Strange. The forum doesn't like Walt Disney for the moment. Or at least their oldest characters.

WoinParis,

"There is more screening when hiring a taxi driver. The guy comes, is tested vetted etc. bad driving should therefore happen less with taxi drivers."

I'm curious where you got your information. I know the French, particularly in Paris, have been highly critical of Uber but have yet to provide a viable report detailing the Uber vs. Taxi safety. I would be suspicious of any Parisian sponsored comparison as the taxi industry there has much to loose. However, anecdotal evidence of many cities throughout the globe would indicate Uber is usually cheaper, safer and offering better vehicles with better overall service.

PPAAS - Poor People As A Service.

Comes from long trips with a taxi company owner in south east france who explained how she does her job and what administrative shoot she has to deal with. And she gave more than anecdotal info on insurance compliance etc. I guess I could double check on Internet. But I don't think she is a liar and I know for sure that france loves papers.
Btw for the anecdote she is the taxi driver mrs Sarkosy uses when at cap negre.

My disdain for taxi drivers in Amsterdam was when I fell on a Jordan cobbled stone street and could barely walk (unbeknownst to me I broke my ankle). We flagged down so many taxis but none would take us back to our hotel because it's only a 5 minute ride so not worth the short taxi fare for them even after we told them I couldn't walk. That was the very first time I thought of using my uber app in Amsterdam.

Someone asked whether Uber drivers carry insurance to cover passengers which got me thinking. I asked one of the uber drivers in San Francisco and checked his answer online. I don't know how it is in Amsterdam but in the US, Uber provides the commercial insurance automatically up to $1 million per incident.
https://newsroom.uber.com/227972/

Melig, in Amsterdam, regular taxi drivers moonlight as Uber drivers. And yes, I share your disdain for taxi drivers. In Amsterdam, they're scum. Uber drivers are not much better. It's the same market, with the same hands on the steering wheel.

Let's wait tonight to see if not only taxi drivers, but the whole of Amsterdam is scum.

That's odd. I was always under the impression that taxi drivers in Amsterdam could not, by law or regulation, refuse a fare based upon a "short" distance.

Perhaps my understanding was incorrect or somebody didn't press the issue as they should have.

WoinParis, I don't know what your political preferences are. Turns out Amsterdam votes mostly left-liberal, the fascist vote is mainly a matter of the rural fringes. Rotterdam is split down the middle.

I think our right wing liberals and christian democrats are a bigger danger than is PVV. Or: PVV has infected the entire political discourse with its eliminationist and genocidal brand of politics.

LOL if you ask anybody from Rotterdam, the whole Amsterdam is............

Dukey, I didn't know that there's such a rule for taxis, they didn't seem to care at all that I was in pain.

Interesting to know that Rotterdam is split down the middle, I suppose because the demographic is also split down the middle?
From what I understand, Wilders has no chance of ever becoming PM as long as the big parties are not willing to form a coalition with PVV, except for Thierry Baudet of FVD. It seems that FVD is too small to be a kingmaker or am I wrong? Curious to see the results from today's election.

Menachem, the only reason why uber drivers would still pick up a very short the distance ride is because the passenger destination is not revealed until he/she is in the car. Often times my uber fare in San Francisco is only $3.99.

Melig. Interesting. That being said: Amsterdam taxi drivers are scum (Rotterdam drivers too, once, a taxi I was in, nearly crashed into a lamp post, because the driver (no local knowledge) was keying in the destination into his navigation unit)

Rotterdam is ahead of the rest of the country. You can see that in local elections: the city council is split down the middle too. I think it's going to be interesting to see to what extent the ethnic vote will be mobilised.
Rotterdam always was a social democrat stronghold, but that changed in 2002, with Pim Fortuyn. There too, the city was ahead of the big populist surge that came after.

My take: we'll have a very long formation, because 4 party coalitions will be too unstable. Rutte will probably be asked to form a government, but all attempts will fail. Then, after months of hand wringing and near successes, VVD, PVV and CDA will decide to form a government. And then we'll have a right wing - nativist governed country. I hope I'm wrong.

FvD is not going to be a factor, but is attempting to bypass parliament and the constitution with its plea to introduce binding, corrective referendums. Something the PVV is in favour of too, also to by-pass parliament in its drive to "de-islamize" The Netherlands.

Thierry Baudet was on TV a few nights ago, stating that it was clear that a "homeopathic dilution" was taking place of "the Dutch people", because of an "invasion of foreigners". There were other politicians at the table: all silent. No one batted an eyelid.

Menachem my political views are easy.
Somebody who hates his neighbour is one step closer to joining SS verband.
PVV saying immigrants should be kept away or Donald finding Mexicans rapists.
One step towards gas chambers.

Yep, those are my feelings too.

Well, we got interesting results. Now, a far more interesting period has begun: the formation of a government. Bumpy months ahead: it won't be an easy or short process.

Ah, you must ask us Belgians.

We took what 500 days to form a government not so long ago ?

I remember that when Wallonia was thinking of becoming the 28th province of France and Vlanderen to join the Netherlands. I used to wonder if Brussels was planning to remain as the sole Belgian city as the capital of what's left of Belgium and Europe all by itself.

Menachem, you're spot on about Rotterdam's even split result btw the PVV & VVD but why the social democrat has become the biggest looser in the election. They messed up somewhere? The PvdA mayor of Rotterdam is still popular?

Flying to Amsterdam today, can't wait to talk about it all to my cousins in Amsterdam and Rotterdam.

Never.
We never thought of joining france except one party called RW an which makes about 2 pc of the population. and this party even says as article one in case Belgium explodes.as for Flemish they will never ever join Netherlands. Never.

Melig, there's lots to say about PvdA's unprecedented loss. A few observations

In 2012 they got many strategic votes from voters that wanted to prevent the VVD from forming a government. The result was the reverse of that intention. Both VVD and PvdA now lost heavily because of this (VVD minus 10 seats, PvdA minus 29)

Many voters feel themselves betrayed by a PvdA that is only nominally social democrat, but has in fact become a neoliberal proponent of free markets. They were seen as betraying their core values in a coalition with VVD, where they did the dirty work for VVD and were punished for it.

I also think PvdA lost its ethnic voter base. I believe this can be most clearly seen in Rotterdam and The Hague. Newcomer Denk scooped up many of those votes. In Rotterdam, Denk is now larger than PvdA, same in The Hague.

I wonder what this time in the wilderness will bring to the table for PvdA. My family are old socialists, way back in the 1920s and 1930s, the forerunner of PvdA, SDAP was an emancipation party for many Jews. PvdA drew from this heritage, and for a long time fulfilled the same role for people of Moroccan and Turkish descent. But it was also clear the PvdA shifted toward nativist discourse and policies under pressure from PVV.