ribeirasacra

Read it all here: https://www.theguardian.com/technolo...ly-taxi-unions

ekc

Good.

raincitygirl

That's a shame.

massimop

Shame to whom? The owners of Uber or dogmatic neoliberals? Taxi drivers in Italy perform an irreplaceable public service that the "free" market cannot provide. If you cannot afford taxi fares in Italy, you can't afford to travel. Gouging other people so you can take a vacation is the real shame.

raincitygirl

massimop, I use taxis and Uber in Italy. And believe me the amount of money I spend there, I am not gouging anybody if occasionally I use Uber.

ribeirasacra

the last post is unfortunately misguided. You are cheating men who have to pay for a license , insurance and abide by other regulations which can be imposed. UBER divers do not. Hence the ruling.

Huggy

Wow! Using that line of thought, can the next step be banning the use of cell phones and computers because the communication workers are not installing landlines and the postal workers are not delivering the mail?

And I just stopped my local paper yesterday. Never thought of the pressmen and newspaper delivery people whom might be put out of work!

We are all cheaters!!!!!!!

It is amazing in New York that the price of a taxi medallion can be more than $100K. Might there be a rethinking of the age old transportation laws in light of technology developments?

bvlenci

The flagrant and wide-spread cheating by taxi drivers in Rome dampens my sympathy for their cause.

raincitygirl

I agree bvlenci.

WoinParis

I agree that you better be rich and can afford both taxis and uber than poor in the case of a full liberalism.
Because if you are poor and living in a remote area you had better buy yourself a car or stay in your remote area.

Uber is the ultimate step towards stripping any social protection of the driver and the ultimate stripping of any protection fir the user - be it having a real driver being insured etc.

But ok some people prefer to have no regulation. Except when it comes to doctor. They must be taken care of.

But as Bvlenci my sympathies towards taxis wade in the big cities.
So uber in big city and taxis elsewhere ?

massimop

Guilt by association?

And as if Uber doesn't cheat you.

Nikki

"And as if Uber doesn't cheat you."

How would that work? You see the fare before you order the Uber so there is no way for the driver to change it.

Christina

Uber has a lot of seamier sides, of course, the owner is a total jerk, also, and just wants to make more and more money. I am not clear on the reference to Uber cheating clients, though.

The idea that Uber is allowing people to "share" their cars to make money (which isn't sharing, anyway), or run unregulated businesses using their own assets isn't even true I just found out, which is surprising. Uber is just attracting a lot of people who want extra money on the side and no regulation or rules. But they aren't even using their own car necessarily, I found out that at least in the US, you can become an Uber driver and "rent" a car from Uber even if you don't own a car. So they take that out of your paycheck and you can end up owing a lot of money to Uber if you don't work enough.

There was also an article in my paper a day or two ago about how many drivers failed govt background checks but passed Uber's checks (I think at about 10 pct of Uber drivers). Apparently Uber thinks criminal convictions are okay if they happened a while ago, I forget their time frame for caring. Although I don't know what taxi companies do for checks, either.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/business...fON/story.html

I agree it is hard to be sympathetic to some taxi companies where I live, as they the main one has a lot of scuzzy drivers. So this subject is a conflict for me also as I don't like Uber's owner nor a lot they do as a business, and dont' believe people should be allowed to run around running their own car business without any regulation or inspection.

frencharmoire

Nikki,

Works like this:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...rs-passengers/

I'd rather have a scuzzy driver than one who rapes. Uber and Lyft have left cities that required fingerprinting & background checks of their drivers. When you download the apps for these companies, you agree to waive most of your legal rights to safety riding in their vehicles. I think continuing to use these services because you once heard some licensed taxi drivers in some cities overcharged their customers is almost literally running the risk of cutting off your own nose to spite your face.

Nobody asks you to have "sympathy" for licensed taxi drivers. What you are being asked to consider is whether OTHER PEOPLE LIVING IN THE WORLD need the services and protections provided by licensed taxi drivers. Unlicensed taxi services drive the licensed taxi drivers & services that OTHER PEOPLE need and want out of business. OTHER PEOPLE. Key concept here. Not just "I" and "me".