Uber

[Demitri_C]

5 minutes ago, TrentVilla said:

I think I've found a way to deal with this issue...

I have a look around and see if I can see a black cab, if I can I know where exactly where the driver is (usually in the front or talking to his mate in the one behind), if that fails I call a taxi firm and they tell me how long it will be. Simples.

Ok you look around for a hour in my local area for black cab (as you will not see one for at least 10 miles from where I live) while your doing that I'll just go on my app and get one in few minutes and I can perhaps go get a quick bite while I wait for it to come.

meanwhile trents looking for a black cab in pouring rain and cold weather gives up and googles taxi cabs to be told nothing available for 20 mins and has to ring round a host of firms until he finds one.

meanwhile I'm on my way out in a warm cab

Edited September 23, 2017 by Demitri_C

[bickster]

6 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

To be honest if other companies whether they are black cabs or whoever had a app service where I could see exactly where the driver is I would use them. I find that very handy.

maybe there is I haven't really looked into it. From a service point of view uber has been good for me but I understand the hatred for them

We’ve had an app that does that for longer than Uber has been in existence. It’s fairly industry standard these days. I think you need to look harder, not much harder though. 

[Demitri_C]

1 minute ago, bickster said:

We’ve had an app that does that for longer than Uber has been in existence. It’s fairly industry standard these days. I think you need to look harder, not much harder though. 

Yeah I admit that is probably ignorance on my part

[TrentVilla]

3 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

Ok you look around for a hour in my local area for black cab (as you will not see one for at least 10 miles from where I live) while your doing that I'll just go on my app and get one in few minutes and I can perhaps go get a quick bite while I wait for it to come.

meanwhile trents looking for a black cab in pouring rain and cold weather gives up and googles taxi cabs to be told nothing available for 20 mins and has to ring round a host of firms until he finds one.

meanwhile I'm on my way out in a warm cab

Well you won't be, Uber are losing their license remember. You'll be busy trying to get the clamp of your Mrs car and begging for a lift.

[Demitri_C]

11 minutes ago, TrentVilla said:

Well you won't be, Uber are losing their license remember. You'll be busy trying to get the clamp of your Mrs car and begging for a lift.

• 

[bickster]

24 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

 

meanwhile trents looking for a black cab in pouring rain and cold weather gives up and googles taxi cabs to be told nothing available for 20 mins and has to ring round a host of firms until he finds one.

That’s a sign of an immature PH market, which London surely is, the London PH market was only opened up a few years ago legally whereas the rest of the country was liberalised in 1976. In time the number of operators will reduce and the number of drivers they provide work for will increase until it reaches a natural level which will provide competition keeping prices down but also enough choice for drivers to be genuinely self employed and have a choice of agency they use. This will also lead to less delays and a much easier customer experience getting a cab. I've seen that happen up here in the last 20years in the industry. We’ve gone from 300 Drivers when I joined to 2400ish around now. Up here Uber only claim to have 900, 50% of those will already have stopped driving on Uber and 25% will be part time. Our drivers are all full time. Uber came to Liverpool telling people they were going to smash us, they’ve done the opposite, we’re 200 drivers up since they started and in some respects think of them as an alternate training academy or a dumping ground for tosser drivers. We genuinely have the availability that they don’t

[snowychap]

2 minutes ago, bickster said:

less delays

[Stevo985]

2 hours ago, bickster said:

 

when Uber feels like, it  puts the prices up and you pay through the nose, much more expensive than any other form of taxi. Uber will tell you this is an attempt to get more Taxis into an area because demand is outstripping supply. This is bullshit, this is no algorithm, this is human interaction putting the price up. If demand was outstripping supply then there wouldn’t be any cars available but the app will show you 8 cars available, sat around waiting for work... where’s this outstripping? It’s a lie, they surge because they think they can get away with it 

 

But doesn't that show that the surge pricing works?

The point of it is to discourage some people from using an uber at that point and for more drivers to work in the area.

The whole point of it is to stop demand outstripping supply.

[snowychap]

12 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

The whole point of it is to stop demand outstripping supply.

No, it isn't.

[Stevo985]

3 minutes ago, snowychap said:

No, it isn't.

Isn't it? Genuine question as that's how I understood it, and it's what uber themselves claim.

(I don't get the reference by the way, sorry)

[snowychap]

31 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

Isn't it? Genuine question as that's how I understood it, and it's what uber themselves claim.

(I don't get the reference by the way, sorry)

The reference is from Falling Down (85c for a coke - though there's more than a hint of a xenophobic tinge in the first part of the scene).

Isn't it[ the whole point...]?

No, it's about exploiting the consumer. Information is the power here and it's the controllers of the data (i.e. Uber) who hold that power. They use that power (the data about the entire network) to set price and the consumer's power to judge whether that price is (suddenly) correct is correspondingly minute.

Edit: I used 'correspondingly' and though that seems the right kind of word, I don't think it is. Apologies for that and hopefully someone will supply me with an appropriate alternative.

Edited September 23, 2017 by snowychap

[NurembergVillan]

4 hours ago, bickster said:

Oh right people that aren’t that well off should be able to pay below the minimum wage by that logic... because that is what you just said in real terms Rob

I dunno.  I've used Uber less than 10 times, in Manchester and London.  All my drivers have said they do it to supplement their income from other jobs.  I've literally got out of an Uber an hour ago and asked him about this decision.   He can't understand it.  It's his second job, and he only works weekends earning a typical £200-300 in that time.  He said he was happy with it.  I took him at face value.

So yeah, I don't really know what to say.  It's your industry so I'll trust you if you can tell me what's wrong with Uber (I've not really read into it) in the same way that I can complain that people shouldn't shop at Primark because, ultimately, if you're getting what appears to be a bargain someone somewhere is paying the price.

[bickster]

If he only works weekends and is getting £300, he’s taken £400 in fares after Uber takes it’s cut. To do that he’s probably worked 20 hours.

That £300 will have to have to have deductions for insurance and vehicle repairs plus depreciation on the vehicle, that is probably in the region of £150. That leaves him with £150 which will be subject to tax on the full amount in all likelihood as it’s a second income, he’s down to £120 in 20 hours. 

Race to the bottom!

[blandy]

Presumably Uber make a ton of money in London. Presumably Uber want to keep, or get back, their license to operate. Presumably to do so they’ll have to clean up their act. Presumably both the drivers and the public will benefit from Uber cleaning up their act. A regulator doing its job is a good thing. Too often they let companies get away with breaching their obligations. 

[Stevo985]

You'd think all these Uber drivers being paid as slaves would be really unhappy. And with so many taxi firms out there able to take them on you'd think they'd find a new job pretty quickly.

I'm yet to meet an Uber driver that doesn't like working for Uber. 

Must be the exceptions I guess.

[Stevo985]

10 hours ago, snowychap said:

The reference is from Falling Down (85c for a coke - though there's more than a hint of a xenophobic tinge in the first part of the scene).

Isn't it[ the whole point...]?

No, it's about exploiting the consumer. Information is the power here and it's the controllers of the data (i.e. Uber) who hold that power. They use that power (the data about the entire network) to set price and the consumer's power to judge whether that price is (suddenly) correct is correspondingly minute.

Edit: I used 'correspondingly' and though that seems the right kind of word, I don't think it is. Apologies for that and hopefully someone will supply me with an appropriate alternative.

Ok.

[LondonLax]

In Sydney the Uber app has a number of options including chauffeur hire cars who have a luxury car and spare time, normal Sydney Taxi's as well as punters with their car giving people lifts. They have different costs and different availability but I'm surprised it is not the same in the UK with a black cab being an option you can select on Uber and pay the fare up front from your account etc.  

[bickster]

14 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

You'd think all these Uber drivers being paid as slaves would be really unhappy. And with so many taxi firms out there able to take them on you'd think they'd find a new job pretty quickly.

I'm yet to meet an Uber driver that doesn't like working for Uber. 

Must be the exceptions I guess.

1) Most of them haven't spoken to their accountant yet, they won't need to do that for about 2 years

2) As explained above, you'll rarely find an unhappy uber driver when you're a passenger, they shit themselves that you won't give them 5 stars. If their average drops below 4.6 they get removed from working at Uber. Customers who like Uber don't like hearing negativity about the company.

Go and see what they say in private on Twitter and you'll see a whole different side of it

[Stevo985]

2 minutes ago, bickster said:

1) Most of them haven't spoken to their accountant yet, they won't need to do that for about 2 years

2) As explained above, you'll rarely find an unhappy uber driver when you're a passenger, they shit themselves that you won't give them 5 stars. If their average drops below 4.6 they get removed from working at Uber. Customers who like Uber don't like hearing negativity about the company.

Go and see what they say in private on Twitter and you'll see a whole different side of it

That's weird. Especially as:

14 hours ago, bickster said:

They are badged and are qualified, nothing stopping them working for a different company.

You'd think they'd just stop working for them then.

40,000 drivers in London choosing to work under these horrendous conditions for no money, when they could quite easily work for someone else. 

Very odd.

[HanoiVillan]

But it's not odd though, is it, when you consider Uber's share of the market. 

Sure, I'm a qualified and credentialed minicab driver, now I can go and work for all of those other flourishing minicab companies.