Uber

[taper]

It's frigging brilliant isn't it? Why are all the Mayoral candidates against it when it's so clearly in the public interest?

Vested interests I suppose.

[DaveR]

Yes. And yes.

[*Bob*]

Remember the days when a minicab meant being kept waiting for half an hour 'they're on their way'; rubbish cars; someone moaning for ?1 extra because you live at one end of a street rather than the other. All that crap I do not miss..

Isn't the Uber tax situation toxic in the current climate - that being the main reason for the political naysayers?

[dirac]

brilliant service, and also affordable. The phone application is great too, showing you where the cab is etc.

Have no idea why politicians hate it so much, I guess for the above reasons.

[dbboy]

With Uber you don't know if the driver is either registered or legal, always use a black cab. They are safe, reliable and know where they are going.

[binkylilyput]

LOVE LOVE LOVE

Uber have changed my life

Great value, reliable, safe

[SoozieW]

I've wanted to try them, but every time I've had a cheaper quote from local mini cab firms and so have gone with them.

[DaveR]

"With Uber you don't know if the driver is either registered or legal, always use a black cab. They are safe, reliable and know where they are going."

Uber cars and drivers are regulated in exactly the same way as other private hire outfits, and the level of regulation has increased significantly in recent years, as well as being set to increase again. Arguably you are much safer with Uber than either a minicab or a black cab because not only is each individual driver identified to you and rated but there is also a real time record of your pick up and journey. Plus, with the advances in GPS/Google Maps since the acquisition of Waze by Google any residual advantage from having done 'the Knowledge' has just about disappeared.

So this is bollocks.

[Loz]

dbboy Wrote:

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> With Uber you don't know if the driver is either registered or legal, always use a black cab. They

> are safe, reliable and know where they are going.

Hmmm, really? Registered or legal in what sense?

Anyway, my experience is that black cab drivers are pretty clueless outside of Zone 1. And you need a second mortgage to get a cab from LHR to ED.

Plus Uber, as far as I've ever heard, don't pull up and then say "sorry mate, I'm not going that way" in the sort of way that makes you start to wonder if you misunderstood exactly how taxis are supposed to function.

[*Bob*]

Is there any other Uber vehicle available other than a Toyota Prius?

I have wondered.

[DaveR]

I believe that Uber run a financing operation to help drivers get cars, and that they have to be hybrids, hence the ubiquity of the Prius.

[TheArtfulDogger]

*Bob* Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Is there any other Uber vehicle available other

> than a Toyota Prius?

>

> I have wondered.

As the Churchill dog says "oh yes"

Been picked up in a variety of other cars including a Mercedes but agree with davidr that the finance package makes the Prius a popular choice with the drivers

[Otta]

I've yet to try uber, mainly because my mum instilled the belief that cabs are an expensive luxury when trains or buses are running, and I'm rarely out late at night these days. But I have wondered how it can be worth it for the drivers.

[rodneybewes]

I've used Uber a couple of times. It's an easy system to use with a great app, safer than other methods with a picture of who is picking you up and full gps tracking, and it's cashless which solves a load of problems. I don't have a great deal of sympathy with black cab drivers as they've generally been unsympathetic to other people in the same position in my experience and they tried to get the cycle superhighways cancelled through judicial review which put me in direct opposition to them.

Having said that before I had the choice of who I wanted to cart me around - black cab, minicab, Addison Lee etc, I could pretty much decide even if it wasn't always a smooth experience. Uber's model will hoover up everything around it - it will destroy all other taxi forms and put everyone with an hour or two to spare in direct competition with everyone else in the industry. It will drive all prices and benefits down to the lowest common denominator and we'll end up with thousands of people with no holiday or benefits chasing the same number of people. Whilst the same group of people in charge scrape the vig off the top at the same time paying the least possible amount of tax back into the economy. The Uber model will destroy all other models in its path and in ten years' time we'll have an entire industry that's effectively running on zero hours contracts.

[LondonMix]

Love ?ber!

[miga]

> all prices and benefits down to the lowest common

> denominator and we'll end up with thousands of

> people with no holiday or benefits chasing the

> same number of people.

What holidays and benefits do black cab/minicab drivers get?

I get the tax thing - but I think the Uber model is great.

[Seabag]

Does Fox and or Louisa love Uber

That's all that's important

Fuck you *Bob*

[TheArtfulDogger]

Seabag

Harsh but so important to know

[rodneybewes]

miga Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> > all prices and benefits down to the lowest

> common

> > denominator and we'll end up with thousands of

> > people with no holiday or benefits chasing the

> > same number of people.

>

> What holidays and benefits do black cab/minicab

> drivers get?

>

> I get the tax thing - but I think the Uber model

> is great.

Black cabs get none, only a scant few cab firms do.

The ease of uber is great. The economic model leaves nothing but Uber as it sets all drivers up against each other in a race to the bottom and the whole thing is predicated on not paying the same tax rates as other taxi models. It's interesting that the disgust of a few years ago about zero hours contracts has dwindled away to pretty much nothing. Give me convenience or give me death.

[dbboy]

Black cab drivers are so polite, kind, honest, helpful and knowledgeable.

[TheArtfulDogger]

dbboy Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Black cab drivers are so polite, kind, honest,

> helpful and knowledgeable.

Sadly dbboy, so are uber drivers

[miga]

rodneybewes Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> miga Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > > all prices and benefits down to the lowest

> > common

> > > denominator and we'll end up with thousands

> of

> > > people with no holiday or benefits chasing

> the

> > > same number of people.

> >

> > What holidays and benefits do black cab/minicab

> > drivers get?

> >

> > I get the tax thing - but I think the Uber

> model

> > is great.

> Black cabs get none, only a scant few cab firms

> do.

>

> The ease of uber is great. The economic model

> leaves nothing but Uber as it sets all drivers up

> against each other in a race to the bottom and the

> whole thing is predicated on not paying the same

> tax rates as other taxi models. It's interesting

> that the disgust of a few years ago about zero

> hours contracts has dwindled away to pretty much

> nothing. Give me convenience or give me death.

As I said, I get the company tax thing, they ought to pay it, but if they did that wouldn't sink them or invalidate the model. And it's always been one driver against another (or late on a Saturday in Soho, one passenger against another), this is just a more transparent system given it's based on proximity as measured by GPS. Also I disagree that if Uber "win" (debatable) they'll keep at being competitive - they'll up prices when there's no competition. As far as the technology goes though, everything is going in an Uber direction, it makes sense given we all have GPS now.

Yeah, give me convenience or give me death, that's what we value as a society, capitalism is the worst ism, except for all the other isms we've tried before.

[taper]

dbboy Wrote:

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> Black cab drivers are so polite, kind, honest,

> helpful and knowledgeable.

There's another long thread in here relating examples of where this hasn't been the case. I got booted out of a cab once on Longacre for suggesting a black cab avoided the Angel in heading towards Stoke Newington. Getting a black cab to go to Peckham from central London is always fun ("Not going there, not safe mate"). The trick was to say "Camberwell Grove" (they think you're a rich barrister) and then get them to turn down Lyndhurst Grove, saying "not far now" every 30 seconds or so. For that you get to pay ?30 or so.

['bout now]

I use Uber a lot, I like it but I have noticed a trend of late. If you order one via the app and don't give notice of destination (Sometimes I'm not sure of my exact end point), you'll get a call from the driver asking for your location(er, you have that) and were you are going. If it's not lucrative enough they will drop the fare without telling you and leave you looking at at the home screen again.

Bit like a black cab.

[Jeremy]

dbboy's experience of black cabs differs greatly from mine.

Drivers who don't want to go south of the river. Drivers who agree to take you, but moan the whole way. Drivers who, despite doing "the knowledge", need directions to get to your house. Shouting at pedestrians for daring to cross the road. Plenty of bad eggs in that basket.

Safety? Uber (or Addison Lee) is safer because there is a record of who picked you up and when. I don't want to drag out the obvious example, but a black cab driver could just as easily be a complete nutter as a minicab driver... and there's no record of you ever being in his car.

I dare say black cabs will continue to have their place (taxi ranks outside stations for tourists, etc) but for most journeys, Uber is better in every conceivable way.