40,000 Drivers to lose their jobs in the next 21 days

daveyjp

They aren't losing their jobs, they are self employed.

GreatApe

While I like and use uber their 30% fee is ridiculous
These tech companies enjoy a natural monopoly via network effects and any monopoly is abusive just like uber and its 30%

TFL should go further and release its own taxi app for London and then the UK overall. It could perhaps do this quickly by buying up one of the many failing taxi apps that didnt get in first and lock others out due to the network effects

TFL app should charge 10% for private hire vehicles and 0% for the black cabs. The black cabs should also be phased out by not allowing any more new entrants into the knowledge.

The TFL app should also record all the payments and send it to HMRC to calculate the tax which the taxi driver can pay on the app to continue working.

There is no great good in the UK sending 30% of its taxi fees to an american company so the american company can subsidies its new ventures until it gets to become the biggest in its new area and then can charge 30% there and do it all over again

Should be a local uber alternative and one by TFL makes sense. WIth the lower fees 10% instead of 30% TFL could probably insist on specific high mileage cars or even EVs.

Also It wouldn't be difficult to record audio (low data rate) on the app and also low frame rate video so any complaints could be checked upon later. I doubt uber drivers commit more crimes than normal drivers these people and their customers are paired and recorded. Also bear in mind London has always had an illegal cab service uber has almost completely killed that take uber away and the illegal cabs will come back.

A_Medium_Size_Jock

Tygermoth wrote: »

Ahem 'Woe is me'

Whoa is a command to stop.
Uber, cabs & all.
Perhaps you missed the subtlety.


Whether anyone is "for" or "against" it looks like the law will decide.
Eventually.

Conrad

I did a thread on this is DT and I think it's great news.


Aren't we always saying how those with capital get ever richer whilst a great many workers find themselves working with little dignity and pay?


UBER is a classic example of a tiny capital holding elite in California intervening between what were willing passengers and cabbies in a far away land and ensnaring a great wodge of the transaction.


Ok we can argue poor passengers get cheaper fares but I assure you once UBER have enough of a strangle hold those fares will rocket and in any event don't we all applaud doo-gooders saying we must not enter a race to the bottom on wages?

Conrad

michaels wrote: »

I agree we should go back to the days where every 'profession' was regulated, could control entry and therefore hike prices as much as they wanted. Remember when it used to cost 1%-2% legal fees to sell a house rather than 500-1000?

One of the core narratives of the day is lack of social mobility.


Polite society urges that life in Britain cant always boil down to lowest common denominator race to the bottom cost and wages.


Becoming a black cabby was always a terrific means of working class folk attaining a comfortable lifestyle - many examples of this in my area growing up. Surely worth preserving rather than a world where those with capital intrude on these ecosystems enriching themselves still further?

GreatApe

Conrad wrote: »

I did a thread on this is DT and I think it's great news.


Aren't we always saying how those with capital get ever richer whilst a great many workers find themselves working with little dignity and pay?


UBER is a classic example of a tiny capital holding elite in California intervening between what were willing passengers and cabbies in a far away land and ensnaring a great wodge of the transaction.


Ok we can argue poor passengers get cheaper fares but I assure you once UBER have enough of a strangle hold those fares will rocket and in any event don't we all applaud doo-gooders saying we must not enter a race to the bottom on wages?

Sat Navs have killed the need for the knowledge,

Anyone with a drivers licence and a 2 hour course at some TFL office should be able to buy a black cab and start trading.

GreatApe

Conrad wrote: »

One of the core narratives of the day is lack of social mobility.


Polite society urges that life in Britain cant always boil down to lowest common denominator race to the bottom cost and wages.


Becoming a black cabby was always a terrific means of working class folk attaining a comfortable lifestyle - many examples of this in my area growing up. Surely worth preserving rather than a world where those with capital intrude on these ecosystems enriching themselves still further?

a lot of the tech giants were poor but very smart kids

For instance both mark cuban and elon musk both now billionaires talk about how they used to sleep on sofas or friends floors. The latter says he only lived on $1 a day for food for some time. If that isn't social mobility what is?


What you want, maybe you realize it maybe you dont, is the opposite of social mobility. You want nepotism and state regulated markets that benefit the few thanks to mostly contacts.
I know some black cabbies, their father was one and so is their son. Its a boys club sure its perhaps a working class boys club but its still a boys club

michaels

Of course if Uber is unsuitable because it does not vet its drivers properly then technology will very soon have a solution to that problem. I don't suppose the vested interests behind today's decision will find even driverless uber taxis acceptable competition though....

Just having Corbyn as opposition leader means we are already on a fast track back to the 1970s

westernpromise

daveyjp wrote: »

They aren't losing their jobs, they are self employed.

So that's all right then.

The main thing is that the expensive cabs' union is happy and that the producer interest is protected from progress, modernity, or competition.

Everyone else can go hang.

Herzlos

GreatApe wrote: »

Sat Navs have killed the need for the knowledge,

Not quite, GPS is great for getting you from A-B with no idea what's going on, but it's often not an ideal route, especially in a busy city at different times of day. Maybe route A is the shortest, but that right-hand turn takes forever when it's busy so it's much quicker to head in a completely different direction.

It's also not got awareness of things like football games and minor roadworks.

So I'd always assume an experienced cabby would be able to get you there quicker than a random guy with a sat nav.