) and it's always seemed like a hard way to make a living.

Did he expect that to be different just because it's for a startup with a fancy app?

We need more companies like Uber so there is more competition and hopefully better working conditions for drivers. I wonder though, if things are so bad working for Uber, how come they have so many drivers?

The real world example doesn't show a grim outcome though. Even working 20 days a month it shows income 2,600-3,000. 3k miles covered at 30mpg is £500 in fuel, £400 in insurance and £300 in car running costs for dents servicing etc. Almost 2k a month left over. Whats wrong with that if one wants some extra cash. I think the penalty charge notices are something you would learn about. Of course they are avoidable if you pay attention. I have yet to use Uber being in rural Surrey however a friend in Richmond uses them almost exclusively now. Blackcab costs of his usual route was £35, Uber between £16 and £19 depending on traffic, time of day.

Upper fees at 25% give a take home of £800 - £1000, and if he's just doing 40 hour weeks, that's all under minimum wage

[truck71]

speedchick said:

From all the dealings I have had to have with Uber drivers, I am definately of the opinion that they are all taxi driver school rejects. They cannot recognize a no entry sign, read one way systems or even know where they can and cannot park, I even had one tell me that you can only get a parking ticket from the police and that they only ticket for double yellow lines!

So I am not sure that I would even trust them to find me at A, never mind get me from A to B

Lol, my experience too. Couldn't find us in Jermyn Street (he was heading North on Regent Street), once arrived I had to give directions back to Chiswick inc lane choice etc. Got to Hogarth roundabout and went straight on despite instruction to turn right. Amateurs.

Having said that, the principle is a good one and the black cabs do need a shake up, taking card payments, not whinging about going in whatever direction doesn't take their fancy, using a vehicle designed this century to name a few.

[loafer123]

In a few short years this will all be academic as autonomous vehicles take over the driving of taxis, couriers etc.

[BaronVonVaderham]

Good. Common sense has prevailed. As Boris said, you can't disinvent the Internet.

The sooner we are rid of black cabs and their racist, tax-dodging, arrogant drivers the better. Have had many bad experiences with cabbies, but none with uber.

For those struggling to user uber, you probably didn't set the pick up point to where you actually were and in terms of the route, if you input your destination then you can check on the app exactly the route being taken whilst in the car.

Uber is a godsend for passengers, especially as others have said if you travel to another country that also uses it. In the US, and uber from airport to hotel can be a third the cost of the normal airport taxi.

[BigMacDaddy]

I've just arrived back from a weekend in Paris - used the Metro for some travel but a few times we couldn't be bothered and used Uber instead. The experience pretty much mirrored that which I've had in London: nice clean cars, friendly drivers and exceptional, speedy service. This is the future of private hire as far as I'm concerned.

[okgo]

And in Paris with the Euro as is, getting about is peanuts, I used metro initially but then just used uber any time we wanted to get about.

[hairyben]

maybe thats where I've been going wrong with black cabs and their "nah not going there" - I should be flapping the ca$h in their faces.

Ironically I always carry and mostly pay for stuff with cash, typical, I finally work out how black cabs work just as they're about to become extinct, duh.

[numtumfutunch]

I had my first Uber today and Im now a fan!

We were in London and had forgotten to pack our Oysters for a return trip back to our digs after a morning walk
I downloaded the app and was good to go in minutes, if that

The home screen showed all the nearby circulating Ubers and I watched ours approach on the map on the home screen with a decent estimate of how much it was actually going to cost with none of the "meters broken," cash in hand, rip off malarky mentioned in this thread

The driver was a nice chap and offered the 'aux' cable to his stereo to plug my music in for the journey - Ive never had that before

Interestingly we chatted and he mentioned his dad was a cabbie and hated Uber, I can see why as it was efficient, painless and good value

Cheers

[Burwood]

Hated uber , yep, just like the unions strangle on the underground. They can see their days of extortion over with or at least greatly reduced.

[okgo]

numtumfutunch said:

I had my first Uber today and Im now a fan!

We were in London and had forgotten to pack our Oysters for a return trip back to our digs after a morning walk
I downloaded the app and was good to go in minutes, if that

The home screen showed all the nearby circulating Ubers and I watched ours approach on the map on the home screen with a decent estimate of how much it was actually going to cost with none of the "meters broken," cash in hand, rip off malarky mentioned in this thread

The driver was a nice chap and offered the 'aux' cable to his stereo to plug my music in for the journey - Ive never had that before

Interestingly we chatted and he mentioned his dad was a cabbie and hated Uber, I can see why as it was efficient, painless and good value

Cheers

Any contactless debit/credit card works on the London transport network in place of an oyster card FYI

[numtumfutunch]

okgo said:

Any contactless debit/credit card works on the London transport network in place of an oyster card FYI

I know

As a committed tin foil hat merchant I had mine disabled in the autumn

No, I really did......

[ooo000ooo]

Uber has just started in Belfast. There's 2 existing taxi companies that have bought out most of the smaller ones so they can control the market. Every time there's been a news article about uber the owners of the existing companies seem to get an opportunity to express how unfair it is to have a new bit of competition.
It's now been suggested that licencing regulations be changed so that all taxi's have to be able to print a receipt, strangely the existing cars equipment can do this, uber can't and their electronic receipt won't be acceptable.

[Gareth79]

ooo000ooo said:

It's now been suggested that licencing regulations be changed so that all taxi's have to be able to print a receipt, strangely the existing cars equipment can do this, uber can't and their electronic receipt won't be acceptable.

The receipt will help in ensuring taxi drivers log and report all their income though.

I imagine it won't be too tricky for the Uber driver's app to connect to a wireless printer. I believe all UK drivers use an Uber-supplied iPhone so there shouldn't be problems supporting weird devices.

Edited by Gareth79 on Monday 25th January 12:11

[Zod]

Gareth79 said:

ooo000ooo said:

It's now been suggested that licencing regulations be changed so that all taxi's have to be able to print a receipt, strangely the existing cars equipment can do this, uber can't and their electronic receipt won't be acceptable.

The receipt will help in ensuring taxi drivers log and report all their income though.

I imagine it won't be too tricky for the Uber driver's app to connect to a wireless printer. I believe all UK drivers use an Uber-supplied iPhone so there shouldn't be problems supporting weird devices.

Edited by Gareth79 on Monday 25th January 12:11

Uber's driver app records all of that. There is no need whatsoever for printing.

[KarlMac]

Zod said:

Gareth79 said:

ooo000ooo said:

It's now been suggested that licencing regulations be changed so that all taxi's have to be able to print a receipt, strangely the existing cars equipment can do this, uber can't and their electronic receipt won't be acceptable.

The receipt will help in ensuring taxi drivers log and report all their income though.

I imagine it won't be too tricky for the Uber driver's app to connect to a wireless printer. I believe all UK drivers use an Uber-supplied iPhone so there shouldn't be problems supporting weird devices.

Edited by Gareth79 on Monday 25th January 12:11

Uber's driver app records all of that. There is no need whatsoever for printing.

Would and emailed invoice/receipt not be acceptable?

[Zod]

KarlMac said:

Zod said:

Gareth79 said:

ooo000ooo said:

It's now been suggested that licencing regulations be changed so that all taxi's have to be able to print a receipt, strangely the existing cars equipment can do this, uber can't and their electronic receipt won't be acceptable.

The receipt will help in ensuring taxi drivers log and report all their income though.

I imagine it won't be too tricky for the Uber driver's app to connect to a wireless printer. I believe all UK drivers use an Uber-supplied iPhone so there shouldn't be problems supporting weird devices.

Edited by Gareth79 on Monday 25th January 12:11

Uber's driver app records all of that. There is no need whatsoever for printing.

Would and emailed invoice/receipt not be acceptable?

Which is exactly what you get from Uber.