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yes but... as stated, current taxi drivers won't sweat a bit to actually improve their services, which are generally deemed as sub par to be polite. but they wi

yes but... as stated, current taxi drivers won't sweat a bit to actually improve their services, which are generally deemed as sub par to be polite. but they will go great lengths to hurt any sign of competition, even users who show interest in it. how much more rotten their behaviour must be for you to start caring about customers more than them? of course it's not black & white, but this industry is in grave need of disruption, and one is coming. i don't care about them any more than they do care about me, fair deal.

agumonkey 11y ago
I .. empathize with Taxis anyway, even though it's hard to justify violence of that kind (beatings, fires). They do suck a lot more than they should, like many many old businesses[1]. Don't forget the burden of being a legitimate business too, it's risky and costly. How would you feel if all of a sudden anybody can play in your field for free while you paid 100K, and have to comply to a lot of legislations for the same rights. [1] reminds me of Air France, it's easy to think RyanAir is better, but in reality AirFrance offer you a lot more. I believe Uber falls under the same issues, sure they're cheap, but they don't give any insurances. They did benefit from a nice technological mastery that made the service interface far better than the old system.
- fennecfoxen 11y ago
  > I .. empathize with Taxis anyway, even though it's hard to justify violence of that kind (beatings, fires). Welcome to French leftism! It's a bit of a unique brand, as France has been culturally skeptical of movements like international communism (to say nothing of the globalization economy), and it has a distinctive nationalistic style. This sort of protest is, beyond its immediate targets, an exercise in patriotism, and par for the course - if I recall correctly, some strikes a while back were even taking management hostage (Goodyear, 3M, etc). Fortunately France moved on from guillotines quite some time ago. :P
  - agumonkey 11y ago
    Hehe :) I'm being honest. I've felt that working in a company hiring people under interim contracts (better paid) making historical employees work twice (your job, teaching others that don't care, correcting their mistake down the pipe just before they leave with a lot of unfinished things) for lower salaries, and it felt wrong. You want equality. Uber isn't a surprise, it's a known model of disruption, spread faster than the law can react and when you have momentum, newcomer and authorities find a compromise. They did bring something to the table, a nice kick in the butt, and a newer and far better user interface. That said they (and others) are still operating illegally through the pressure of times (people are busy and low on money, an illegal driver is better than no driver at all) edit: additions.
- olivierduval 11y ago
  In fact, Taxis GAVE their businesses to Uber by despising their own customers... If they has been good enough, Uber wouldn't have had so much momentum here. I'm really sad for the few taxis working hard to be better because they're thrown now in the same bag as the average bad taxis. Hopefully, most of the time, good taxis have loyal customers (and no problem with UberPOP for that same reason). BTW, I'm working in computer science so... disruption is at the heart of my field!!! :D
  - agumonkey 11y ago
    I'm into CS too, and was all about progress but I've tamed my ideas. Do you really think that bad Taxis drove customers away or was it the system bottleneck (waiting so long, difficulty in finding a cab when you need one) and seemingly lower prices. Again, Uber give you less, AFAIK you're not insured if something happens, you dont even know if the guy has an insurance for himself, there's no check of any kind (as a CS guy you should be afraid of that), so prices can appear lower. I don't know, I only took a cab twice in my life.

agumonkey 11y ago

I .. empathize with Taxis anyway, even though it's hard to justify violence of that kind (beatings, fires). They do suck a lot more than they should, like many many old businesses[1]. Don't forget the burden of being a legitimate business too, it's risky and costly. How would you feel if all of a sudden anybody can play in your field for free while you paid 100K, and have to comply to a lot of legislations for the same rights. [1] reminds me of Air France, it's easy to think RyanAir is better, but in reality AirFrance offer you a lot more. I believe Uber falls under the same issues, sure they're cheap, but they don't give any insurances. They did benefit from a nice technological mastery that made the service interface far better than the old system.

fennecfoxen 11y ago
> I .. empathize with Taxis anyway, even though it's hard to justify violence of that kind (beatings, fires). Welcome to French leftism! It's a bit of a unique brand, as France has been culturally skeptical of movements like international communism (to say nothing of the globalization economy), and it has a distinctive nationalistic style. This sort of protest is, beyond its immediate targets, an exercise in patriotism, and par for the course - if I recall correctly, some strikes a while back were even taking management hostage (Goodyear, 3M, etc). Fortunately France moved on from guillotines quite some time ago. :P
- agumonkey 11y ago
  Hehe :) I'm being honest. I've felt that working in a company hiring people under interim contracts (better paid) making historical employees work twice (your job, teaching others that don't care, correcting their mistake down the pipe just before they leave with a lot of unfinished things) for lower salaries, and it felt wrong. You want equality. Uber isn't a surprise, it's a known model of disruption, spread faster than the law can react and when you have momentum, newcomer and authorities find a compromise. They did bring something to the table, a nice kick in the butt, and a newer and far better user interface. That said they (and others) are still operating illegally through the pressure of times (people are busy and low on money, an illegal driver is better than no driver at all) edit: additions.
olivierduval 11y ago
In fact, Taxis GAVE their businesses to Uber by despising their own customers... If they has been good enough, Uber wouldn't have had so much momentum here. I'm really sad for the few taxis working hard to be better because they're thrown now in the same bag as the average bad taxis. Hopefully, most of the time, good taxis have loyal customers (and no problem with UberPOP for that same reason). BTW, I'm working in computer science so... disruption is at the heart of my field!!! :D
- agumonkey 11y ago
  I'm into CS too, and was all about progress but I've tamed my ideas. Do you really think that bad Taxis drove customers away or was it the system bottleneck (waiting so long, difficulty in finding a cab when you need one) and seemingly lower prices. Again, Uber give you less, AFAIK you're not insured if something happens, you dont even know if the guy has an insurance for himself, there's no check of any kind (as a CS guy you should be afraid of that), so prices can appear lower. I don't know, I only took a cab twice in my life.