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What if TFL did it? They have a £11bn budget, they license taxis, run the buses & tube. They could perfectly well build a taxi-hailing app, integrate it nicel

• toomuchtodo 9y ago
  Huge fan of this idea because it doesn't need to be profitable (as public transportation infrastructure usually isn't).
  • malandrew 9y ago
    If it doesn't have to be profitable and is provided by the government, then you're still paying for it through taxes. No thank you. I much prefer to give my money to a private entity that needs to actively compete for my dollars by keeping their service comparatively cheap and high quality.
    • toomuchtodo 9y ago
      I would not be surprised if this is something Uber employees (past or present) believe. Uber's services are only cheap because of VC dollars, and quality is not high.
      • malandrew 9y ago
        Based on leaked figures, Uber has -8% losses to gross bookings and is still aggressively expanding globally and into new markets (Eats and Freight) and working on self-driving cars. It's been widely reported that its mature markets are already profitable, which means that it's not cheap because of VC dollars. The VC dollars are only being used to supplement growth into new immature markets. The profitable markets are also being used for the same purpose. Enough markets should be mature enough for Uber to be profitable by sometime in mid to late 2018 at the rate they've been reducing their losses relative to gross bookings.