Uber loses licence to operate in London, will still operate while appealing

It's pretty amazing how consistently Uber fails to abide by even the most basic regulations. How many times does a billion dollar company get a second chance? Every time this happens people talk about how the Mayor will get in trouble for this, but let's face it, ride hailing apps are 10 a penny. Lyft, Taxify, MyTaxi? No one in London is going to miss Uber.

> Taxify

Bolt

> MyTaxi

FREE NOW

:)

This is an interesting thing.

Free Now for instance, previously MyTaxi, previously Hailo. How many time will this thing get rebranded? How many times will my data be shared with new entities?

Do you even live in London? I love when people talk about a whole city in general terms like they can speak for millions of people.

Well get this, I live in London and I love Uber and I would definitely miss Uber if they stopped operating here. So your statement is wrong. In fact, our general slack channel at work had a ton of people posting sad faces about this news. But yeah sure I guess you know what every Londoner thinks...

I deleted the app. I presumed Hailo/MyTaxi had been taken over. FreeNow just sounds like a scam. Saw no reason to open up the app to find out.

It's legit. They just got bought or partnered or something with BMW, and the business is intended to consolidate with bike sharing and some other stuffs in Europe.

I ride with FreeNow in my city, just as I did with MyTaxi before. Same drivers, same app, same prices, just different colors (and slightly less favorable terms of employment, from what I've heard from the drivers during the time of transition).

I live in London, there are plenty of alternatives to Uber, the only downside is they might be like 5-10% more expensive

Uber exited our market of Southeast Asia and we are left with a giant monopoly (Grab) that intends to become a SuperApp a-la WeChat in China. That is a scary prospect.

Their race to the bottom was absolutely beneficial to consumers while it was going on. Smaller rivals have nowhere near the resources of Uber when competing with Grab.

We surely missed Uber when it left.

What you said was correct a year ago but Kapten and Bolt exist now, they’re often the same fare or cheaper than Uber.

FreeNow is as good as it's ever been. Better, in fact. It's the only app I use for this kind of thing as it uses legit, local taxis.

Bolt is funded by Chinese money. They're heavily subsidizing rides with that money to capture some of the market and they will have to raise prices eventually.

Yes, thanks I do "even live in London". In fact, I've lived in and around London all my life. Uber is fine, it's about as great as any of the other identical apps, and frankly, is far worse than being familiar with the local public transport 99% of the time inside London.

Uber is funded by Saudi money, same deal.

London and the UK has plenty of other taxi companies with an app for consumers to choose from (which are following the rules one assumes). So your experience in Southeast Asia although depressing is irrelevant.

Uber is not free, it's way past the free stage.

I saw few acquaintances trying Bolt (in London) and the main argument is the first rides are free, then the next rides are free too if you refer a friend.

While not free, VC funds are still subsidizing Uber rides and driver incentives.