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Offline Tau

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French Taxi Drivers Rioting over Uber
« on: June 27, 2015, 05:30:28 PM »
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/france-uber-riots-shocking-video-5960000

So this is a thing. Apparently French taxi drivers have decided to riot because they can't compete with Uber for prices.
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Tom

Re: French Taxi Drivers Rioting over Uber
« Reply #1 on: June 27, 2015, 05:37:08 PM »
Riots and war are mostly about financial interests.

Rama Set

Re: French Taxi Drivers Rioting over Uber
« Reply #2 on: June 27, 2015, 05:45:46 PM »
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/france-uber-riots-shocking-video-5960000

So this is a thing. Apparently French taxi drivers have decided to riot because they can't compete with Uber for prices.

In Toronto, organized crime, which runs taxi companies as a racket basically has pressured the police in to doing sting like operations on uber drivers. Montreal too.

Re: French Taxi Drivers Rioting over Uber
« Reply #3 on: June 29, 2015, 09:19:24 PM »
They should just get out of the business. I can only imagine what Taxi drivers will do when car sharing services start putting out driverless cars that you can call to pick you up.
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Offline Ghost Spaghetti

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Re: French Taxi Drivers Rioting over Uber
« Reply #4 on: June 30, 2015, 12:05:53 PM »
The problem with Uber is that they're not competing on a level playing field. In most countries, taxis are forced to pay for taxi licenses which cost thousands of pounds/ dollars/ euros and have to be insured separately from normal driving insurance. Because Uber drivers don't have to do this, they can afford to charge significantly less than official taxis.

Either Uber should be charged and regulated like regular taxi firms, or regular taxi firms should be allowed to change their model to one similar to Uber's.

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Offline Tau

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Re: French Taxi Drivers Rioting over Uber
« Reply #5 on: July 01, 2015, 01:31:54 AM »
The problem with Uber is that they're not competing on a level playing field. In most countries, taxis are forced to pay for taxi licenses which cost thousands of pounds/ dollars/ euros and have to be insured separately from normal driving insurance. Because Uber drivers don't have to do this, they can afford to charge significantly less than official taxis.

Either Uber should be charged and regulated like regular taxi firms, or regular taxi firms should be allowed to change their model to one similar to Uber's.

Seems kind of silly to have to get a taxi license. I guess it encourages them to drive safely, but I can't imagine it has all that much of an impact.
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Offline markjo

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Re: French Taxi Drivers Rioting over Uber
« Reply #6 on: July 01, 2015, 02:45:02 AM »
Seems kind of silly to have to get a taxi license. I guess it encourages them to drive safely, but I can't imagine it has all that much of an impact.
I don't think that it's so much a safety issue as just another way of taxing and regulating commerce.
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Offline Ghost Spaghetti

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Re: French Taxi Drivers Rioting over Uber
« Reply #7 on: July 01, 2015, 03:02:02 PM »
That and it is a way of ensuring that you're insured, that you're not getting into an unsafe car, that if anything goes wrong, there's a register of the driver, that they agree to conform to local fare charging laws, etc. If Uber is offering a taxi service, their drivers should be similarly licensed.

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Offline Rushy

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Re: French Taxi Drivers Rioting over Uber
« Reply #8 on: July 02, 2015, 12:12:05 AM »
Uber doesn't offer a taxi service, though.

Thork

Re: French Taxi Drivers Rioting over Uber
« Reply #9 on: July 02, 2015, 08:55:55 AM »
It is a service provider. If I have a gas leak, British Gas will send a qualified contractor around to fix it. They don't put out texts and allow the first man with a spanner to come into my house and start repairing the damage.

That said, I think the idea of selling medallions is abhorrent and greedy. Licenses should be issued on condition of competence and necessary paperwork such as insurance, vehicle ownership and driving license. It shouldn't be several hundred thousand dollars for permission to work in a state or city. That's how a mafia works.
« Last Edit: July 02, 2015, 08:58:04 AM by Dr David Thork »

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Offline Ghost Spaghetti

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Re: French Taxi Drivers Rioting over Uber
« Reply #10 on: July 02, 2015, 09:12:41 AM »
Uber doesn't offer a taxi service, though.

They pick you up and take you somewhere in exchange for money. In what way aren't they taxi drivers?

Thork: I agree, there should be a cost necessary to cover the administration costs of checking that everyone's paperwork is up to scratch, but it shouldn't be in the region of thousands of pounds. Simply make Uber drivers follow the same procedures and let the free market decide who wins.

Rama Set

Re: French Taxi Drivers Rioting over Uber
« Reply #11 on: July 02, 2015, 11:10:21 AM »
Uber doesn't offer a taxi service, though.

They pick you up and take you somewhere in exchange for money. In what way aren't they taxi drivers?

Thork: I agree, there should be a cost necessary to cover the administration costs of checking that everyone's paperwork is up to scratch, but it shouldn't be in the region of thousands of pounds. Simply make Uber drivers follow the same procedures and let the free market decide who wins.

Uber provides a technology platform and it connects people who need a drive with drivers. Uber drivers are required to register their vehicle and DL as well as their name and phone number. Unlike taxis, the picture they provide of the driver always matches.

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Offline Ghost Spaghetti

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Re: French Taxi Drivers Rioting over Uber
« Reply #12 on: July 02, 2015, 02:56:09 PM »
Taxi offices provide a technology platform and connects people who need a drive with drivers. The only difference is that Uber drivers aren't (theoretically) full-time. if you're registered to transport people from one place to another for payment then you are a taxi driver and should be subject to the same restrictions.

I've nothing against Uber (Well, apart from its dodgy tax dealings), but I think that it should be competing on a level playing field as taxi drivers.

Rama Set

Re: French Taxi Drivers Rioting over Uber
« Reply #13 on: July 02, 2015, 10:38:58 PM »
Taxi offices provide a technology platform and connects people who need a drive with drivers. The only difference is that Uber drivers aren't (theoretically) full-time. if you're registered to transport people from one place to another for payment then you are a taxi driver and should be subject to the same restrictions.

I've nothing against Uber (Well, apart from its dodgy tax dealings), but I think that it should be competing on a level playing field as taxi drivers.

I agree and I think the taxi drivers should be the ones who change personally. Mostly because there is a 50% savings from Taxi to Uber. I also really enjoy the convenience and the rating system.

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Offline Rushy

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Re: French Taxi Drivers Rioting over Uber
« Reply #14 on: July 03, 2015, 05:13:12 PM »
In what way aren't they taxi drivers?

Uber doesn't have to pay any sort of taxi related fees because Uber isn't a taxi service. Saying Uber is a taxi service is like saying Expedia is an airline.
« Last Edit: July 03, 2015, 05:14:45 PM by Rushy »

Re: French Taxi Drivers Rioting over Uber
« Reply #15 on: July 03, 2015, 08:01:00 PM »
There are people who carpool into work. If only one of those people has a car, and the others pay for gas money, should the driver need to register as a taxi?
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Offline Misero

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Re: French Taxi Drivers Rioting over Uber
« Reply #16 on: July 05, 2015, 12:44:33 PM »
Reminds me of when they burned all the factories because of sewing machines. History repeats itself.
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