London cabbies to protest over smartphone app.
Discussion
article said:
However he was left visibly shaken today as received shouts of "clown" and "joke" from the assembled cabbies with one shouting "I voted for you once, I must have been on drugs," while another shouted. "You want to be PM? You're a joke."
In just a year, I've moved from not Iain Uber to using it for 80% of my hire journeys, at the expense of Black Cabs and Addison Lee. The service is much better and a ride in a new E Class, 5 Series or A6 with polite driver is a better experience than a ride with a cab driver who doesn't know London as well as he should or knowingly takes a longer route and then does that trick that knocks the meter up by another 20p just as it stops.
Atmospheric said:
Bullett said:
And of course Black Cabs being a largely cash based transaction system are not at all subject to tax avoidance...
I am offended on behalf on behalf of the London black cab drivers.Just because they take cash, doesn't mean they are trying to avoid paying tax. Just because they may charge £90 from London to Heathrow, doesn't mean they won't declare it. No, how dare you...
Google [bot] said:
Is it just me, or does the photo represent a certain demographic?Zod said:
In just a year, I've moved from not Iain Uber to using it for 80% of my hire journeys, at the expense of Black Cabs and Addison Lee. The service is much better and a ride in a new E Class, 5 Series or A6 with polite driver is a better experience than a ride with a cab driver who doesn't know London as well as he should or knowingly takes a longer route and then does that trick that knocks the meter up by another 20p just as it stops.
I've also switched to Uber. Usually I just get the cheap ones but they are always clean and fairly new. I find black cabs hugely expensive these days, especially at night. Mini cabs are often pretty rank and given the choice between a near-silent Uber Prious and some God awful yammering banging hammering 10 year old diesel it's night and day.Plus I can Spotify my tunes to them.
The only downside is that they become much more expensive at peak times and you can't pre-book. So for certain journeys I have revert the stinky bangy old diesel mini cab. But those journeys are few and far between.
I use Uber every day.
It is a lot cheaper, and frankly I prefer a Prius to the black cabs.
Whenever UberX is on more than 1.8x surge I use uber exec - it's still cheaper than a black cab and you get a Merc to boot.
What I also love is that as well as customers rating drivers at the end of each journey, the drivers also rate the customer.
Don't let your customer rating fall below 4.0 or you'll never get a ride!
It is a lot cheaper, and frankly I prefer a Prius to the black cabs.
Whenever UberX is on more than 1.8x surge I use uber exec - it's still cheaper than a black cab and you get a Merc to boot.
What I also love is that as well as customers rating drivers at the end of each journey, the drivers also rate the customer.
Don't let your customer rating fall below 4.0 or you'll never get a ride!
sjg said:
The calls for revoking Uber's licence on "safety grounds" are a fantasy at best. They've been audited a few times before and there's not been a problem - unlike some cities, in London they need a PCO licence which involves background checking, etc. Uber are pretty fastidious about checking insurance too. The cars themselves always feel a hell of a lot safer than the ancient black cab design, and the drivers considerably more pleasant.
Black cabs will be nothing more than a curiosity for tourists (just like the old Routemaster buses) within a decade, and it's the drivers themselves that will make it so.
Never used it but it would be a shame to lose out on things like Joel 'Deadmau5' Zimmerman using his 650s as an Uber car http://jalopnik.com/deadmau5-really-is-giving-uber...Black cabs will be nothing more than a curiosity for tourists (just like the old Routemaster buses) within a decade, and it's the drivers themselves that will make it so.
and
Jon Olsson using his 950hp RS6
http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/videos/a25...
Interesting reading in this thread
Honestly think Uber are more a threat to the traditional Minicab companies than hacks though
Why would a driver pay a radio base up to £140 a week whether he works or not when he could instead pay über a flat 20%
Their moving north of the border having been granted a booking office licence in Edinburgh and from what I've heard about to be grass tee one in Glasgow
Oh and as for the argument about Minica s and hacks being different because of a meter. Up in Scotland a Minicab is allowed to use a meter if they wish and do not have any restriction on fares unlike the hacks
Honestly think Uber are more a threat to the traditional Minicab companies than hacks though
Why would a driver pay a radio base up to £140 a week whether he works or not when he could instead pay über a flat 20%
Their moving north of the border having been granted a booking office licence in Edinburgh and from what I've heard about to be grass tee one in Glasgow
Oh and as for the argument about Minica s and hacks being different because of a meter. Up in Scotland a Minicab is allowed to use a meter if they wish and do not have any restriction on fares unlike the hacks
BlackLabel said:
Boris isn't beating around the bush, but it hasn't gone down very well. I'm not sure what the cabbies expect him to do - revoking Uber's licence Boris says would be unlawful.
Boris speaks a lot of sense yet they still dont get it. Good riddance to the lot of them if they think that putting their head in the sand and 'protesting' is going to make Uber go away.KTF said:
BlackLabel said:
Boris isn't beating around the bush, but it hasn't gone down very well. I'm not sure what the cabbies expect him to do - revoking Uber's licence Boris says would be unlawful.
Boris speaks a lot of sense yet they still dont get it. Good riddance to the lot of them if they think that putting their head in the sand and 'protesting' is going to make Uber go away.Gassing Station | News, Politics & Economics | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff