Only a CNUT would hold back the waves of the sharing economy The Turtle-Necked Twats are having their bluff called at last. Taxi-hailing app developer Uber has been invited to rejoin the real world and the TNTs are in uproar. London’s transport authority, TfL, has launched a public consultation into private-hire taxi services in England’s capital. As usual, Uber’s TNTs are convinced …
"You thought your joke was so good it needed to be at the top for all to see."
The thing is, it isn't a joke; it is an insightful remark. Facebook, Twitter, Ueber and the like are all, at bottom, the owners of the land used by the sharecroppers. It's feudalism light for the 21st century. Not surprising that the self-employed businessmen that are London taxi drivers are anti Ueber; it wants to peonise them.
@Arnaut the less
Be that as it may (or may not, in real terms, because no one had the option to opt-out of feudalism - but that isn't the point), that does not at all justify the poster's lack of regard for other commenters/comment readers. S/he's bsaically shouted over the top of everyone else because they think their post was too important to sit under commenters that beat them to a response.
It is unquestionably shitty behaviour, regardless of whether anyone agrees with them or not. Nothing less than A-grade attention-whoring.
As far as I'm concerned, the difference between you and him is that YOUR articles make SENSE! I wouldn't know what side Worstall's on coz I've never understood a fucking thing he's ever written!
Our local cabbies have been charging Uber prices for aeons; I live around 1.5 miles from the station, but they want £7.50 before midnight and £15 after; I've no option but to cough up because the only way home is across the common, and I don't fancy a chance meeting with Aqualung. Obviously in the summer I'll walk it
Yes Aqualung, as in Tull, so named by me because he's creepy; I'm 90% certain he's PROBABLY harmless, but I ain't taking the risk, especially as he appears to be an alkie (the area around his campfire is always littered with cans). Not meaning to imply that alkies are inherently violent/rapey, but the booze is probably gonna make him (more) unpredictable. He'll disappear around Hallowe'en/Bonfire Night, and won't return until the weather warms up again - no idea where he goes in the winter.
So, if it's one of the rare occasions I've been up to the Smoke, and come back late, I've really no option. They're all self-employed and everything is extortionate round here (South Bucks), so I can't really begrudge them, if I could, I'd leave but, sadly, I can't…
@ Sarah
You started off Dabbs but then you went all Worstall and I stopped understanding a blooming thing you were on about...Something about some dodgy geezer called aqua tull who's a bit common and charges too much for his booze? Is it another Uber like app that lets home brewers share their filthy and disgusting brews after the pubs close, or something?
Is Dabbsy really the anti-Worstall? Their opinions of this subject don't seem to be opposed. Worstall seems to like Uber as an antidote to the inefficient rent-seeking that comes from having an arbitrary limited number of taxi licences available, like New York's taxi medallions. I'm not sure whether this is how the London black cab system works; can't anyone become a cab driver by passing the relevant knowledge exams or are there limited "places"?
London doesn't have the arbitrary hard limit on numbers that cities with a medallion system impose, so in that regard, anyone could become a taxi driver.
However, the Knowledge takes a while to learn, so to a degree that does slow down the potential for growth in the number of drivers.
Private hire vehicles (aka mini-cabs) don't have to learn the knowledge, and again there is no fixed limit on the number of people who can register for those.
Taxi drivers just have to block the streets and roads:
The government will then step in and make Uber services illegal, as they have in France. Protecting the existing lazy, overcharging, rule breaking taxi scammers. As they did in France. (€70 for 15min/km airport trip anyone?)
I've noticed in a couple of articles about Uber that a swarm of downvoters seems to descend. Who they?? Black Cab drivers? Didn't think they could read, let alone interwebs stuff. Maybe they hired some lobyist outfits?
Maybe they're people that can see through the spin and the BS ladled out in large spoonfuls by mainly US companies who think that making a buck by totally ignoring local regulations is their God given right?
Uber would not have half the problems it has now if it paid attention to regulation that is there for a good reason, but it has actively attempted to not only bypass them but to tap into the black economy in probably one of the most modern implementations of the Citigroup Plutonomy investment advice ever (recommending to invest either in the very high end or to go for the opposite bottom volume end, which is where Uber plays). It only stopped doing that when it was forced to do so by court order, and even then only grudgingly.
I'd be the first to cry foul over overburdening regulation and pointless red tape, but I am disadvantaged in that I have seen the consequences of their absence. As a normal human being with some compassion for others (with the exception of traffic wardens and people who can't spell) I cannot agree with what Uber is doing, because they're not into "breaking monopolies" and "disruptive evolution" and all those other buzzwords they use. What that river of BS and verbal diarrhoea is trying to camouflage is that they're crooks and have no problem dangerously cutting corners and endanger you to make a fast buck, at least, that's how I see it.
There are other taxi apps that try to play it straight. Uber, in my opinion, is not. Thankfully, lawmakers exist that *are* paying attention, also without the baying of taxi drivers who are paying their dues and are licensed properly (it does help, though :) ).
While Uber may essentially be a private hire taxi company their technology does chip away at the advantage that black cabs traditionally enjoy over private hire: the ability to pick passengers up on the street. Although an Uber driver can no more do this legally than any other private hire operation the nature of their app reduces the time between booking and pick up, to the point where the time/convenience difference in hailing a cab and booking a private hire is negligible. This is what the cabbies really don't like and I gather that they are pushing for a mandatory waiting period of (5 mins IIRC?) on Uber bookings.
Anyhoo, death to the TNTs! Too many of these slimy facilitators running around stitching people up with tech snake oil.
This article presents a mildly reasonable argument but is wrong because it misses a key point. Yes Tfl are responsible for reviewing the rules but they have perfectly sensible rules already. You can't hail a Minicab in the street, you have to book it through a mini-cab firm first. You still can't hail an Uber taxi in the street. Now technology simply means the existing booking process is super efficient.
The sensible reason for not being able to hail a - less regulated than black cab - mini-cab in the street is safety. By having to book via a taxi firm so there is a record and (more likely) a responsible controller running a business with many mini-cabs keeping a record of who is sent where. That, as long as users are aware and expect to follow the rules (which most are) reduces the opportunity for stalkers rapists and muggers being able to pick victims up in the street and drive them off to an evil lair.
Uber hasn't changed the mini-cab model, you still can't directly hail a mini-cab in the street, it's just made it more efficient, but Tfl are proposing changing the rules by artificially introducing minimum wait times from booking to fulfilment. EBay style in service ratings systems have already been shown to be an effective way to manage and help filter out charlatans. So while there will be teething problems, the system, given the journey is also logged and tracked is already potentially even safer than the average local Minicab firm.
Now black cab drivers are moaning, and it seems Tfl are proposing making an efficient system less efficient just to help them out. That isn't Tfl doing regulation as usual as Alatair argues, it's protectionism plain and simple. It makes an efficient system less efficient for the economic gain of a vested interest and at the expense of the consumer who likes the fact you can now get black cab efficiency at mini-cab prices. So sorry Alastair, your argument has some good points, but in the final analysis is just plain wrong. Uber aren't paranoid. It is all about them.
EBay style in service ratings systems have already been shown to be an effective way to manage and help filter out charlatans. So while there will be teething problems,
Your confidence in online ratings is most touching, but rather your wife/girlfriend be the "teething problem" than mine.
Yer right, so whilst the EBay style rating systems used by sharing economy businesses are not perfect it's still in addition to what you get with your local cab firm, ... And you're talking like you have never booked a mini-cab for one of your loved one's with one of them.
Why not add some more arbitrary rules
You can comment on an article but can only write a blog post if your are an NUJ member
You can use a web browser if you are a cab driver but can only install Windows if you are a member of the BCS and only connect a new computer if your a member of the ACM or IEEE
I logged a bit as a teen in NorCal, there are actually two brands of chainsaws Stihl and Husquvarna. Brand loyalty is king in the logging world, although you generally follow the lead faller's choice.
And as in tech contracting, you do your sharpening and routine maintenance when you arrive at a job site, because land owners like to see you there doing something for at least 2 hours before paying 500 to 1000$.
Ha, that's another business where it pays to hire a licensed, insured, and bonded operator for a job, sure Joe down the street can cut down a tree, but a proper faller can also miss your house, car, garage, etc at least 99% of the time. They can also drop a tree exactly where you swore to hell they told you to stand. Remember to always make sure the axe is sharp and the gas and oil cans are full when you are carrying their gear, oh and never drop their saw, unless of course you're running for your life.
The jacket has my childhood wonder and innocence lost in it.
You can... usually made very cheaply in China, which means increasingly unreliable start, questionable safety brake, poor ergonomics (which actually matters when you're holding a heavy, yet efficient cutting tool) and fragile materials.
The question is always - spend three times the price on one that should last three times as long, or go cheap? I went cheap.. and at this point the punchline should be that I'm typing this with my one remaining hand. However, I do need to buy a new chainsaw.
I did wonder about the quality for that price. I don't know whether I'd trust a really cheap one, if things go titsup with a chainsaw it could end badly. Having said that I do wonder if any of the brand name manufacturers are outsourcing to the same factories that make this sort of thing?
I used to have a large dog called Bonzo (The name has been changed, I don't want to give out my banking password. Ha! Ha!). He was a real softy and anyone could take him for a walk because he would obey their commands.
During his entire life he only ever tried to attack one person. I had called a minicab to deliver some kit and the driver had not even fully opened his door when Bonzo decided that he would kill him. I told the dog to go back inside but I realised that he had detected something about this driver that was not right. I looked carefully at this man, gave him the kit and off he went. It was worrying that this guy was driving around London, who knows what my dog had discerned?
Tl;dr Always travel with a dog
...housing policy makers.
The Uber story translates pretty well to the Right2Buy on social housing. In brief, council tenants with no capital buy flats cheap using cash lent by property company. Property company takes flat after three years and lets it out for vastly more than council rents, sometimes renting it back to council to house growing homeless.
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