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Just to clarify, they're banned from offering Uber service until they register as a Taxi service. >There are also cases in which legal loopholes have allowed t

• ThomPete 11y ago
  The irony is that Uber is somehow showing that you don't need taxi licenses to run a responsible taxi service from the point of view of the drivers. It's totally doable to run an effective and safe service without requiring taxi licenses. The problem is their morals when it comes to how they treat their drivers.
  • newman314 11y ago
    AND your data...
    • ThomPete 11y ago
      For what?
      • trollingineer 11y ago
        Go easy on the sass there, Thomas...
      • brbsix 11y ago
        There's been some legitimate concern over what Uber does with the customer data it collects. Spying on and blackmailing journalists and whatnot. Who knows what else. They don't exactly have a "do no evil" motto. http://www.whosdrivingyou.org/blog/ubers-deleted-rides-of-glory-blog-post http://www.whosdrivingyou.org/blog/ubers-deleted-rides-of-gl...
        • ThomPete 11y ago
          Which is why i said form the point of view of the drivers :) I.e. the claims that because uber isn't doing things by the book it's somehow less safe than using regulated taxi's. This is obviously false since the logging of the drivers and the passengers probably make it one of the most transparent safety protocols out there. Most studies show that some of the biggest detergents against crimes is the risk of being detected. So in other words. Uber is as safe for the passgener, if not safer, than any other taxi company out there.
      • newman314 11y ago
        AFAIK, Uber holds on to your trip data forever. There is not an option to say expire my trip history after x months.
  • DanBC 11y ago
    The insurance of Uber cars outside the US is dubious. I'd question whether uninsured cabs are a safe option.
    • TheCoreh 11y ago
      Here in Brazil at least, Uber requires drivers to pay insurance for both them and the passengers for any potential accidents.
      • vkou 11y ago
        Do any private insurers offer packages which permit the use of the vehicle as a taxi? Does Uber check that their drivers have such insurance?
      • DanBC 11y ago
        Does Uber check those insurance documents?
    • ThomPete 11y ago
      Not in Denmark although a small country. In fact most European countries will have them insure themselves to the extend it's needed to be self employed to begin with. Also the US insurance (and legal) system is a very unique one which other countries don't actually have. So not sure what you are worried about from that perspective.
      • DanBC 11y ago
        In the US Uber provides insurance to the drivers. Outside the US drivers are responsible for their own insurance. How do you know the Uber you get into has suitable insurance? Any commercial passenger carrying driver needs more insurance than a normal car driver.
        • seanmcdirmid 11y ago
          As parent said, the USA market is unique. How do you know your taxi has suitable insurance! Or insurance at all? Insurance laws in China are completely different from the US (everyone is seriously under insured, even the normal taxis).
  • venomsnake 11y ago
    Lets just say that after the sexual assault allegations both in US and India - responsible is in the eyes of the beholder.
    • z92 11y ago
      Would like to add that these type of things happen in legal taxi services too. One can't prevent it. Therefore the question is: How easy is it to track the offender, in both the services?
    • ThomPete 11y ago
      This happens with all kinds of taxi services not just ubers. But the big difference is that with uber you know who did it.
  • kuschku 11y ago
    The German license is just the requirement for the driver to actually have a drivers license. In Germany people who want to transport others for profit need a special drivers license. Say bus drivers, taxi drivers, chauffeurs, etc. If Uber drivers are willing to get this license, they can operate completely legally.
    • johannes1234321 11y ago
      No they can't. In Germany Taxus have a lot of regulation. Among other things: Fixed prices approved by city councils (I.e. no extra charges in times of high demand), "Beförderungspflicht" (the driver can't easily deny a trip, even when goinh just round the corner), taxi operators have to ensure providing "enough" round the clock service and a few such more things Reason is to ensure taxis are a reliable part of pulic transit systems. You can make the "Personenbeförderugsschein" which allows to do "shuttle services" but compared to taxis they can't randomly pick up passengers but I.e. have to return to their base before picking up the next passenger, no waiting at a "strategically" good position etc.
      • kuschku 11y ago
        I never claimed they could operate as Taxi, but in the way they planned to operated. And a Personenbeförderungsschein is the only thing you need for that. In some cities even the only differences between a hired service like Uber or a Taxi is that Uber may NOT use Taxi-only spaces, and may only pick up people who have arranged the journey before pickup. Which is exactly what uber wants.
        • seanmcdirmid 11y ago
          Also, to say, if the city allowed chauffeurs before Uber arrived, and decides that Uber should be regulated as a taxi, they must force those existing businesses to register as well, or create special onerous laws to make a distinction.
          • germanier 11y ago
  • marcoperaza 11y ago
    >The problem is their morals when it comes to how they treat their drivers. I'll bite. What's immoral about how they treat their drivers? Their drivers choose their hours, choose which rides to take, and can work for as many uber-like services at the same time as they want.
    • ThomPete 11y ago
      And will will answer you. You hire people as self-employed but rip them of the opportunity to work as self-employed by. 1) Not allowing them to set their own fees 2) Not allowing them to hire people to drive for them 3) Discouraging tips 4) Deciding what types of cars they can drive in. All things you would normally do to people who where hired because they would trade that potential upside of being selv-employed by for instance having access to ex. healthcare and vacation. In other words. Uber takes away all the good things about being self-employed and replace them with restrictions that would normally only apply for someone who was employed. While at the same time not giving them access to those things that are actually advantageous about being employed. Uber isn't a technology disrupter it's a legislation disrupter.
      • SilasX 11y ago
        That doesn't seem to address the parent's point that no one is forcing them to take the job, and they find it to be better than their other options. How, then, would banning them help? Is Uber responsible for the generally poor opportunities in the economy? Does their offering of these positions disrupt a solution to some public goods problem? (A good heuristic for whether one should care about a kind of lawbreaking, btw.)
        • iamdave 11y ago
          That doesn't seem to address the parent's point that no one is forcing them to take the job, No one forces self-employed independent contractor tradesmen to become self-employed independent contractor tradesmen, and yet when one comes to your house to fix your plumbing or electrical work-there are still requisites under the law that they're entitled to.
  • tn13 11y ago
    WTF is a "responsible taxi service" ? Is the bar to being 'responsible' getting some government license ? Exposing itself to "license" means exposing themselves to arbitrary government control and has nothing to do with being responsible. On the contrary focusing on making good profits is the best way to help both drivers and passengers without compromising interests of both.
    • kuschku 11y ago
      Because the government license insures the taxi has insurance, the driver is trained, every part of the taxi is separately checked every year, the taxi is clean, the driver can't overcharge, the profits from the taxi driver stay in the region and are not transferred to New York.
    • kafkaesq 11y ago
      Exposing itself to "license" means exposing themselves to arbitrary government control and has nothing to do with being responsible. You know, "arbitrary" things like insurance, anti-discrimination provisions, etc.
• biesnecker 11y ago
  This is how it was when I was in Ireland. Actually not a bad compromise -- I had the meter to keep an eye on the total fare, and I paid with the app without worrying about currency.
  • newman314 11y ago
    That's one of the most frustrating things about Uber. The lack of ability to see a meter during the ride.
    • SilasX 11y ago
      Or to check the quote once the ride has started.
• speeder 11y ago
  I disagree. I am from Brazil, and I am very happy for Uber going the illegal way, because the illegal way, is the actually moral way. Here in Brazil we have the "Taxi Mafia", to become a licensed Taxi, you need to at least bribe people, if you get too involved in the Taxi system, you will end interacting with a real Mafia, of the sort that assassinate people, steal millions (or billions) of public money, and send people to sleep with fishes. Uber is our ray of hope against the Mafia, and the Mafia is fighting back hard (physically assaulting Uber drivers and cars, and doing all sorts of manuevering to ban Uber explicitly to allow the police to arrest Uber drivers). EDIT: Just something concrete. There are many, many videos of this stuff, but I could not find the most interesting ones, youtube search is not cooperative today (I keep finding stuff related to some videogames instead) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHY_rITP09E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHY_rITP09E This video is in portuguese, but is basically about the reporters tricking one guy into thinking they are real taxi driver pretenders, and the guy offers (illegally) to give them a legal taxi license for what was then about 50.000 USD. when UBER was banned in São Paulo, I watched the discussion in the council, one councilwoman showed a video, also made by reporters, where the Mafia was charging 100.000 USD for a license + car + bribes paid This is another video, unfortunately part of it is seemly missing... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcfOMVAoG6Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcfOMVAoG6Q Stuff in this video (2010): Rio de Janeiro city has only 32000 taxi licenses, but has 6 million inhabitants (plus all the people that go there to work, and tourists). One guy offered in the newspaper classifieds, to sell his taxi for 70.000 USD, his car is worth 15.000 USD, to is quite obvious what the rest of the money is for. There are competing Taxi mafias, in one part of the video, a group of taxi drivers from one mafia, beat up a driver from another mafia. (ie: the "foreign" driver stopped to deliver a passenger at the airport, and a person that was waiting approached him, triggering the attack, since he was "stealing" passengers from the competing group territory). Nearer the end of the video, the reporters ask in front of a shopping mall, how to join their group, they state that one of their members want to leave and is selling his place, that the reporter can buy it, the reporter attempt to see if the money will go to the police, and asks if it will pay bribes, they reply that not in that case, that in the shopping mall the money was protection money, that those that are paying are under protection of a certain person, thus noone will mess with the paying people, those that don't pay risk getting their cabs attacked, ranging from their tires being popped to worse stuff.
• pmarreck 11y ago
  At least in the part of the States I'm familiar with (NYC), there is this whole business with taxi medallions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxicabs_of_New_York_City https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxicabs_of_New_York_City which seems pretty dubious in the modern age. Registered taxis have to basically rent a medallion as it's too expensive to own one outright anymore (although that market has been all over the place). Uber drivers obviously don't.
• seanmcdirmid 11y ago
  Are black car and limo services also taxi services?
• marcoperaza 11y ago
  >Altho I would not call this a "loophole" as this is the route Uber should have taken from the get go in those places where they don't allow those without Taxi licenses to operate Taxi services. If Uber had done what you think they should have, then they would have never taken off. The difference between an cab and an uber is not yellow paint and a taxi light, or even a harder driving test. It's the absurd regulations around taxis that turned them into a government-sponsored cartel.
• vskarine 11y ago
  What country are you currently in? Just curious to know where they work with Taxi licenses.