5 ms·

Uber services suspended in Barcelona

35 points by ZeljkoS 8y ago

Neracked 8y ago
> The decision comes after the Catalan government insisted on imposing a 15-minute delay before passengers could be picked up. I agree that the Uber model is problematic but making the taxi service worse for everyone (harder to order a cab for right where you are / right now) to level the field seems really shortsighted.
- point78 8y ago
  The 15 minute delay was only for Uber
  - zavi 8y ago
    This seems irrational. What's the argument behind such requirement?
    - ptmvp 8y ago
      It is rational from a self-serving standpoint from the taxist point of reference. The rational is to hurt Uber and consumers and by doing so giving Taxis an advantage (ie, they can now reach you faster than a Uber). It is a huge loss if you look at it from a societal welfare point of view.
      - mulmen 8y ago
        I think the social welfare math is more complicated than you suggest. The cab driver jobs saved may offset the inconvenience for example. Certainly from a car-hailing-rider perspective the Uber wait is worse but social welfare is much more complex.
        ptmvp 8y ago
        I agree it is more complicated than what I outlined above, but I do think the aggregate welfare lost from the detriment in service quality of car-hailing multiplied by the number of potential consumers hurt represents a bigger loss than any gain cab-drivers could obtain with this measure. I find the measure exactly the wrong type of regulation, the one that hurts a large segment of society to protect a small group (which had already benefited from a decades-long state imposed monopoly and became stagnant and comformist as a result). As a small disclaimer, I do admit I have a bias against cab-drivers in general, but I do not think it clouds my judgement in this case.
        mulmen 8y ago
        I agree it is a bad form of regulation. Uber has benefits to consumers but it’s unclear to me what other benefits they offer to society as a whole. The regulatory structures need to catch up but I don’t think Uber as it exists in 2019 is a viable long term solution.
        narag 8y ago
        The cab driver jobs saved may offset the inconvenience for example. On the contrary, the measure instantly caused the loss of thousands of jobs.
    - mulmen 8y ago
      It provides an advantage to cab companies?
    - dominicr 8y ago
      I don't know the details but it could because in many countries there are different licenses for taxis that can pick up off the street, as opposed to licensed car services that can only be pre-booked. Uber tends to operate as the latter, using the laws for a pre-booked taxi service. This law is obviously protection for the classic taxis by giving a legal standard to what it means to be pre-booked. They can claim to be just clarifying an existing law.
    - tecleandor 8y ago
      The law about VTCs (that is, vehicles rented with a driver [which are not taxis]) is, similarly to limo services in some other countries, that they cannot pick people on the street, and they need, previously to picking up the client, some short of "service sheet": A sheet detailing their trips and the client information. (I'm simplifying a lot) In the past that meant they needed to go back to the base, pick their "service sheet" for the next jobs, and then go make their thing. If you needed a ride for "right now", the VTC wasn't your choice. VTC, are/were widely used, for example, on TV production. The VTC driver received their "work sheet" in the morning and they would go and "pick the host at 7, the guest at 9, the other guest at 10, take the host to the airport at 12...". Now, with the apps, the app is your "work sheet", so even if you can't pick people on the street in theory, in practice it's like you can, because I can check in the app how many VTCs are near, and "order" one which will get here almost instantly, because they don't need to go back to the base to get their "work sheet". So, that's the argument on requiring some minimum delay when ordering a VTC. For me, the 24h delay is ridiculous, as even with the classic "analog paper work sheet", you could call the base for a driver, and if they had somebody there, send you one in half an hour, so it makes no sense. Anyway, my main concern with VTCs is workers rights, as, AFAIK, none of them have contracts, and are freelancers stranded with an expensive car renting, with promises of having steady work from their employers.
intothemild 8y ago
> A rival service, Spain's Cabify, has followed Uber's example. This is what happened here in Oslo, Norway. Basically Uber left after a lot of difficulty, and the local cab company created it's own app that does what Uber's app mostly does. I think the greatest gift Uber will have given us is getting the Cab companies to join the modern era. Honestly it was only a few years ago when you would have to make a phone call to order a cab, OR be within visual proximity of an available cab.
- dominicr 8y ago
  I would say that what enabled this in Oslo and similar local apps was a (relatively) respectable taxi industry. Taxi drivers had to agree to be honest about pricing and practices to standardize on an app and there are still plenty of places where they're more interested in profiteering from bad practices than being honest competitors. I used to spend time in the south of France for work and the taxi drivers there were awful rip-off artists. They'd try to scam tourists for over twice the standard price. We used other known taxi firms and Uber moved in to save the tourists. The taxi drivers went on strike and rioted but being honest would have been better. Uber is a distributed & centralized taxi company with software that isn't overly complex to copy on a local level. It had first mover advantage but is very susceptible to local competition, especially when local laws come into play (even if they're not obvious anti-competition laws). In the end the main aim should be the drivers earning a decent wage, which is something Uber hasn't always been good at.
  - intothemild 8y ago
    > I would say that what enabled this in Oslo and similar local apps was a (relatively) respectable taxi industry. Yes.. absolutely that is a factor.
- collyw 8y ago
  > Honestly it was only a few years ago when you would have to make a phone call to order a cab, OR be within visual proximity of an available cab. Is using an app really that much of an improvement?
telesilla 8y ago
My friends in Barcelona are furious that this also includes Cabify. While taxis are generally plentiful, if you don't live near a major street, are in the suburbs or need to get an urgent taxi there are few options. I think MyTaxi still works though? Are all taxis across the board subject to the 15 minute delay? What a weird thing to impose and not just demand that taxi drivers are subject to certain labour laws that are beneficial to them. Apparently the taxis demanded a 24 hour wait..
- bayulxc5 8y ago
  Taxi drivers are a cartel. I don't like Uber and their approach of wiping their butts with the law, but I hope all taxi drivers have to find another job. In a coal mine, for example.
- tecleandor 8y ago
  The 15 minute delay is only for VTCs, that is, vehicles with a driver which are not taxis. MyTaxi should work as usual (except when there's a strike going on, of course).
alphadelphi 8y ago
it's a pity that we are losing good services cause we are unable to create a fair form of regulation
- raiyu 8y ago
  What is government for $500 Alex ;)
gppk 8y ago
Apart from "The taxi model has worked for decades, don't take our livelihoods away" are there any articles on why Uber is actually detrimental? I find it way easier to use Uber than get Taxis mostly due to the app based "click and collect" model, I would still use that even if it was the same price as a regular taxi. It annoys me that there seems to be lots of "crackdown" on Uber but I don't feel informed enough to know why.
- kkleindev 8y ago
  > I find it way easier to use Uber than get Taxis mostly due to the app based "click and collect" model mytaxi.com does just that.
  - gppk 8y ago
    Wow that it does, I hadn't heard of that. Thanks.
- treerock 8y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uber#Criticism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uber#Criticism Main criticism seems to revolve around Uber trying to bypass regulations that regular taxi firms have to abide by, paying holiday and sick leave, or vetting their drivers etc.
tluyben2 8y ago
Uber is definitely not perfect as a business but the taxi companies are horrible all over the place. If taxi companies would just enter the 21st century, I would maybe never use Uber but the thing is, they don't. We see a LOT of rivaling apps by/for the taxi companies or just by a regional company because they don't want to give their money to a US company, but most of them are absolutely awful. The ones I tried in Barcelona were unusable, unreliable and just generally crap (disclaimer; I did not try Cabify yet). There are many in many countries but most of them, especially if they are created by a cap company, let you enter all kinds of info only to get to a screen says 'when do you need your ride?' and you can pick 24 hous from now or more. What is that? The GPS/Map feature looks generally untested and not working or not even there. Besides the apps, most cabs are far more crappy than the Uber cars. I feel unsafe in a lot of them even though the cab companies insist they conform better to safety regulations; in Thailand, China or Hong Kong, cabs are mostly such garbage; smelly, usually missing seat belts, horrible suspension, drivers rude and not very good. Why would you go with them if there is an alternative? (Having said that, Barcelona is a notable exception; the cabs I was in seemed new and clean and the drivers friendly; not so in Malaga, Madrid or Faro for instance). Then there is pricing; in a lot of places cabs are slightly cheaper for short distances than Uber, but long distance... I have had quotes of 400 GBP for a cab (and multiple companies) vs < 100 GBP for Uber for long distance. If they would up their game instead of just whine and long for the olden days, then I would use them instead of Uber, but I cannot see it happen soon.
- CaptainZapp 8y ago
  I have had quotes of 400 GBP for a cab (and multiple companies) vs < 100 GBP for Uber for long distance. Sure, since about £200 of your trip are paid for by venture capitalists they can afford to offer such rates.
- brazzy 8y ago
  > We see a LOT of rivaling apps by/for the taxi companies or just by a regional company because they don't want to give their money to a US company, but most of them are absolutely awful. The ones I tried in Barcelona were unusable, unreliable and just generally crap. Have you tried mytaxi? It works in many cities all over Europe (including Barcelone) and in my experience works pretty well, including the GPS feature and getting a ride immediately.
tasubotadas 8y ago
I think that PG was completely right on this https://twitter.com/paulg/status/222462460978937856?lang=en https://twitter.com/paulg/status/222462460978937856?lang=en
- jahaja 8y ago
  That's such a shallow take. To bypass local labour laws as a business idea and effectively go back ~100 years in history is not objectively good. But perhaps it looks like it from the view of the upper middle-class who's at the benefiting end.
- isolli 8y ago
  I would argue this is wrong on several levels: 1. The convenience offered by the app is obviously a good thing; Uber's labor practices are not. 2. The low price of Uber rides is subsidized by burning VC money; they could easily kill local competition then raise prices at will once they have established a quasi-monopoly. However, it's correct in pointing out the vested interests and corruption of the legacy taxi industry.
m0skit0 8y ago
I live in Madrid and this issue is fairly complex. - Taxi is a public service that is performed by private entrepreneurs. As such, it is strongly regulated by law (fares, working days/hours, etc...). On the other hand, VTCs (spanish acronym for Transport Vehicle with Driver, Vehículo de Transporte con Conductor) are not regulated by any special laws (except labour laws of course). - Taxi drivers were always strongly organized but more of a guild kind of organization rather than a union kind. Most VTC drivers are not organized in any way. - The price of a taxi license is quite expensive (150,000+€ in Madrid), however a VTC license (private transport license) is way cheaper. - Most taxi licenses are owned by individuals, not companies. There are very few people that have more than one taxi license. On the other hand, most VTC licenses are concentrated in very few hands (mainly Uber and Cabify). - The agreements between taxi drivers and government was that he ratio between VTC licenses and taxi licenses is to be 1:30. Currently it is 1:5, hence the strikes.
- chosenbreed37 8y ago
  > - The price of a taxi license is quite expensive (150,000+€ in Madrid), however a VTC license (private transport license) is way cheaper. Am I reading this right? 150,000 euros for the privilege of driving a taxi?
  - RandomNewGuy 8y ago
    Yes and no. AFAIK, licences are limited and no way near that price. When a taxi driver retires, he "resells" the license to another colleague for a huge amount (150k+). The buyer buys it knowing he'll be able to resell the license when he retires too, and so on. This practice has been going on for years, so now taxi drivers are afraid of losing the status quo because they've paid an overpriced license.
  - m0skit0 8y ago
    Yes. Government does not issue more taxi licenses, so the only way to get one is to buy it from someone else. The price is set by the market. A taxi driver can easily make 2,500€/month in Madrid, especially if he/she hires another driver/s to drive the taxi when the main driver is resting.
have_faith 8y ago
If Taxi's just copied Uber's UX I would use them all the time. If I can get quoted on my journey ahead of time, and the money is taken out of my account with no money exchanging hands between me and the driver then I would be fine with them. In the UK you can get quotes for journeys but it doesn't mean anything because they just put you on a meter, no-one knows how the meters work. You get in the back and they press some buttons, the numbers change, the price for the same journey is vastly different every time, their card machine is never working despite it being the law to accept cards now so they take you to an ATM, they keep the meter running while you wait behind someone to get cash out, and so on. I have no sympathy for taxi company's anymore. As others have mentioned, if they modernised I would support them.
mrbanks 8y ago
I recently worked in a smaller German city without Uber. It was like stepping back into the stone age. 'MyTaxi' app would only produce an available driver 1 in 20 times I tried. The only way to get a taxi is to walk out into the freezing street and wait like a penguin, or find one of those random locations Taxis like to park at. Sucks for the customer. I hope Uber takes over the planet.
- MagnumOpus 8y ago
  > The only way to get a taxi is to walk out into the freezing street Isn't the obvious way to get a taxi in a suburban/rural setting to (1) google "placename taxi" or ask around to find the phone number of local taxi firm (2) give them a call and wait inside for the cab?
martimarkov 8y ago
If Taxi companies were actually capable of doing the job Uber did then maybe I’d consider using them. I normally go out of my way in order to do the “right” thing... But I’ve never seen an adequate taxi company in the EU. Everywhere they charge more than Uber, expect me to download a specific app for their service, rarely support card payments and my personal favourite is when they round up the amount owed because they either don’t have change or you know convenience. Also why don’t taxi companies have their own global app. Yeah sure it’s hard to build but welcome to the competitive market guys... you can’t just go on strike because the consumers prefer your competitors based on quality of service and pricing. How is this even a government issue? Actually why is it a government issue? Just allow competition between taxis and ride hailing companies. Let them figure it out. I feel the biggest problem is that politicians who bow down to the taxi drivers only do it for the votes and not because it’s better for the general public. /stop rant
CloudNetworking 8y ago
FWIW I've used Uber like 4 times, never in Europe (twice in Seattle, twice in Buenos Aires). I got mixed results, including several drivers in BA cancelling on me after asking me where I'm going (??) and if I'm paying cash (I wasn't). It is annoying to book the service, wait about 10 minutes for the car to finish their previous run, get the driver on the chat asking you that then cancelling on you. It turned a 30 minutes drive in a 60 minutes trip because I had various cancellations. On the other hand I can see how Uber might appeal to certain folks that like to be treated as royalty despite being working class like the majority of us are. And no, the "technological advances" (sic) of Uber are not a difference. I can book cabs the same way with an app pretty much in any big city these days.

35 points by ZeljkoS 8y ago

> The decision comes after the Catalan government insisted on imposing a 15-minute delay before passengers could be picked up. I agree that the Uber model is problematic but making the taxi service worse for everyone (harder to order a cab for right where you are / right now) to level the field seems really shortsighted.

point78 8y ago
The 15 minute delay was only for Uber
- zavi 8y ago
  This seems irrational. What's the argument behind such requirement?
  - ptmvp 8y ago
    It is rational from a self-serving standpoint from the taxist point of reference. The rational is to hurt Uber and consumers and by doing so giving Taxis an advantage (ie, they can now reach you faster than a Uber). It is a huge loss if you look at it from a societal welfare point of view.
    - mulmen 8y ago
      I think the social welfare math is more complicated than you suggest. The cab driver jobs saved may offset the inconvenience for example. Certainly from a car-hailing-rider perspective the Uber wait is worse but social welfare is much more complex.
      - ptmvp 8y ago
        I agree it is more complicated than what I outlined above, but I do think the aggregate welfare lost from the detriment in service quality of car-hailing multiplied by the number of potential consumers hurt represents a bigger loss than any gain cab-drivers could obtain with this measure. I find the measure exactly the wrong type of regulation, the one that hurts a large segment of society to protect a small group (which had already benefited from a decades-long state imposed monopoly and became stagnant and comformist as a result). As a small disclaimer, I do admit I have a bias against cab-drivers in general, but I do not think it clouds my judgement in this case.
        mulmen 8y ago
        I agree it is a bad form of regulation. Uber has benefits to consumers but it’s unclear to me what other benefits they offer to society as a whole. The regulatory structures need to catch up but I don’t think Uber as it exists in 2019 is a viable long term solution.
      - narag 8y ago
        The cab driver jobs saved may offset the inconvenience for example. On the contrary, the measure instantly caused the loss of thousands of jobs.
  - mulmen 8y ago
    It provides an advantage to cab companies?
  - dominicr 8y ago
    I don't know the details but it could because in many countries there are different licenses for taxis that can pick up off the street, as opposed to licensed car services that can only be pre-booked. Uber tends to operate as the latter, using the laws for a pre-booked taxi service. This law is obviously protection for the classic taxis by giving a legal standard to what it means to be pre-booked. They can claim to be just clarifying an existing law.
  - tecleandor 8y ago
    The law about VTCs (that is, vehicles rented with a driver [which are not taxis]) is, similarly to limo services in some other countries, that they cannot pick people on the street, and they need, previously to picking up the client, some short of "service sheet": A sheet detailing their trips and the client information. (I'm simplifying a lot) In the past that meant they needed to go back to the base, pick their "service sheet" for the next jobs, and then go make their thing. If you needed a ride for "right now", the VTC wasn't your choice. VTC, are/were widely used, for example, on TV production. The VTC driver received their "work sheet" in the morning and they would go and "pick the host at 7, the guest at 9, the other guest at 10, take the host to the airport at 12...". Now, with the apps, the app is your "work sheet", so even if you can't pick people on the street in theory, in practice it's like you can, because I can check in the app how many VTCs are near, and "order" one which will get here almost instantly, because they don't need to go back to the base to get their "work sheet". So, that's the argument on requiring some minimum delay when ordering a VTC. For me, the 24h delay is ridiculous, as even with the classic "analog paper work sheet", you could call the base for a driver, and if they had somebody there, send you one in half an hour, so it makes no sense. Anyway, my main concern with VTCs is workers rights, as, AFAIK, none of them have contracts, and are freelancers stranded with an expensive car renting, with promises of having steady work from their employers.

intothemild 8y ago

> A rival service, Spain's Cabify, has followed Uber's example. This is what happened here in Oslo, Norway. Basically Uber left after a lot of difficulty, and the local cab company created it's own app that does what Uber's app mostly does. I think the greatest gift Uber will have given us is getting the Cab companies to join the modern era. Honestly it was only a few years ago when you would have to make a phone call to order a cab, OR be within visual proximity of an available cab.

dominicr 8y ago
I would say that what enabled this in Oslo and similar local apps was a (relatively) respectable taxi industry. Taxi drivers had to agree to be honest about pricing and practices to standardize on an app and there are still plenty of places where they're more interested in profiteering from bad practices than being honest competitors. I used to spend time in the south of France for work and the taxi drivers there were awful rip-off artists. They'd try to scam tourists for over twice the standard price. We used other known taxi firms and Uber moved in to save the tourists. The taxi drivers went on strike and rioted but being honest would have been better. Uber is a distributed & centralized taxi company with software that isn't overly complex to copy on a local level. It had first mover advantage but is very susceptible to local competition, especially when local laws come into play (even if they're not obvious anti-competition laws). In the end the main aim should be the drivers earning a decent wage, which is something Uber hasn't always been good at.
- intothemild 8y ago
  > I would say that what enabled this in Oslo and similar local apps was a (relatively) respectable taxi industry. Yes.. absolutely that is a factor.
collyw 8y ago
> Honestly it was only a few years ago when you would have to make a phone call to order a cab, OR be within visual proximity of an available cab. Is using an app really that much of an improvement?

telesilla 8y ago

My friends in Barcelona are furious that this also includes Cabify. While taxis are generally plentiful, if you don't live near a major street, are in the suburbs or need to get an urgent taxi there are few options. I think MyTaxi still works though? Are all taxis across the board subject to the 15 minute delay? What a weird thing to impose and not just demand that taxi drivers are subject to certain labour laws that are beneficial to them. Apparently the taxis demanded a 24 hour wait..

bayulxc5 8y ago
Taxi drivers are a cartel. I don't like Uber and their approach of wiping their butts with the law, but I hope all taxi drivers have to find another job. In a coal mine, for example.
tecleandor 8y ago
The 15 minute delay is only for VTCs, that is, vehicles with a driver which are not taxis. MyTaxi should work as usual (except when there's a strike going on, of course).

alphadelphi 8y ago

it's a pity that we are losing good services cause we are unable to create a fair form of regulation

raiyu 8y ago
What is government for $500 Alex ;)

gppk 8y ago

Apart from "The taxi model has worked for decades, don't take our livelihoods away" are there any articles on why Uber is actually detrimental? I find it way easier to use Uber than get Taxis mostly due to the app based "click and collect" model, I would still use that even if it was the same price as a regular taxi. It annoys me that there seems to be lots of "crackdown" on Uber but I don't feel informed enough to know why.

kkleindev 8y ago
> I find it way easier to use Uber than get Taxis mostly due to the app based "click and collect" model mytaxi.com does just that.
- gppk 8y ago
  Wow that it does, I hadn't heard of that. Thanks.
treerock 8y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uber#Criticism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uber#Criticism Main criticism seems to revolve around Uber trying to bypass regulations that regular taxi firms have to abide by, paying holiday and sick leave, or vetting their drivers etc.

tluyben2 8y ago

Uber is definitely not perfect as a business but the taxi companies are horrible all over the place. If taxi companies would just enter the 21st century, I would maybe never use Uber but the thing is, they don't. We see a LOT of rivaling apps by/for the taxi companies or just by a regional company because they don't want to give their money to a US company, but most of them are absolutely awful. The ones I tried in Barcelona were unusable, unreliable and just generally crap (disclaimer; I did not try Cabify yet). There are many in many countries but most of them, especially if they are created by a cap company, let you enter all kinds of info only to get to a screen says 'when do you need your ride?' and you can pick 24 hous from now or more. What is that? The GPS/Map feature looks generally untested and not working or not even there. Besides the apps, most cabs are far more crappy than the Uber cars. I feel unsafe in a lot of them even though the cab companies insist they conform better to safety regulations; in Thailand, China or Hong Kong, cabs are mostly such garbage; smelly, usually missing seat belts, horrible suspension, drivers rude and not very good. Why would you go with them if there is an alternative? (Having said that, Barcelona is a notable exception; the cabs I was in seemed new and clean and the drivers friendly; not so in Malaga, Madrid or Faro for instance). Then there is pricing; in a lot of places cabs are slightly cheaper for short distances than Uber, but long distance... I have had quotes of 400 GBP for a cab (and multiple companies) vs < 100 GBP for Uber for long distance. If they would up their game instead of just whine and long for the olden days, then I would use them instead of Uber, but I cannot see it happen soon.

CaptainZapp 8y ago
I have had quotes of 400 GBP for a cab (and multiple companies) vs < 100 GBP for Uber for long distance. Sure, since about £200 of your trip are paid for by venture capitalists they can afford to offer such rates.
brazzy 8y ago
> We see a LOT of rivaling apps by/for the taxi companies or just by a regional company because they don't want to give their money to a US company, but most of them are absolutely awful. The ones I tried in Barcelona were unusable, unreliable and just generally crap. Have you tried mytaxi? It works in many cities all over Europe (including Barcelone) and in my experience works pretty well, including the GPS feature and getting a ride immediately.

tasubotadas 8y ago

I think that PG was completely right on this https://twitter.com/paulg/status/222462460978937856?lang=en https://twitter.com/paulg/status/222462460978937856?lang=en

jahaja 8y ago
That's such a shallow take. To bypass local labour laws as a business idea and effectively go back ~100 years in history is not objectively good. But perhaps it looks like it from the view of the upper middle-class who's at the benefiting end.
isolli 8y ago
I would argue this is wrong on several levels: 1. The convenience offered by the app is obviously a good thing; Uber's labor practices are not. 2. The low price of Uber rides is subsidized by burning VC money; they could easily kill local competition then raise prices at will once they have established a quasi-monopoly. However, it's correct in pointing out the vested interests and corruption of the legacy taxi industry.

m0skit0 8y ago

I live in Madrid and this issue is fairly complex. - Taxi is a public service that is performed by private entrepreneurs. As such, it is strongly regulated by law (fares, working days/hours, etc...). On the other hand, VTCs (spanish acronym for Transport Vehicle with Driver, Vehículo de Transporte con Conductor) are not regulated by any special laws (except labour laws of course). - Taxi drivers were always strongly organized but more of a guild kind of organization rather than a union kind. Most VTC drivers are not organized in any way. - The price of a taxi license is quite expensive (150,000+€ in Madrid), however a VTC license (private transport license) is way cheaper. - Most taxi licenses are owned by individuals, not companies. There are very few people that have more than one taxi license. On the other hand, most VTC licenses are concentrated in very few hands (mainly Uber and Cabify). - The agreements between taxi drivers and government was that he ratio between VTC licenses and taxi licenses is to be 1:30. Currently it is 1:5, hence the strikes.

chosenbreed37 8y ago
> - The price of a taxi license is quite expensive (150,000+€ in Madrid), however a VTC license (private transport license) is way cheaper. Am I reading this right? 150,000 euros for the privilege of driving a taxi?
- RandomNewGuy 8y ago
  Yes and no. AFAIK, licences are limited and no way near that price. When a taxi driver retires, he "resells" the license to another colleague for a huge amount (150k+). The buyer buys it knowing he'll be able to resell the license when he retires too, and so on. This practice has been going on for years, so now taxi drivers are afraid of losing the status quo because they've paid an overpriced license.
- m0skit0 8y ago
  Yes. Government does not issue more taxi licenses, so the only way to get one is to buy it from someone else. The price is set by the market. A taxi driver can easily make 2,500€/month in Madrid, especially if he/she hires another driver/s to drive the taxi when the main driver is resting.

have_faith 8y ago

If Taxi's just copied Uber's UX I would use them all the time. If I can get quoted on my journey ahead of time, and the money is taken out of my account with no money exchanging hands between me and the driver then I would be fine with them. In the UK you can get quotes for journeys but it doesn't mean anything because they just put you on a meter, no-one knows how the meters work. You get in the back and they press some buttons, the numbers change, the price for the same journey is vastly different every time, their card machine is never working despite it being the law to accept cards now so they take you to an ATM, they keep the meter running while you wait behind someone to get cash out, and so on. I have no sympathy for taxi company's anymore. As others have mentioned, if they modernised I would support them.

mrbanks 8y ago

I recently worked in a smaller German city without Uber. It was like stepping back into the stone age. 'MyTaxi' app would only produce an available driver 1 in 20 times I tried. The only way to get a taxi is to walk out into the freezing street and wait like a penguin, or find one of those random locations Taxis like to park at. Sucks for the customer. I hope Uber takes over the planet.

MagnumOpus 8y ago
> The only way to get a taxi is to walk out into the freezing street Isn't the obvious way to get a taxi in a suburban/rural setting to (1) google "placename taxi" or ask around to find the phone number of local taxi firm (2) give them a call and wait inside for the cab?

martimarkov 8y ago

If Taxi companies were actually capable of doing the job Uber did then maybe I’d consider using them. I normally go out of my way in order to do the “right” thing... But I’ve never seen an adequate taxi company in the EU. Everywhere they charge more than Uber, expect me to download a specific app for their service, rarely support card payments and my personal favourite is when they round up the amount owed because they either don’t have change or you know convenience. Also why don’t taxi companies have their own global app. Yeah sure it’s hard to build but welcome to the competitive market guys... you can’t just go on strike because the consumers prefer your competitors based on quality of service and pricing. How is this even a government issue? Actually why is it a government issue? Just allow competition between taxis and ride hailing companies. Let them figure it out. I feel the biggest problem is that politicians who bow down to the taxi drivers only do it for the votes and not because it’s better for the general public. /stop rant

CloudNetworking 8y ago

FWIW I've used Uber like 4 times, never in Europe (twice in Seattle, twice in Buenos Aires). I got mixed results, including several drivers in BA cancelling on me after asking me where I'm going (??) and if I'm paying cash (I wasn't). It is annoying to book the service, wait about 10 minutes for the car to finish their previous run, get the driver on the chat asking you that then cancelling on you. It turned a 30 minutes drive in a 60 minutes trip because I had various cancellations. On the other hand I can see how Uber might appeal to certain folks that like to be treated as royalty despite being working class like the majority of us are. And no, the "technological advances" (sic) of Uber are not a difference. I can book cabs the same way with an app pretty much in any big city these days.