Cabbies Protest.

chucknorris

Joeskeppi wrote: »

This protest seems like an awful lot of free publicity for Uber (who I had previously never heard of)

Yes a big thank you to all the black cabbies for bringing the Uber option to my attention, I had not heard of them either, but I'll try them out sometime.

chewmylegoff

Bantex wrote: »

Competition from one part of the country to another is healthy. Uncontrolled competition across national borders between countries with totally unmatched economies in terms of such things as wage rates and benefits is unhealthy.

Anyway, the Uber argument is basically a business model/technology issue. People are still free to use black cabs if they chose.

Having said that, if I was a cabbie I would be doing all I could to protect my income just like the tube driver do.

Where do you think all the people who drive minicabs come from? Almost all minicab drivers in London seem to me to be first or possibly second generation immigrants.

Anyway, my point of view is that it has never taken me 1 hour to find a minicab at 1am only to find that the driver won't take me home because he "isn't going that way guv'nor".

If black cabbies only want to pick up people from Oxford street and drive them to Piccadilly Circus in heavy traffic all day that is fine but they can't come crying when someone else fills the void that they have left and then subsequently encroaches into the part of the day and areas that they actually can be bothered to cover.

CKhalvashi

antrobus wrote: »

I can understand where the cab drivers are coming from. Unfortunately I believe that little can be done to prevent the upcoming Zombie Robot Apocalypse of the Black Cab trade.

I can also understand.

The main issue here (from my limited understanding) seems to be that Uber are using a meter-like charging system, as specifically prohibited by an act of parliament.

The way to deal with this, is to go through TFL to sort this out, not gridlock the streets.

We (as a company) use AL more than black cabs, as for operational reasons it's more convenient, however whilst from a legal viewpoint I agree with the cabbies viewpoint, I certainly don't agree with the way this is being done on their part.

ETA: More info on what's going on can be found here.

BillJones

chewmylegoff wrote: »

If black cabbies only want to pick up people from Oxford street and drive them to Piccadilly Circus in heavy traffic all day that is fine but they can't come crying when someone else fills the void that they have left and then subsequently encroaches into the part of the day and areas that they actually can be bothered to cover.

I couldn't agree more.

I've also suffered far too often with their perverse route choice* to think that they are in any way the "reliable" choice nowadays.


(*A common trick, when going from the city to the wharf, is for them to head straight to the gridlocked Highway, instead of the parallel Commercial Road, which has a taxi lane running the entire length of it.)

The_White_Horse

i live and work in London. there is no way I would ever get a black cab anywhere if I had to pay for it. Hyper expensive way to travel. Can only be done on expenses.

The cabbies are too blame for pricing themselves out of the market.

Everyone should use the tube or walk - put them in their place.

Knowing every road in London was great - until Satnav rendered it meaningless. Same as chimney sweeps weren't needed after most houses got central heating. Must be thousands of jobs that went this way.

CKhalvashi

The_White_Horse wrote: »

i live and work in London. there is no way I would ever get a black cab anywhere if I had to pay for it. Hyper expensive way to travel. Can only be done on expenses.

The cabbies are too blame for pricing themselves out of the market.

The cabbies don't set their own fares, they work on meters, with fares set by TFL.

It's the same up here (we own a cab firm outside of London). The meters are programmed by the council our vehicles are licensed by; £3 start, 20p every 200 yards or every 30 seconds (if memory serves me right)

We've fought in or town to keep the fares down (it was every 220 yards), but drivers in the other two large towns wanted an increase.

CK

Yolina

Just saw that apparently the sign up rate to the Uber app has increased 850% compared to last week... Ooops nice own goal by the cabbies there.

Nikkster

Bantex wrote: »

London cabbies are going to gridlock London tomorrow in protest over Uber operating in the city.

They really do not like a bit of healthy competition.

There is a similar strike in at least one other capital city, also over Uber.

Edit: here is a link http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27792942

tomterm8

PasturesNew wrote: »

If I want to go from A to B, do I want to:

- stand outside, waiting and hoping one might eventually come past and it might stop if I'm super lucky .... while looking like a fool as I try to wave/flag/whatever and get ignored and everybody else in the street sniggers, or,
- while inside, press some buttons to say where I am, then step outside knowing there's a car coming.

Hard choice.....

Given that the second option is a lot cheaper too, I think I'll chose the third option. Getting Jeeves to drive the limousine while I drink champers in the back. (Er, in my dreams:) )

mobfant

I'm with the taxi drivers, in that TfL seem to be applying a completely idiotic rule by saying that GPS-guided Meter Apps are different to normal meters purely because they're not connected to the engine (I think). But in practice it's the same setup. TfL should either apply the same rules and make it a level playing field, or change the rules.

As a consumer I think Uber's great. But then the rules need to be changed to allow it, without a ludicrous excuse as to why not.