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

scifisam said:
Except if even a small percentage of their employees are fake, I wouldn't feel comfortable letting my daughter travel in one alone (we use Gett sometimes because black cabs are strictly regulated; she's autistic). A lot of people who take taxis do it not because they're rich, but because they need to due to disabilities of different types. That's without even considering that, unless we ban alcohol, we need a way for drunks to get home without driving, and drunks are pretty vulnerable. Taxis need to be regulated, and users need to know their driver is the person its claimed to be.

I just looked up Ola and it's a different company to Uber so I'm not sure them being OK says anything good about Uber.
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Yeah to be fair I don't disagree with this at all and this is an issue I have pointed out previously when having the Uber Vs Black cab debate. They shouldn't run on different rules. Particularly before I'd ever used an app to book one.

I've not found black cab drivers any more reliable for people with disabilities unfortunately. In fact a friend of mine had consistent trouble with local taxi drivers until he switched to Ola. We've always found it hard to find reliable taxi drivers.
 
BristolEcho said:
Yeah to be fair I don't disagree with this at all and this is an issue I have pointed out previously when having the Uber Vs Black cab debate. They shouldn't run on different rules. Particularly before I'd ever used an app to book one.

I've not found black cab drivers any more reliable for people with disabilities unfortunately. In fact a friend of mine had consistent trouble with local taxi drivers until he switched to Ola. We've always found it hard to find reliable taxi drivers.
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Black cabs are regulated differently outside of London - I just looked up Ola and they're a South-West England and Wales only company. Black cabs in London are regulated by TFL, and so are minicabs. They probably have more power over their drivers than the local council authorities that regulate them elsewhere. Black cab drivers outside London don't have to do the Knowledge. They're a different thing, really.
 
scifisam said:
Black cabs are regulated differently outside of London - I just looked up Ola and they're a South-West England and Wales only company. Black cabs in London are regulated by TFL, and so are minicabs. They probably have more power over their drivers than the local council authorities that regulate them elsewhere. Black cab drivers outside London don't have to do the Knowledge. They're a different thing, really.
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Ah okay I didn't know that thanks for pointing it out. Ola were originally based in India I think, but yes probably only operate in those areas in the UK.
 
scifisam said:
Black cab drivers outside London don't have to do the Knowledge.
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to be honest, it depends very much on the council - it's one of the few things that councils have quite a lot of discretion on, some councils seem to enjoy making up hoops to jump through, some try to do it with as little effort as possible. some areas do require some form of local knowledge test for hackney carriage drivers, some also for private hire drivers.

the whole system of taxi licensing (i have had some involvement with this in the past) is really in need of a bit of a re-think, it's very parochial, and some bits of law round it date back to the 1840s (although the requirement to carry a bale of hay is an urban myth), private hire licensing only really became a thing in the 70s (and not until after 2000 in London) and there were minor bodges to the law in the 80s. Mostly well before internets and apps were thought of...
 
Puddy_Tat said:
to be honest, it depends very much on the council - it's one of the few things that councils have quite a lot of discretion on, some councils seem to enjoy making up hoops to jump through, some try to do it with as little effort as possible. some areas do require some form of local knowledge test for hackney carriage drivers, some also for private hire drivers.

the whole system of taxi licensing (i have had some involvement with this in the past) is really in need of a bit of a re-think, it's very parochial, and some bits of law round it date back to the 1840s (although the requirement to carry a bale of hay is an urban myth), private hire licensing only really became a thing in the 70s (and not until after 2000 in London) and there were minor bodges to the law in the 80s. Mostly well before internets and apps were thought of...
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I would image that something like the Knowledge would be difficult to regulate outside a really big city, because drivers would so often be travelling outside the city. It is less relevant now, with GPS, but in London at least it does help because you don't need to know the postcode of where you're going.

Imagine a character in a movie getting into a taxi and saying follow that cab! with an uber.
 
I don't think they'll get it back. There's very little case for saying it will put drivers out of work now there's at least three equivalent platforms that the PCO presumably do think are run by fit and proper people. I haven't met many drivers who only do Uber for a while and am sure the recruitment departments at Kapten, Ola and Bolt are working overtime right now.
 
BristolEcho said:
Exactly. My sister in law came to Bristol with her 3 year old daughter the other week. He blatantly overcharged after she enquired on the price due to only having £10 in cash on her. Turned the meter off and charged her the full £10. It's really shitty behaviour and that's the reason she got an Ola back. Uber and other firms are pretty fucking shit, but the customer service and ease of use is a definite plus side IME.
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Paying to sit in a confined space with a miserable gammon who complains for the entire ride, because I’m travelling a mile? Nope. Do any Londoners like them or is it only tourists? We did have a brilliant minicab firm at the station (Tottenham Hale) and they were just great, but their office was demolished because the station is being extended. I’ll use another app, or minicab firm if Uber stop trading, as I guess will everyone else.
 
Bolt is already up and running in London and I imagine there are a fair few other similar apps all doing the same thing with probably the same drivers.

The mad thing about Uber is how they really should have taken over the world, they should be the one stop shop in virtually every city because they pioneered the concept and had the technology in place yet they've fucked it in so many places mostly because of their business practices. Turns out being a bunch of cunts that pisses everyone off is not always a good business model. Its amazing the amount of places its banned in yet other similar apps are allowed.
 
pinkmonkey said:
Do any Londoners like them or is it only tourists?
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The upsides are that they pretty much always know where they're going, you can get five people in them and you can hail them in the street. Most of the time the drivers are ok and I think the vast majority are safe and trustworthy. The only downside is that they're ridiculously fucking expensive.
 
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scifisam said:
I would image that something like the Knowledge would be difficult to regulate outside a really big city, because drivers would so often be travelling outside the city. It is less relevant now, with GPS, but in London at least it does help because you don't need to know the postcode of where you're going.

Imagine a character in a movie getting into a taxi and saying follow that cab! with an uber.
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Basically the plot of this I think.
Stuber (film) - Wikipedia
 
pinkmonkey said:
Paying to sit in a confined space with a miserable gammon who complains for the entire ride, because I’m travelling a mile? Nope. Do any Londoners like them or is it only tourists?
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Well-off Londoners and maybe the occasional newspaper columnist looking for 'my mate Danny says' material.
 
pinkmonkey said:
Paying to sit in a confined space with a miserable gammon who complains for the entire ride, because I’m travelling a mile? Nope. Do any Londoners like them or is it only tourists? We did have a brilliant minicab firm at the station (Tottenham Hale) and they were just great, but their office was demolished because the station is being extended. I’ll use another app, or minicab firm if Uber stop trading, as I guess will everyone else.
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Totally agree. Good on Uber. Fuck black cabs.
 
www.bloomberg.com

Uber Ruling at Top Court May Change Its U.K. Business Forever

Uber Technologies Inc. is bracing for a ruling from the U.K.’s top court that threatens to alter the firm’s business model in its biggest European market.
www.bloomberg.com www.bloomberg.com
The Supreme Court will rule Friday on whether Uber drivers should be classed as “workers,” entitling them to minimum wage and holiday pay. Although the decision will only directly apply to the 25 drivers who brought the case in 2016, it will set a precedent for how gig workers are treated in the U.K.
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Uber just lost in the Supreme Court.
 
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