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More like germany doesn't want drivers without proper papers and sloppy serviced cars. Taxis work quite well here with reasonable fares. No need for uber which

More like germany doesn't want drivers without proper papers and sloppy serviced cars. Taxis work quite well here with reasonable fares. No need for uber which exploits their employees... well they are not employees but exploitable individuals with very little power. It's good that the government cares for a certain standard. Of course there are regions where this degenerated i to bad burocratie

ShellfishMeme 12y ago
Reasonable? For the price it costs to get from Berlin's city center to the airport, you could easily drive your own car to Hamburg - and probably back. I really don't understand why it has to be so expensive. For inner city trips the gas costs are a negligible part of the total price, and most drivers are being paid minimum wage. (I've actually heard quite a few taxi drivers complain about minimum wage being introduced because their employers claim that it's too expensive for them and they need to cut costs.) Either there are too many taxis out there so they need higher prices to be able to pay for the time where they just stand around waiting for customers, or somebody is getting rich.
- ptaipale 12y ago
  In my experience the taxis in Berlin are not that expensive. 15 euros from Tegel to Schöneberg. That doesn't really get you enough gas to get to Hamburg, let alone compensate any other cost of vehicle. Now, just don't get me started about the prices of regulated taxes in Helsinki, or the largely unregulated taxis in Stockholm, where you really have to be careful.
purringmeow 12y ago
How does Uber exploit its employees? Nobody is making drivers sign-up for Uber. Nobody is keeping them signed-up by force. The whole problem with Uber can be solved if governments deregulate the taxi industry. I absolutely agree that you need an insurance that covers the passengers, but what else except more frequent technical checks? Taxi licenses are an artificial way to control the supply, so I am adamantly against them.
- chappi42 12y ago
  I thought of a kind of a 'structural explotation', i.e a big corporation & customer vs. an individual driver. He/she has almost no defence if e.g. the rating is bad. If you need the money, you don't have the option to just jump ship. Of course I like people do their work well but this immediate consequences is not good and not social, there should be some shelter, like e.g. unions, a taxi company with collegues etc. Government regulates a lot of things and if sensibly done, this is imho a good thing and protects the citiziens. A completely deregulated taxi industry would probably bring a lot of overcrowding, put a lot of stress to the drivers and their salaries would fall even lower (they are not high (in Berlin)). I hope that I'm not wrong, but I've never heard that here in Germany we have something like $700 000 taxi medaillons as in New York. With such conditions a deregulation is probably a good thing, but here?

ShellfishMeme 12y ago

Reasonable? For the price it costs to get from Berlin's city center to the airport, you could easily drive your own car to Hamburg - and probably back. I really don't understand why it has to be so expensive. For inner city trips the gas costs are a negligible part of the total price, and most drivers are being paid minimum wage. (I've actually heard quite a few taxi drivers complain about minimum wage being introduced because their employers claim that it's too expensive for them and they need to cut costs.) Either there are too many taxis out there so they need higher prices to be able to pay for the time where they just stand around waiting for customers, or somebody is getting rich.

ptaipale 12y ago
In my experience the taxis in Berlin are not that expensive. 15 euros from Tegel to Schöneberg. That doesn't really get you enough gas to get to Hamburg, let alone compensate any other cost of vehicle. Now, just don't get me started about the prices of regulated taxes in Helsinki, or the largely unregulated taxis in Stockholm, where you really have to be careful.

purringmeow 12y ago

How does Uber exploit its employees? Nobody is making drivers sign-up for Uber. Nobody is keeping them signed-up by force. The whole problem with Uber can be solved if governments deregulate the taxi industry. I absolutely agree that you need an insurance that covers the passengers, but what else except more frequent technical checks? Taxi licenses are an artificial way to control the supply, so I am adamantly against them.

chappi42 12y ago
I thought of a kind of a 'structural explotation', i.e a big corporation & customer vs. an individual driver. He/she has almost no defence if e.g. the rating is bad. If you need the money, you don't have the option to just jump ship. Of course I like people do their work well but this immediate consequences is not good and not social, there should be some shelter, like e.g. unions, a taxi company with collegues etc. Government regulates a lot of things and if sensibly done, this is imho a good thing and protects the citiziens. A completely deregulated taxi industry would probably bring a lot of overcrowding, put a lot of stress to the drivers and their salaries would fall even lower (they are not high (in Berlin)). I hope that I'm not wrong, but I've never heard that here in Germany we have something like $700 000 taxi medaillons as in New York. With such conditions a deregulation is probably a good thing, but here?