Uber are getting shirty
Discussion
rxe said:
miniman said:
All the benefits of Uber are available with black cabs via Gett, Hailo and other services. You get the advantages of a black cab (can go in bus lanes, has fundamental grasp of where you are heading, can easily circumnavigate traffic) and Uber (cashless, receipts, driver not likely to refuse to go saarf of the river). The few times I've used Uber I've ended up in a manky Prius stuck in a queue that, despite having 3 phones stuck to the windscreen, the driver has neither the ability nor the inclination to avoid.
No, they're not. With Uber I have a single app for all my cabs, pretty much globally. So at the end of a month, I get a nice itemised bill with start and end points, and I can easily say "these 10 journeys in London and these 15 journeys in Newcastle are all chargeable to <project>. very simple.Last time I used Hailo (about 3 years ago), it just said either no cabs, or there might be a cab in 30 minutes. That was central London, late night. Uber has a cab with me in sub 5 minutes pretty much every time.
I've been in lots of priuses (pri-i?), never encountered a manky one. And I agree, Uber should be allowed in bus lanes, they're providing a better service than anyone else.
rxe said:
No, they're not. With Uber I have a single app for all my cabs, pretty much globally. So at the end of a month, I get a nice itemised bill with start and end points, and I can easily say "these 10 journeys in London and these 15 journeys in Newcastle are all chargeable to <project>. very simple.
Last time I used Hailo (about 3 years ago), it just said either no cabs, or there might be a cab in 30 minutes. That was central London, late night. Uber has a cab with me in sub 5 minutes pretty much every time.
I've been in lots of priuses (pri-i?), never encountered a manky one. And I agree, Uber should be allowed in bus lanes, they're providing a better service than anyone else.
Why Bus Lanes? Other private hires aren't allowed, why them.Last time I used Hailo (about 3 years ago), it just said either no cabs, or there might be a cab in 30 minutes. That was central London, late night. Uber has a cab with me in sub 5 minutes pretty much every time.
I've been in lots of priuses (pri-i?), never encountered a manky one. And I agree, Uber should be allowed in bus lanes, they're providing a better service than anyone else.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/sep/22...
''Khalil said he was only earning around £5 per hour after paying his expenses, below the national minimum wage''
''Khurram Shahzad, 43, a father of two from east London, was one driver who felt pleased at the news. He said he was forced to close his own minicab business incurring a £50,000 loss when most of his 40 or so drivers switched to Uber which undercut his fares.''
the melodrama of people saying they will end up unemployed, there is demand so a vast majority will continue working.
''Khalil said he was only earning around £5 per hour after paying his expenses, below the national minimum wage''
''Khurram Shahzad, 43, a father of two from east London, was one driver who felt pleased at the news. He said he was forced to close his own minicab business incurring a £50,000 loss when most of his 40 or so drivers switched to Uber which undercut his fares.''
the melodrama of people saying they will end up unemployed, there is demand so a vast majority will continue working.
rxe said:
Blaster72 said:
Why Bus Lanes? Other private hires aren't allowed, why them.
If you're going to allow any taxis in bus lanes, then you should allow all of them in. (Although in many cases Bus Lanes are pointless and cause huge amount of congestion)
Vaud said:
buggalugs said:
Uber is responsible for this situation nobody else. Their license was up earlier this year and they were only given a few months temporary extension to get their house in order, but they’ve continued to act like a petulant child because apparently the law doesn’t apply to you if you have a cool app.
I'm sure the wave of people suddenly without income job will say that. If TFL acted the same way to applying the rules to black cabs then this wouldn't look like political protectionism. As it is...
As for applying the rules to black cab drivers, I know quite a few who had their badge pulled for a period of time in the 70s and 80s for refusals and arguing with passengers.
Any complaint submitted to the Public Carriage Office results in the driver quite rightly being invited in to explain what happened.
I picked up 2 guys at Charing X station once, around 9.30 a.m. who were a little worse for wear, they asked for King St. Hammersmith and I took them.
Couple of weeks later I got an invite to the P.C.O, they'd complained that en route, I'd crossed Kings Rd. Chelsea to get from Cheltenham Terrace to Anderson St., they didn't do that on their normal journey, and felt that I'd mugged them.
The Carriage Officer asked for my side, and I told him where I'd picked them up, and where I'd taken them.
He referred to a large map on his wall, and said "looks okay to me, I'll write to the complainant."
I got a letter two weeks later, which said that the complainant admitted that I'd picked him up at Charing X, but that as a rule, he did the journey almost every day, but from Hyde Park Corner, and had forgotten that.
Case dismissed, and an apology from the P.C.O., but it goes to illustrate that complaints about black cab drivers ARE investigated.
Frank7 said:
Case dismissed, and an apology from the P.C.O., but it goes to illustrate that complaints about black cab drivers ARE investigated.
I'm sure they are. That wasn't my point.My point was that "cash only" is prevalent and yet TFL seem to do nothing about about other than say that they must have card machines and provide a number to complain to.
How about ramping up spot checks with instant removal of licence? Uber might feel that all parties are being treated more evenly.
Sa Calobra said:
Progress? It's a taxi service for people who can't be arsed with public transport or exercise.
Reading though your posts on this thread, it is apparent you are seemingly in obsessed with the amount of walking and exercise that people do.Why do you care how people get around?
W124 said:
The cab drivers are just not relevant in this. This is about Uber refusing to play ball with elected politicians.
Given that they are the apparent consumer justice warriors fighting for the publics right to be forcibly restricted to their overpriced, shoddy and beligerant service - the nature of the uber app being to open up the market in a way that undermines their cartel - can you have the debate without refering to them, espeically as this news aligns with their demands and protestations?Vaud said:
Frank7 said:
Case dismissed, and an apology from the P.C.O., but it goes to illustrate that complaints about black cab drivers ARE investigated.
I'm sure they are. That wasn't my point.My point was that "cash only" is prevalent and yet TFL seem to do nothing about about other than say that they must have card machines and provide a number to complain to.
How about ramping up spot checks with instant removal of licence? Uber might feel that all parties are being treated more evenly.
I was happy to take them all day long, it didn't matter if I got cash today, or the card takings in my account next month, I was getting paid, I viewed any cab driver who recoiled from cards as a dinosaur.
I feel inclined to agree with you re- the licence suspension for having an alleged disabled card reader, but I initially saw it as a tad draconian.
TFL do carry out spot checks, usually to ensure that insurance details are displayed, your badge is worn, it's the green one for all London, or the yellow one for suburbia, and you have your taxi driver licence with you.
Maybe if they removed the white TFL plate from the rear of an offending cab with a broken card reader, stopping the driver from working, and said it will be replaced when the reader is working properly, it might stop a lot of cash only demands.
I'm still finding it amusing that the black cabs are being blamed. All Uber have to do is play by the rules of the private hire system and do what TFL ask.
They've had since May and dug their heels in, now they're whinging about it. 80,000 other private hire taxis in London can manage to stick by the rules, why not Uber?
As for people suggesting the black cabs are a cartel
wait until Uber eliminate the private hire competition (as per their investors plans).
They've had since May and dug their heels in, now they're whinging about it. 80,000 other private hire taxis in London can manage to stick by the rules, why not Uber?
As for people suggesting the black cabs are a cartel
wait until Uber eliminate the private hire competition (as per their investors plans). Blaster72 said:
I'm still finding it amusing that the black cabs are being blamed. All Uber have to do is play by the rules of the private hire system and do what TFL ask.
They've had since May and dug their heels in, now they're whinging about it. 80,000 other private hire taxis in London can manage to stick by the rules, why not Uber?
As for people suggesting the black cabs are a cartel wait until Uber eliminate the private hire competition (as per their investors plans).
They've had since May and dug their heels in, now they're whinging about it. 80,000 other private hire taxis in London can manage to stick by the rules, why not Uber?
As for people suggesting the black cabs are a cartel
wait until Uber eliminate the private hire competition (as per their investors plans). 
The irony of the cabbies defence being to warn us we might get a cartel with no competition!!
If uber banged up prices once they have market domination they'd just be undercut by someone!
Blaster72 said:
I'm still finding it amusing that the black cabs are being blamed. All Uber have to do is play by the rules of the private hire system and do what TFL ask.
They've had since May and dug their heels in, now they're whinging about it. 80,000 other private hire taxis in London can manage to stick by the rules, why not Uber?
As for people suggesting the black cabs are a cartel wait until Uber eliminate the private hire competition (as per their investors plans).
Exactly!They've had since May and dug their heels in, now they're whinging about it. 80,000 other private hire taxis in London can manage to stick by the rules, why not Uber?
As for people suggesting the black cabs are a cartel
wait until Uber eliminate the private hire competition (as per their investors plans). Uber can only blame themselves for this mess but they thought they were too big to be messed with. They've had the time to comply with rules that apply to all other ph firms and have been given fair warning but have sat on their laurels instead and shout "unfair, unfair" when TfL finally cracked the whip.
People say they're cheaper but their goal is to eliminate the competition and then jack up the prices to a profitable level. That's fine, that's the market but don't for a second think that uber has your or their drivers best interests at heart. They seem to be just another tech company with the morals of an alleycat evident from the CEO down.
No one is saying to ban the likes of Uber to protect the black cabbies, just play by the rules and you'll be welcome to ply your trade in London. It's not hard but for some reason, Uber thinks the rules don't apply.
Anyway, this will end up in court so we'll see...
Lord Marylebone said:
Reading though your posts on this thread, it is apparent you are seemingly in obsessed with the amount of walking and exercise that people do.
Why do you care how people get around?
Able bodied people taking short journies on top of a city that has a vast tube network just seems wrong to me. As I said I lived and now live in Manchester. I rarely if at all use taxis. Outside of the morning rush hour the tube was spot on. Why do you care how people get around?
And yes Uber is looking to dominate the whole market. With their business practices do you feel they will be fair and honest when they control the market? Not seen that yet but then some consumers don't care about anyone else but their own convenience. Not employee rights, ethical and safe etc just themselves.
Blaster72 said:
In London that's an extra 120,000 cars using the Bus Lanes. Seems pointless having a bus lane if you do this.
(Although in many cases Bus Lanes are pointless and cause huge amount of congestion)
Bus Lanes can be pointless, but mainly because there's no enforcement of waiting/parking/loading restrictions. If the buses could get a clearer run then we might get some of the taxis and private cars off the road.(Although in many cases Bus Lanes are pointless and cause huge amount of congestion)
Sa Calobra said:
It's the customers who don't care about employees corporate responsibility just their own 'domt mess with my life/I don't care'. Same with Ryanair, most of their customers don't care. They want cheap.
We're worth it. Someone somewhere has to take the hit, usually in the form of a terrible standard of living/ working unsociable hours etc. On the subject of card payments, how the hell do a lot of fish and chip shops/barbers get away with no card machine, let alone contactless. A cabbie on the radio put it quite well when he said people would get in an ice cream van if it was there when they needed it and it was cheap enough.
The number of people signing a petition isn't necessarily indicative of people understanding or caring about the reasons behind TFL's decision.
Wouldn't be surprised if Uber haven't developed something to account for about 295,000 of those signatures either
The number of people signing a petition isn't necessarily indicative of people understanding or caring about the reasons behind TFL's decision.
Wouldn't be surprised if Uber haven't developed something to account for about 295,000 of those signatures either
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