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

On one hand i am glad that a transnational company is getting stopped like that, especially when breaking the rules. they are basically a giant money hoover that comes in and sucks the money offshore with offshore interests as #1 priority.

on the other hand, often it often takes an outsider to disrupt a well established and corrupt market in order to move it forward.

I feel the same way. I can hardly decide whether I dislike Uber or the taxi industry more.

I share your feelings exactly.

When I was in London, the ease of ordering a ride with your smartphone was a reliable comfort in a foreign land.

Maybe if I hadn't undergone shitty experiences in Paris et al. being swindled by the train operations, I wouldn't be taking Uber's side, but it just is that Uber has just worked for me so many times when other options failed.

Well, Uber is more exploitative for the drivers and less safe for the riders, so the choice seems clear.

On the other hand Uber has a flashy logo and an app and is sometimes cheaper.

And now that job is more or less done and the market can be open for competitors who operate more ethically.

they were regularly using uninsured drivers and not vetting. So unfit is fair.

Same here. Most of the taxi drivers in the city where I live only take cash, and every time I have ridden with one, they have cheated and taken a detour.

Uber, automatic payment by card and no cheating on the route.

I'm not entirely sure it's fair to say that London's minicab market was particularly corrupt. Uber's real success in London was marketing and investment meaning that it'd could grow rapidly, I believe Addison Lee had a booking app concept at the time, so not even that was particularly new.

It may be specific to markets.

In Canada's national capital region (Ottawa/Gatineau), where I travel to frequently, I've used Uber extensively even though it's more expensive and less convenient (taxi is right in front of hotel, Uber I have to call and wait for), simply because all cars were in good shape and all drivers were polite and reasonable.

For some reason in that region, majority of taxi drivers:

a) Have cars that are falling apart. Not just significant rust on the car, but frequently wonky suspension, brakes, bearings, etc.

b) They strongly believe they are rally drivers, and traffic lights, pedestrians, let alone bicycles, are their mortal enemies.

Further, all Uber drivers were happy to be Uber drivers, and 70%+ of Taxi drivers were profoundly, existentially unhappy to be Taxi drivers, and would spend entirety of their ride letting me know why.

----

Now, in principle, just from theory and articles, I'd agree that Uber feels it is / should be more exploitative of drivers and less safe for riders. I personally just haven't found it that way in practice... :-/

Wow, care to share where you live? I’ve hardly ever heard stories of taxi drivers cheating locals (needless to say tourists are cheated all the time).

You’re able to like Uber as a service, but also be upset that they’re failing to meet the regulations that have been put in place to protect everyone.

What it sounds like is that people were able to buy/use/borrow “verified” Uber Driver accounts, and upload their own photo into the app to allow them to drive for Uber without the correct background and license checks. I think it’s fair for a regular to give Uber a slap on the wrist for allowing this to happen, whether in purpose or not.

It's almost completely killed the minicab business.

It looks like their offices are still there but when you go in there is an empty room with a phone.

What? There are quite a few people in the very thread, talking about their bad experiences with Taxis.

It is a common thing, to hear stori es that people have of bad experiences with Taxis.

it's also a lot more convenient and affordable; and having a choice is almost always good.

So maybe _your_ choice is clear; but mine is Uber, 100% of the time.

And if you care so much about poor cabbies, you're free to tip them as much as you want.

A UK city that isn't London.

> It is a common thing, to hear stories that people have of bad experiences with Taxis.

Stories of bad experiences with taxis != stories of taxi drivers cheating locals.

This was common in Chicago when I lived there from 2011-2013.

"I'd like to pay with credit card" "Machine is broken." "It's all I have." "Fine."

Stories of overcharging people are also common.

It is common to hear people talk about a "broken" credit card machine, or about a taxi "taking the long way", or the like.

Most people being cheated don’t know it. Taking a little extra detour “because on construction,” or taking a drunk person home the long route — people being cheated generally don’t know it.

Here in the UK, if you say it's all you have they just reply "I can stop by an ATM"...

That’s cheating their company (and/or setting up for tax evasion), which in my experience is far more common than cheating the customer with a detour, at least when the customer is local (you can show your localness through verbal cues implying or simply indicating you know the route).

Taxi drivers swindle everyone, they just have a wider array of tricks for swindling tourists.

> Well, Uber is more exploitative for the drivers and less safe for the riders, so the choice seems clear.

Have you ever driven for a taxi company as an independent contractor? Taxi companies exploit. People talking about drivers being “exploited” by Uber have never driven for a “normal” taxi company. There is a reason that many taxi drivers now drive for Uber. The taxi business is filthy. Journalists don’t usually write about it because it isn’t sexy like bashing Uber every chance they get.

Only the other night a Chicago cabbie tried to get my wife to pay with a portable credit card reader not the one installed in the machine. She made a big fuss and he 'discovered' that the built in machine was working after all.

My god, the number of times I sat in a cab with the driver loudly honking and/or swearing at cyclists in the pre-Uber era... And all too often the awkward “conversations” where I had to um, hmm, yeah all the way...

Uber drivers are actually refreshingly polite, I even enjoyed the conversation a few times. Out of my more than a hundred rides there was only one bad experience (other than occasionally waiting for a driver that’s motionless or moving away from me): obviously new driver, didn’t know where the fuck he was going, couldn’t seem to follow GPS, asked for tip at the end of the exceptionally bad, twice as long trip.

Addison Lee is often more expensive than a black cab though. It's really more of a premium car service than a minicab firm.

As a regular used of "Addy Lee", I've found that's not normally true if you go for the standard cards (the Ford Galaxy): from my home to Euston is about £20 in an Uber, £35 in a black cab, and about £25 in an AL.

Given Addison Lee is not VC subsidised, you have to wonder how they're getting the price down, but I always choose AL when I can.