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

(www.bbc.com)
256 points reubensutton | 3 comments | 25 Nov 19 10:19 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source
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harel ◴[25 Nov 19 14:37 UTC] No.21628429[source]▶
I'm not a fan of companies like Uber or AirBnB who attempt a violent takeover of a market. However, as a consumer who needs to get from A to B, or stay at some random city, I find those services invaluable. The black cabs in London are expensive, never around when you need them, and until recently might have refused card payments (now they just seem unhappy about it). At the very least I was hoping Uber would make that industry wake up and join the modern world, but instead they chose to protest and block roads. With Uber, I always have a car available within minutes and the prices are reasonable. I just hope that the competition will take their place (and driver mass) if they do end up leaving.
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1. Semaphor ◴[25 Nov 19 15:06 UTC] No.21628691[source]▶
> At the very least I was hoping Uber would make that industry wake up and join the modern world.

Even with Uber never getting a real foothold in Germany, they still did just that. It start with the myTaxi (nor for some inexplicable reason rebranded to FREE NOW) app that allowed you to book a cab, see where it is, get a price estimate and pay with your credit card. It wasn’t as smooth, but still better than before.

Now last weekend when I came back from a party at night, I called out "Anyone taking card payments?" and two drivers out of 10 raised their hands, they used SumUp [0] which is also what my favorite cocktail bar uses :)

[0]: https://sumup.com/

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2. harel ◴[25 Nov 19 15:34 UTC] No.21628958[source]▶
We're not that lucky in the UK. They came, they might go, and the traditionals will stay the same.
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3. PaulRobinson ◴[25 Nov 19 17:51 UTC] No.21630763[source]▶
TfL mandated black cabs must - as a condition of license - take card payments, almost certainly in reaction to Uber's claim that they were serving a cashless society that other options weren't.

Black cab drivers also got into Halo and other apps for ride hailing, and there are now a few other third party private hire apps for non-Uber drivers. I also think it made Addison Lee - the largest private hire company in London pre-Uber - shake their game up a little.

A few people will complain, but genuinely, London will be a better place without the fleet of thousands of Toyota Priuses circling all day, every day being driven by people who TfL suspect are not fit to hold a private hire vehicle license.