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Whereas the city I live in in the U.K. had excellent taxi services - both licenced and private hire. Now the private hire is shit as they barely have any driver
by rahoulb 10y ago
Whereas the city I live in in the U.K. had excellent taxi services - both licenced and private hire. Now the private hire is shit as they barely have any drivers and the licences is still expensive.
- vosper 10y agoSo the private hire drivers moved over to Uber? Is that because they made more money under Uber, or had better conditions (maybe more flexibility?)? And, if so, does that mean that effectively Uber is a replacement for the old private hire system?
- Ntrails 10y agouber offers a way better set of coverage than any single private hire company could, and without any real costs as no "staff" to pay. I suspect the drivers make more because they get more consistent fares?
- rahoulb 10y agoA while back I asked a few and they said Uber paid them extra for their first year - basically all the time they were working whether they had a fare or not.
- SirHound 10y agoLondon is shit though. Last night I booked an Uber, if I'd been asked to imagine a reasonable price for the trip I would have come up with something a lot like the price I was charged. If it was a normal taxi I'd have been charged at least £20. I don't have any sympathy.
- foldr 10y agoUber is able to sell rides at those prices by subsiding the drivers with investor money.
- rahoulb 10y agoI expect licensed taxis to be expensive. The problem is now I have no choice but to get an Uber because the private hire firms don't have enough drivers and don't show up. And from speaking to the drivers it's because Uber is paying them way above market rates for their first year.