4 ms·
It's worth noting that in this context as far as I can tell, Uber's drivers and cars were regulated and licensed. They are allowed to drive limos for hire, but
by travisp 12y ago
It's worth noting that in this context as far as I can tell, Uber's drivers and cars were regulated and licensed. They are allowed to drive limos for hire, but the law requires them to return to their place of business after a job (they aren't allowed to keep cars sitting around to pick up passengers). The google translation of the main complaint by the taxi association is "they keep taxe similar primarily in downtown ready to spontaneously pick up passengers." In other words, they don't wait to receive a call to get a car close and available to their passengers.
So, while it's true that this is probably against the laws of the city, it's hard to see it as anything other than protectionism for taxis: there's no evidence that Uber was causing harm for passengers (or else they'd be talking about this), and there's no reason to believe that making a limo service return its cars to its place of business after each job is inherently better for consumers.
- Xylakant 12y agoIn this context it's important to note that it's not a city law. Übers drivers violate the Personenbeförderungsgesetz which is a federal law. The injunction might have happened in all german cities, but this specific case seems to be about Berlin only. Most specifically Uber violates §49 ("Verkehr mit Mietomnibussen und mit Mietwagen"), Satz (4) which makes a very clear and distinct case that rental limousines must avoid confusion with Taxis. " Annahme, Vermittlung und Ausführung von Beförderungsaufträgen, das Bereithalten des Mietwagens sowie Werbung für Mietwagenverkehr dürfen weder allein noch in ihrer Verbindung geeignet sein, zur Verwechslung mit dem Taxenverkehr zu führen." The regulations concerning limos for hire are far lower than the regulations concerning cabs, most notably limos for hire are exempt from §21 (Betriebspflicht) and §22 (Beförderungspflicht). Basically cabs have to accept any customer and the law demands that they keep on providing (and even expanding) their service as deemed necessary by the city. It's like saying "oh, regular cars are regulated as well". The cabs in germany are regulated as part of the public transport. Uber tries to skirt that regulation and reap the benefits, while undermining the system - and by doing that they create damage to the consumers. Even if you assume there's no damage to the consumer it's not Uber that gets to decide which law applies and which needs disruption. I could think of a couple of laws that I think need disruption in my line of work (tax law, for example) but I don't get to choose either. http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/pbefg/__49.html http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/pbefg/__49.html
- vvvv 12y agoI completely agree with you. As Uber gets more popular, there's statistically more likelihood for assaults and rapes to happen (it does happen in some countries where taxi services are less regulated). What collateral would a distributed service like Uber have if one or more drivers turned out to be harmful to consumers?
- smackfu 12y agoIt's interesting that Uber managed to get licensed drivers to ignore the rules of their license.
- Xylakant 12y agoI just had a look at the uber registration page. I don't think you need any kind of license, at least not for UberPop. The only requirements listed are your own car, age 21, a drivers license and that you're out of the probation period for the license. Cab and Limo drivers at least need a Personenbeförderungsschein, but I'm not certain that UberBlack requires that, the wording is unclear ("gewerbliche Zulassung" relates more to tax and business registration for which the Personenbeförderungsschein might be a requirement or not) https://partners.uber.com/signup/berlin/ https://partners.uber.com/signup/berlin/