TfL denied Uber operator license, ride hailing service wins on appeal (Sept 2020)

[teqniq]

Wtf? This must be a new definition of 'broke'. If you are actually broke then you don't even entertain the idea of a cab, end of.

Banning Uber means taking London away from broke millennials like me and putting it back into the hands of the rich

 

[sealion]

Have fares and service quality mandated by TfL,

Tfl set the fares for black taxis but not mini cabs.

 

[TheHoodedClaw]

15 pages in less than a day for a minor wrinkle in the fabric of London's truly excellent transport system.

 

[Gramsci]

I talk to a few Black can drivers. One of them said to me that Uber should not have been allowed into London as it's not like an old fashioned mini cab working locally from an office. It works in central London like hailing a cab. Ive seen it in central London. People waiting on pavement looking at phone seeing nearest Uber and getting them to come and pick them up. So his argument was that Uber was the same as hailing a Black cab in effect.

I don't think this is the reason why TFL is not renewing license but from the few Black cab drivers I now that above is a major issue. It wouldn't matter so much but Uber is undercutting Black cabs. As the cabbies I know say Uber is direct competition. It's not like old type of mini cab firm. Uber isn't allowed near central London stations. Which is why so many Black cabs are seen queuing at say Paddington or Kings Cross.

I have a lot of sympathy for Black cab drivers. The ones I know have done other delivery jobs. Being a Black cab driver is first time they have been paid well. Unlike previous jobs.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

I have to say I'm surprised at how wealthy/profligate many Urbanites seem to have become in the past 14 years.

People earning more money as they get older/progress in a career is hardly a earth shattering revelation...

 

[Orang Utan]

People earning more money as they get older/progress in a career is hardly a earth shattering revelation...

People being blind to exploitation cos of convenience, and being extravagant about transport is though.
Though not all of us have earned more as they've got older

 

[J Ed]

People being blind to exploitation cos of convenience, and being extravagant about transport is though.
Though not all of us have earned more as they've got older

Agree with this 100% and imagine that what you are talking about is exactly right, people earning more and getting increased positions of privilege leads to socially harmful opinions but sadly these sorts of views are not limited to people not in precarious employment, there are increasingly seen as common sense across society including people who are nominally on the left.

All of this of course is a function of people seeing themselves as consumers rather than workers.

 

[agricola]

Wtf? This must be a new definition of 'broke'. If you are actually broke then you don't even entertain the idea of a cab, end of.

Banning Uber means taking London away from broke millennials like me and putting it back into the hands of the rich

It is remarkable that the headline actually undersells how daft the article below it is.

 

[Tankus]

greyball ......?

in london ?

How Uber Deceives the Authorities Worldwide

 

[JimW]

Wtf? This must be a new definition of 'broke'. If you are actually broke then you don't even entertain the idea of a cab, end of.

Banning Uber means taking London away from broke millennials like me and putting it back into the hands of the rich

So broke he popped over to Saigon to use it.

 

[teqniq]

It is remarkable that the headline actually undersells how daft the article below it is.

Yeah I didn't actually read it lol. I was just dumbfounded by the headline and then I thought ah maybe it's just clickbait.

 

[sealion]

I'm sure there are pen and paper firms left but not many.

Not any more. All jobs have to be logged through a computer system.

 

[Dogsauce]

Uber being more 'affordable'/convenient just means there are now more private hire vehicles operating in London than ever, clogging the roads, getting in the way of buses, adding to pollution. In a city with the public transport infrastructure London has it should be taxed as a luxury.

 

[Crispy]

Tfl set the fares for black taxis but not mini cabs.

With modern technology, this is an arbitrary distinction.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Uber being more 'affordable'/convenient just means there are now more private hire vehicles operating in London than ever, clogging the roads, getting in the way of buses, adding to pollution. In a city with the public transport infrastructure London has it should be taxed as a luxury.

Agree with this, with the minor proviso that the very small minority of people who use taxis out of need rather than convenience should of course be properly protected. But that was true long before uber existed. And the tax should be put directly into subsidising public transport, as the congestion charge is.

But yes to the basic point - if it is true that more people in London than ever are using taxis, then this isn't a good thing. It is not to be encouraged, and that's why this is something that needs to be socially managed not left to some imagined market. So I also agree with crispy that taxis should be brought under the umbrella of tfl, who would also then set the permissible numbers. If people don't like it, they can catch one of the very many buses that are provided like the rest of us somehow manage to do all the time.

 

[Yossarian]

But yes to the basic point - if it is true that more people in London than ever are using taxis, then this isn't a good thing.

It is if it means people are giving up their cars or no longer driving drunk.

 

[Gromit]

It is if it means people are giving up their cars or no longer driving drunk.

And if they are doing the car pooling option they are saving the environment as well as money.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

It is if it means people are giving up their cars or no longer driving drunk.

It would be but very few Londoners drive on a night out in London, even if they have cars, which most don't.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

And if they are doing the car pooling option they are saving the environment as well as money.

Compared with catching the bus/tube, they are doing neither.

 

[Gromit]

Compared with catching the bus/tube, they are doing neither.

The tube only takes you so far then the not all bus services have Night services.

If I waited for a bus home from Edgware I could have a 5 hour wait. I'll take an uber over that.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Back in the 90s , the night bus service was awful. You could indeed take hours to get home. Wasn't pleasant. The service is miles better now. Unrecognisable really.

 

[maomao]

What companies did this ? The places i worked as a controller would always give a driver something "going his/hers way home. Was this a cash or account circuit ?

Account circuits. Cash drivers would just tell you to fuck off. I'm still a controller btw. You always try to give a job home but we live in a somewhat divided city where more of the drivers live east and most of the people we drive about live west (very roughly speaking). That's not to say I would ever finish a bloke who lives in Forest Gate on a job to Twickenham on pain of losing his bonus but I've seen such things done or at least demanded by operations managers.

 

[maomao]

Not any more. All jobs have to be logged through a computer system.

Didn't know this. I've done it as recently as 2005.

 

[maomao]

Uber is all account work. A mini cab driver doesn't have to hand over a penny from a cash fare to his office.

That's why I specified account work. IME most firms take a lot less if anything from drivers on cash work these days.

Cash circuit drivers of course have to pay rent which can add up to a hefty percentage in a shit week.

 

[NoXion]

Wtf? This must be a new definition of 'broke'. If you are actually broke then you don't even entertain the idea of a cab, end of.

Banning Uber means taking London away from broke millennials like me and putting it back into the hands of the rich

Broke millennial = hipster cheapskate

 

[J Ed]

More than 400,000 sign petition to save Uber as firm hits back at London ban

Hands off The Brands! Bootlicking fuckers. Shame on the graunid too, putting this as the leading story on their shitty website.

 

[maomao]

The tube only takes you so far then the not all bus services have Night services.

If I waited for a bus home from Edgware I could have a 5 hour wait. I'll take an uber over that.

Get a bicycle you lazy twat.

 

[J Ed]

This uber ban is a really good way of ferreting out neoliberals. Uber is such an obviously disgusting company, but it is vaguely associated with cosmopolitanism and 'socially liberal' techno-futurism so the very worst in our society rally to its banner immediately.

 

[Gromit]

Get a bicycle you lazy twat.

I am. Sore point. I'm still waiting for my collection letter. Was hoping to have it by now.

But I wouldn't cycle when drunk. I hate the twats that do that. I feel sorrier for the poor sod who runs them over than I do for them.

 

[DotCommunist]

This uber ban is a really good way of ferreting out neoliberals. Uber is such an obviously disgusting company, but it is vaguely associated with cosmopolitanism and 'socially liberal' techno-futurism so the very worst in our society rally to its banner immediately.

from comments elsewhere theres a sense that some people are gagging for a union to blame. Hence conspiracy theories like the black cab drivers running tfl