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Most of these Uber leaks have been well known for 5+ years. Hopefully EU regulators do what the US didn't and prosecute some of these clowns.

FreqSep 4y ago
I was going to say hopefully EU regulators back off some of the insane Taxi regulations that require you to have 100,000€ or more to…drive people around
- IceyEC 4y ago
  Check New York City's taxi medallions...
  - bobthepanda 4y ago
    NYC’s medallions did have a primary purpose; to control traffic. Manhattan is tiny and taxis represent an outsize amount of traffic since they don’t park most of the day like a commuter car. Uber’s proliferation was associated with a general decline in traffic speeds.
    - eloff 4y ago
      But increasing throughput. Given how shitty US public transport is in general, maybe that's the right tradeoff. New York is one of the best, but still shitty by EU standards.
      - wutbrodo 4y ago
        > New York is one of the best, but still shitty by EU standards. If we're talking about concrete things like throughput, the MTA is one of only a few systems with round-the-clock operation, and I don't think anywhere else matches its scale and reach. The filth of the stations are a legitimate complaint...but given that my primary interest is my transit system moving me from place to place, I'd take it over the majority of EU systems in a heartbeat.
        bobthepanda 4y ago
        The system is great, when all services are in good condition. This is fairly rare, particularly on weekends or nights.
        cactus2093 4y ago
        I just recently visited NYC for a week after a few years away. Got in mid-week and was taking the subway around during the day, and thought wow it's really made huge improvements in reliability recently. Trains were all coming quickly and all lines were running. Then the weekend came around and half the lines were being re-routed and waits were much longer with lots of announced delays. The city does a good job, especially by US standards, of making public transit a reliable, affordable way for people to go to and from work. But as far as getting around in day to day life outside of rush hour it is much worse and there's still a big need for Taxis or Uber. And I think with the increase in remote work recently this is more of an issue now than ever. I do have to say I'm impressed by the Apple pay/NFC payment rollout though. No more flimsy Metrocards to worry about swiping and refilling is a nice improvement.
- ChuckNorris89 4y ago
  Taxi companies are basically legalized mafias everywhere in the world.
  - yreg 4y ago
    If any industry deserved to be disrupted it was theirs.
- asabjorn 4y ago
  In effect this is indentured servitude. Most people are not aware how common paying to be allowed to start a business is in Europe. For instance, I was told by a restaurant owner in Rome that you have to pay 500,000 euros to the landowning catholic church to open a tiny restaurant storefront there. This is structured as a loan.
  - picsao 4y ago
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
collegeburner 4y ago
This is like the least problematic thing Uber has done tho? The "law enforcement" they were fucking with was basically being thugs for enforcing a monopolist power. Not very pro-consumer for the EU to try to go back to shitty overpriced taxi monopolies.
- sorokod 4y ago
  Would be good to compile that list. In your opinion, how would Greyball rank vs. payed-for research on the benefits of Uber's economic model[1] ? [1] https://www.theguardian.com/news/2022/jul/12/uber-paid-academics-six-figure-sums-for-research-to-feed-to-the-media https://www.theguardian.com/news/2022/jul/12/uber-paid-acade...
  - collegeburner 4y ago
    I mean even if Uber paid for it the general consensus in economics is improving market efficiency is a net good. Like yeah obv it sucks for taxi drivers but the position of a lot of governments (EU more than most) is that consumer benefit at the expense of business is fine. So kinda inconsistent for the EU to say they'll go screw with other companies for consumer benefit but then "oh no not the poor cabbies, we can't let the cabbies make less money!" Also there's a lot of rent-seeking in traditional cab industry that comes from stuff like the high cost of entry and the lobbying to keep it in place so taking that out should make a better economic outcome.
    - xorcist 4y ago
      The EU most certainly doesn't legislate taxi regulations. If you think your local legislature is harming competition, speak to your local legislator. EU institutions can't help, by design, unless maybe if the unfair competition infringes your individual rights.
- black_puppydog 4y ago
  making sure taxis are safe for operation should be equally applied; being uber (and hence "the good guys") should not exempt you. and being the good guys should necessarily include being okay with playing by the rules. if you build an entire UX to avoid that -> fuck you, I don't care what you're replacing you're undermining any benefit you could claim to society
sschueller 4y ago
There needs to be an interpol arrest warrant for Travis Kalanick for racketeering. Uber was operating like a mafia family. It doesn't matter that he resigned a while back. This is not acceptable and people need to know they will not get away with it.
- collegeburner 4y ago
  bruh youre literally talking about taxi companies who ran monopolies for decades with armed thugs ("police") literally running stings on competitors. wtf.
  - p_j_w 4y ago
    GP didn't mention those companies once.
    - collegeburner 4y ago
      the point is taxi companies been doing worse with govt sanction for years. ppl only care now bc govt isn't getting its $$$.
      - egberts1 4y ago
        more like bureaucrats (and their families and friends) isnt getting their self-worth of mooching off of the taxpayers; people, not so much.

FreqSep 4y ago

I was going to say hopefully EU regulators back off some of the insane Taxi regulations that require you to have 100,000€ or more to…drive people around

IceyEC 4y ago
Check New York City's taxi medallions...
- bobthepanda 4y ago
  NYC’s medallions did have a primary purpose; to control traffic. Manhattan is tiny and taxis represent an outsize amount of traffic since they don’t park most of the day like a commuter car. Uber’s proliferation was associated with a general decline in traffic speeds.
  - eloff 4y ago
    But increasing throughput. Given how shitty US public transport is in general, maybe that's the right tradeoff. New York is one of the best, but still shitty by EU standards.
    - wutbrodo 4y ago
      > New York is one of the best, but still shitty by EU standards. If we're talking about concrete things like throughput, the MTA is one of only a few systems with round-the-clock operation, and I don't think anywhere else matches its scale and reach. The filth of the stations are a legitimate complaint...but given that my primary interest is my transit system moving me from place to place, I'd take it over the majority of EU systems in a heartbeat.
      - bobthepanda 4y ago
        The system is great, when all services are in good condition. This is fairly rare, particularly on weekends or nights.
        cactus2093 4y ago
        I just recently visited NYC for a week after a few years away. Got in mid-week and was taking the subway around during the day, and thought wow it's really made huge improvements in reliability recently. Trains were all coming quickly and all lines were running. Then the weekend came around and half the lines were being re-routed and waits were much longer with lots of announced delays. The city does a good job, especially by US standards, of making public transit a reliable, affordable way for people to go to and from work. But as far as getting around in day to day life outside of rush hour it is much worse and there's still a big need for Taxis or Uber. And I think with the increase in remote work recently this is more of an issue now than ever. I do have to say I'm impressed by the Apple pay/NFC payment rollout though. No more flimsy Metrocards to worry about swiping and refilling is a nice improvement.
ChuckNorris89 4y ago
Taxi companies are basically legalized mafias everywhere in the world.
- yreg 4y ago
  If any industry deserved to be disrupted it was theirs.
asabjorn 4y ago
In effect this is indentured servitude. Most people are not aware how common paying to be allowed to start a business is in Europe. For instance, I was told by a restaurant owner in Rome that you have to pay 500,000 euros to the landowning catholic church to open a tiny restaurant storefront there. This is structured as a loan.
- picsao 4y ago
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

collegeburner 4y ago

This is like the least problematic thing Uber has done tho? The "law enforcement" they were fucking with was basically being thugs for enforcing a monopolist power. Not very pro-consumer for the EU to try to go back to shitty overpriced taxi monopolies.

sorokod 4y ago
Would be good to compile that list. In your opinion, how would Greyball rank vs. payed-for research on the benefits of Uber's economic model[1] ? [1] https://www.theguardian.com/news/2022/jul/12/uber-paid-academics-six-figure-sums-for-research-to-feed-to-the-media https://www.theguardian.com/news/2022/jul/12/uber-paid-acade...
- collegeburner 4y ago
  I mean even if Uber paid for it the general consensus in economics is improving market efficiency is a net good. Like yeah obv it sucks for taxi drivers but the position of a lot of governments (EU more than most) is that consumer benefit at the expense of business is fine. So kinda inconsistent for the EU to say they'll go screw with other companies for consumer benefit but then "oh no not the poor cabbies, we can't let the cabbies make less money!" Also there's a lot of rent-seeking in traditional cab industry that comes from stuff like the high cost of entry and the lobbying to keep it in place so taking that out should make a better economic outcome.
  - xorcist 4y ago
    The EU most certainly doesn't legislate taxi regulations. If you think your local legislature is harming competition, speak to your local legislator. EU institutions can't help, by design, unless maybe if the unfair competition infringes your individual rights.
black_puppydog 4y ago
making sure taxis are safe for operation should be equally applied; being uber (and hence "the good guys") should not exempt you. and being the good guys should necessarily include being okay with playing by the rules. if you build an entire UX to avoid that -> fuck you, I don't care what you're replacing you're undermining any benefit you could claim to society

sschueller 4y ago

There needs to be an interpol arrest warrant for Travis Kalanick for racketeering. Uber was operating like a mafia family. It doesn't matter that he resigned a while back. This is not acceptable and people need to know they will not get away with it.

collegeburner 4y ago
bruh youre literally talking about taxi companies who ran monopolies for decades with armed thugs ("police") literally running stings on competitors. wtf.
- p_j_w 4y ago
  GP didn't mention those companies once.
  - collegeburner 4y ago
    the point is taxi companies been doing worse with govt sanction for years. ppl only care now bc govt isn't getting its $$$.
    - egberts1 4y ago
      more like bureaucrats (and their families and friends) isnt getting their self-worth of mooching off of the taxpayers; people, not so much.