London cabbies to protest over smartphone app.
Discussion
I spent a day in London (west end) for the first time since I was pretty much a child. Yes I've been to the big smoke on occasion but it's nearly always been for a specific task like the motorshow (as was) or, mostly, pick up a dead Alfa that I'd bought.
I had a few rides in a taxi with my host....
Errr... let me rephrase that.
I enjoyed....
Um
We used a few black cabs whilst we were out and it was genuinely pissing me off. My host insisted on paying £5 for a taxi for what was a 5 min walk. I kept telling him that. And then one driver, hearing that I thought it was a 5 min walk did 3 sides of a square to prove it wasn't and charged us a bloody tenner.
Based on my experience, I would say they're prohibitively expensive, the driver's aren't as scrupulous as they claim to be and they're massively uncomfortable.
Uber seem to be cleaning up and rightly so.
Yes the cabbies may have to pass the "test" but sat nav has largely negated this and systems that look at live traffic data and re route you effectively aren't that far away. This has the added bonus of being able to share this thought with passenger through an impartial being.
Darwinism at work.
I had a few rides in a taxi with my host....
Errr... let me rephrase that.
I enjoyed....
Um
We used a few black cabs whilst we were out and it was genuinely pissing me off. My host insisted on paying £5 for a taxi for what was a 5 min walk. I kept telling him that. And then one driver, hearing that I thought it was a 5 min walk did 3 sides of a square to prove it wasn't and charged us a bloody tenner.
Based on my experience, I would say they're prohibitively expensive, the driver's aren't as scrupulous as they claim to be and they're massively uncomfortable.
Uber seem to be cleaning up and rightly so.
Yes the cabbies may have to pass the "test" but sat nav has largely negated this and systems that look at live traffic data and re route you effectively aren't that far away. This has the added bonus of being able to share this thought with passenger through an impartial being.
Darwinism at work.
untakenname said:
Most likely, I was surprised they aren't striking about the new emission laws coming in 2018.
ULEZ requirements for taxi and private hire vehicles
Following consultation feedback (see below), and in light of funds announced by the Government, we have engaged with the taxi and private hire trade to finalise plans to change the licensing requirements for these vehicles.
Requirements for taxi and private hire vehicles (PHVs) are as follows:
From 1 January 2018, new diesel taxis will no longer be licensed in London
From 1 January 2018, all taxis presented for licensing for the first time will need to be zero emission capable; emit 50g/km CO2 with a minimum 30 mile zero emission range. A zero emission capable taxi must be petrol if an internal combustion engine is used.
https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/ultra-low-emissio...
Slightly O/T but, about fULEZ requirements for taxi and private hire vehicles
Following consultation feedback (see below), and in light of funds announced by the Government, we have engaged with the taxi and private hire trade to finalise plans to change the licensing requirements for these vehicles.
Requirements for taxi and private hire vehicles (PHVs) are as follows:
From 1 January 2018, new diesel taxis will no longer be licensed in London
From 1 January 2018, all taxis presented for licensing for the first time will need to be zero emission capable; emit 50g/km CO2 with a minimum 30 mile zero emission range. A zero emission capable taxi must be petrol if an internal combustion engine is used.
https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/ultra-low-emissio...
king time! Can we do the same for the buses now?!?Anyway back O/T: How the hell do uber drivers make a sustainable income whilst maintaining their vehicles, paying insurance/fuel and giving uber their cut. It just seems untenable to me. Maybe the black cabs will win the war of attrition.
MrBig said:
How the hell do uber drivers make a sustainable income whilst maintaining their vehicles, paying insurance/fuel and giving uber their cut. It just seems untenable to me. Maybe the black cabs will win the war of attrition.
They can't. It's hugely exploitative and almost entirely revolving door recruitment. It can't compete with minicabs. Neither can the hacks who only have themselves to blame for this attempt to push an exploitative version of minicab into the city centre which is the killing field for the hacks.Zombie said:
I spent a day in London (west end) for the first time since I was pretty much a child. Yes I've been to the big smoke on occasion but it's nearly always been for a specific task like the motorshow (as was) or, mostly, pick up a dead Alfa that I'd bought.
I had a few rides in a taxi with my host....
Errr... let me rephrase that.
I enjoyed....
Um
We used a few black cabs whilst we were out and it was genuinely pissing me off. My host insisted on paying £5 for a taxi for what was a 5 min walk. I kept telling him that. And then one driver, hearing that I thought it was a 5 min walk did 3 sides of a square to prove it wasn't and charged us a bloody tenner.
Based on my experience, I would say they're prohibitively expensive, the driver's aren't as scrupulous as they claim to be and they're massively uncomfortable.
Uber seem to be cleaning up and rightly so.
Yes the cabbies may have to pass the "test" but sat nav has largely negated this and systems that look at live traffic data and re route you effectively aren't that far away. This has the added bonus of being able to share this thought with passenger through an impartial being.
Darwinism at work.
You may be an out of towner but you're spot on. I've lived in London all my life. Do I take black cabs? fI had a few rides in a taxi with my host....
Errr... let me rephrase that.
I enjoyed....
Um
We used a few black cabs whilst we were out and it was genuinely pissing me off. My host insisted on paying £5 for a taxi for what was a 5 min walk. I kept telling him that. And then one driver, hearing that I thought it was a 5 min walk did 3 sides of a square to prove it wasn't and charged us a bloody tenner.
Based on my experience, I would say they're prohibitively expensive, the driver's aren't as scrupulous as they claim to be and they're massively uncomfortable.
Uber seem to be cleaning up and rightly so.
Yes the cabbies may have to pass the "test" but sat nav has largely negated this and systems that look at live traffic data and re route you effectively aren't that far away. This has the added bonus of being able to share this thought with passenger through an impartial being.
Darwinism at work.
k no. I'd rather st on my hands and clap.Stupidly expensive. Like ridiculously.
Rude. Ignorant. Inattentive. Lazy.
Slow. Noisy. Uncomfortable.
Uber on the other hand. Good as gold. We regularly use them to drop items between locations (no passenger, just items). They get there on time and we don't worry about the items one bit.
If you asked a black cabbie to do that he'd probably spit on the ground in front of you.
And even when you're a passenger they are polite, they help you load, they are cheap and honestly make up for every shortcoming that most black cabs have.
Are black cabs worth having around? You might think so listening to the way the radio hosts on the BEEB bleet on about them, but black cabs are nothing more than a relic for tourists and people with more money than sense. The sooner they're gone the better.
Blaster72 said:
Less than minimum wage when you take all the costs into account. Then again I don't think minicab drivers have ever made great money.
It's a menial, unskilled task Are you saying black cab drivers make a greater living? Why should they? Their world has evolved around them and they're now almost on the brink of queint.
Zombie said:
Blaster72 said:
Less than minimum wage when you take all the costs into account. Then again I don't think minicab drivers have ever made great money.
It's a menial, unskilled task Are you saying black cab drivers make a greater living? Why should they? Their world has evolved around them and they're now almost on the brink of queint.
Someone above posted wondering what an Uber driver makes. I answered, that's all.
BTW, what's "the brink of queint"?
drainbrain said:
Zod said:
Nope. He did what Uber requires and what I wanted. I have left umbrellas in taxis, nice ones. I have never managed to recover one.
By the way, do you speak as you write - shouting the words that you embolden? It is very odd.
You find it odd that when writing people embolden for emphasis? Fair enough I suppose. I should use the italic function but I'm not sure there is one. If it was longhand I might underline. Don't you? Doesn't everybody? By the way, do you speak as you write - shouting the words that you embolden? It is very odd.
Anyway, you're a lucky boy. And you were probably a front seat passenger or else your uberman wasn't very busy. Again, do I have to tell you WHY? Seems you don't understand why the cops want stuff found in taxis taken to THEM. So do the taxi firms, though I accept that uber can't drop 'finds' into the base anyway because there isn't a base. to drop them into. And bases don't want the stuff because they're not lost property offices.
Your little adventure was at the weekend wasn't it? Any idea what a taxi base is like at the weekend? As well as the app, text, even the odd email and IVR (wot's that he asks) driven work there are perhaps a dozen (in Addison Lee a hundred) telephonists plus a couple of controllers. People like you who like to over-drink the cheap stuff (you don't get a hangover with the good stuff) are puking, peeing and even sometimes s
tting in taxis. Bosses at account holders (wot's that he asks) are demanding immediate cars for them and their friends. Muslim drivers are knocking back jobs where a dog has unexpectedly turned up. There are fistfights and sometimes worse as drivers are being robbed or abused. And not infrequently, particularly amongst the drunks there are complaints about everything from the driver's breath to the state of the car. There are also accidents of every type and every level of seriousness. And cars breaking down mid-journey. And who's dealing with this? The controllers are, whilst the tidal wave of non-automated calls is being fielded by the telephonists. That's Friday and Saturday night. And the only difference on weeknights is that the volume's lower so there's less staff needed. Of course IVR can run the whole operation solo, but there are so many people who want direct human contact that those really quite expensive staff are 110% needed. So you're lucky. Usually the next passenger into the backseat steals what he finds there. And clearly you're hardly the type of person that anyone would phone at the weekend so the driver wouldn't even have known the phone was in the car. And nobody in management is interested in an argument about a phone. Or a bag of groceries. Or about what exactly wasn't in or not in the bag. So it gets taken to the police station. Or else the driver steals it if indeed (backseat in the dark) he's aware it's there at all. Driver taking it home? Good job your phone hasn't got anything serious or confidential in it, eh? Or that it wasn't a wallet full of 50's. Fancy arguing it out as to whether there was £900 or £500 in it?( I quite enjoyed that).
If you would like to discuss the wine we drank, I'd be happy to do so. It sounds as if you must be a connoisseur.
Blaster72 said:
Wow, you read a lot into my post! Mental.
Someone above posted wondering what an Uber driver makes. I answered, that's all.
BTW, what's "the brink of queint"?
quaint...Someone above posted wondering what an Uber driver makes. I answered, that's all.
BTW, what's "the brink of queint"?
Someone can't spell. It's either me or autocorrect. If i'd been in a black cab and not in the pub, I could've just asked....
Zod said:
drainbrain said:
Zod said:
Nope. He did what Uber requires and what I wanted. I have left umbrellas in taxis, nice ones. I have never managed to recover one.
By the way, do you speak as you write - shouting the words that you embolden? It is very odd.
You find it odd that when writing people embolden for emphasis? Fair enough I suppose. I should use the italic function but I'm not sure there is one. If it was longhand I might underline. Don't you? Doesn't everybody? By the way, do you speak as you write - shouting the words that you embolden? It is very odd.
Anyway, you're a lucky boy. And you were probably a front seat passenger or else your uberman wasn't very busy. Again, do I have to tell you WHY? Seems you don't understand why the cops want stuff found in taxis taken to THEM. So do the taxi firms, though I accept that uber can't drop 'finds' into the base anyway because there isn't a base. to drop them into. And bases don't want the stuff because they're not lost property offices.
Your little adventure was at the weekend wasn't it? Any idea what a taxi base is like at the weekend? As well as the app, text, even the odd email and IVR (wot's that he asks) driven work there are perhaps a dozen (in Addison Lee a hundred) telephonists plus a couple of controllers. People like you who like to over-drink the cheap stuff (you don't get a hangover with the good stuff) are puking, peeing and even sometimes s
tting in taxis. Bosses at account holders (wot's that he asks) are demanding immediate cars for them and their friends. Muslim drivers are knocking back jobs where a dog has unexpectedly turned up. There are fistfights and sometimes worse as drivers are being robbed or abused. And not infrequently, particularly amongst the drunks there are complaints about everything from the driver's breath to the state of the car. There are also accidents of every type and every level of seriousness. And cars breaking down mid-journey. And who's dealing with this? The controllers are, whilst the tidal wave of non-automated calls is being fielded by the telephonists. That's Friday and Saturday night. And the only difference on weeknights is that the volume's lower so there's less staff needed. Of course IVR can run the whole operation solo, but there are so many people who want direct human contact that those really quite expensive staff are 110% needed. So you're lucky. Usually the next passenger into the backseat steals what he finds there. And clearly you're hardly the type of person that anyone would phone at the weekend so the driver wouldn't even have known the phone was in the car. And nobody in management is interested in an argument about a phone. Or a bag of groceries. Or about what exactly wasn't in or not in the bag. So it gets taken to the police station. Or else the driver steals it if indeed (backseat in the dark) he's aware it's there at all. Driver taking it home? Good job your phone hasn't got anything serious or confidential in it, eh? Or that it wasn't a wallet full of 50's. Fancy arguing it out as to whether there was £900 or £500 in it?( I quite enjoyed that).
If you would like to discuss the wine we drank, I'd be happy to do so. It sounds as if you must be a connoisseur.
Ugh. I feel compelled to read it now. But I can't in it's current state. (dyslexic excuse here)
drainbrain said:
You find it odd that when writing people embolden for emphasis? Fair enough I suppose. I should use the italic function but I'm not sure there is one. If it was longhand I might underline. Don't you? Doesn't everybody?
Anyway, you're a lucky boy. And you were probably a front seat passenger or else your uberman wasn't very busy.
Again, do I have to tell you WHY? Seems you don't understand why the cops want stuff found in taxis taken to THEM. So do the taxi firms, though I accept that uber can't drop 'finds' into the base anyway because there isn't a base. to drop them into.
And bases don't want the stuff because they're not lost property offices.
Your little adventure was at the weekend wasn't it? Any idea what a taxi base is like at the weekend? As well as the app, text, even the odd email and IVR (wot's that he asks) driven work there are perhaps a dozen (in Addison Lee a hundred) telephonists plus a couple of controllers. People like you who like to over-drink the cheap stuff (you don't get a hangover with the good stuff) are puking, peeing and even sometimes stting in taxis.
Bosses at account holders (wot's that he asks) are demanding immediate cars for them and their friends.
Muslim drivers are knocking back jobs where a dog has unexpectedly turned up. There are fistfights and sometimes worse as drivers are being robbed or abused.
And not infrequently, particularly amongst the drunks there are complaints about everything from the driver's breath to the state of the car. There are also accidents of every type and every level of seriousness.
And cars breaking down mid-journey. And who's dealing with this? The controllers are, whilst the tidal wave of non-automated calls is being fielded by the telephonists.
That's Friday and Saturday night.
And the only difference on weeknights is that the volume's lower so there's less staff needed.
Of course IVR can run the whole operation solo, but there are so many people who want direct human contact that those really quite expensive staff are 110% needed.
So you're lucky. Usually the next passenger into the backseat steals what he finds there.
And clearly you're hardly the type of person that anyone would phone at the weekend so the driver wouldn't even have known the phone was in the car. And nobody in management is interested in an argument about a phone. Or a bag of groceries.
Or about what exactly wasn't in or not in the bag. So it gets taken to the police station. Or else the driver steals it if indeed (backseat in the dark) he's aware it's there at all. Driver taking it home?
Good job your phone hasn't got anything serious or confidential in it, eh? Or that it wasn't a wallet full of 50's. Fancy arguing it out as to whether there was £900 or £500 in it?
( I quite enjoyed that).
Anyway, you're a lucky boy. And you were probably a front seat passenger or else your uberman wasn't very busy.
Again, do I have to tell you WHY? Seems you don't understand why the cops want stuff found in taxis taken to THEM. So do the taxi firms, though I accept that uber can't drop 'finds' into the base anyway because there isn't a base. to drop them into.
And bases don't want the stuff because they're not lost property offices.
Your little adventure was at the weekend wasn't it? Any idea what a taxi base is like at the weekend? As well as the app, text, even the odd email and IVR (wot's that he asks) driven work there are perhaps a dozen (in Addison Lee a hundred) telephonists plus a couple of controllers. People like you who like to over-drink the cheap stuff (you don't get a hangover with the good stuff) are puking, peeing and even sometimes s
tting in taxis. Bosses at account holders (wot's that he asks) are demanding immediate cars for them and their friends.
Muslim drivers are knocking back jobs where a dog has unexpectedly turned up. There are fistfights and sometimes worse as drivers are being robbed or abused.
And not infrequently, particularly amongst the drunks there are complaints about everything from the driver's breath to the state of the car. There are also accidents of every type and every level of seriousness.
And cars breaking down mid-journey. And who's dealing with this? The controllers are, whilst the tidal wave of non-automated calls is being fielded by the telephonists.
That's Friday and Saturday night.
And the only difference on weeknights is that the volume's lower so there's less staff needed.
Of course IVR can run the whole operation solo, but there are so many people who want direct human contact that those really quite expensive staff are 110% needed.
So you're lucky. Usually the next passenger into the backseat steals what he finds there.
And clearly you're hardly the type of person that anyone would phone at the weekend so the driver wouldn't even have known the phone was in the car. And nobody in management is interested in an argument about a phone. Or a bag of groceries.
Or about what exactly wasn't in or not in the bag. So it gets taken to the police station. Or else the driver steals it if indeed (backseat in the dark) he's aware it's there at all. Driver taking it home?
Good job your phone hasn't got anything serious or confidential in it, eh? Or that it wasn't a wallet full of 50's. Fancy arguing it out as to whether there was £900 or £500 in it?
( I quite enjoyed that).
drainbrain said:
CorbynForTheBin said:
Do we think BrainDrain is a cabbie? 
C'mon lads! Pitchforks at the ready! Burn the cabbie! Burn with fire!Nar ven cockah, d'ya fink oi droive an 'ackney ? Cor bloimey wooja Adam an' Eve it!! Flippin' roit wing roycist on a Pay Haich fred??
No mate. Just giving a bit of balance to the lauding of a tax-dodging slave-driving overrated yank pie in the sky.
Mind you in cities like London where cab users are mostly visitors, tourists and foreign moneyed immigrants it must seem like a breath of fresh air. Out in the provinces uber's confined to the city centres where they compete for much the same audience as the hacks. There's a separate world of private hire which uber doesn't really affect and can't compete with either from the punter or the driver perspective. I imagine in London private hire will be as exploitative as the hacks are, but elsewhere how can uber compete? If anything they help private hire. Where do you think all the drivers who join it and leave it go? And anyway, everyone's got an app these days without the surge pricing.
Zombie said:
It's a menial, unskilled task Are you saying black cab drivers make a greater living?
Why should they? Their world has evolved around them and they're now almost on the brink of quaint.
The barrier to entry is HUGE (the knowledge) and their numbers limited so of course they should make more than minimum wage.Why should they? Their world has evolved around them and they're now almost on the brink of quaint.
And they did.
However, sadly for them Uber and sat navs have absolutely destroyed the barriers and so they will either have to drop their prices or just see business dry up.
They won't drop the price.
Hence they are in serious trouble and resorting to ridiculous legal paths such as claiming iPhones are meters or whatever.
walm said:
Hence they are in serious trouble and resorting to ridiculous legal paths such as claiming iPhones are meters or whatever.
Agreed. History has a habit of repeating itself when a new technology comes along.Black cab drivers need to move with the times and modernise, or face extinction. They do not have an inalienable right to exist.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luddite
Vaud said:
walm said:
Hence they are in serious trouble and resorting to ridiculous legal paths such as claiming iPhones are meters or whatever.
Agreed. History has a habit of repeating itself when a new technology comes along.Black cab drivers need to move with the times and modernise, or face extinction. They do not have an inalienable right to exist.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luddite
s1962a said:
I remember when i started working in the banking industry as a junior.. my team released some new technology that meant that some of the bankers could press less buttons because part of what they did could be automated. My boss got a phone call from the head of the trading desk asking for this to be turned off as his guys were quite upset about it (that part of their day to day job just got automated). Naturally that didn't happen, and 6 months later a lot of the 'old school' sales traders got let off. Taught me a lot at an early age about progress and keeping up with changing technology so you don't get left behind.
Quite. And now look at what HFT has done to the market. Vaud said:
s1962a said:
I remember when i started working in the banking industry as a junior.. my team released some new technology that meant that some of the bankers could press less buttons because part of what they did could be automated. My boss got a phone call from the head of the trading desk asking for this to be turned off as his guys were quite upset about it (that part of their day to day job just got automated). Naturally that didn't happen, and 6 months later a lot of the 'old school' sales traders got let off. Taught me a lot at an early age about progress and keeping up with changing technology so you don't get left behind.
Quite. And now look at what HFT has done to the market. Gassing Station | News, Politics & Economics | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff