London Regulator Says Uber Is Operating Legally 105
An anonymous reader writes London's transportation regulator has ruled private-driver provider Uber is operating within the law. Licensed taxi drivers in London last month staged a protest urging Transport for London to find that Uber's mobile app acts as a taximeter, which is illegal for use by private-hire vehicles. "TfL said in a statement: 'In relation to the way Uber operates in London, TfL is satisfied that based upon our understanding of the relationship between the passenger and Uber London, and between Uber London and Uber UV, registered in Holland, that it is operating under the terms of the 1998 PHV(L) Act.' The decision was welcomed by Uber's general manger in the UK and Ireland Jo Bertram as a 'victory for common sense, technology, innovation — and above all, London.'"
Backfire (Score:5, Interesting)
I wonder how much of this is attributable to the Streisand Effect. I expect that with the generic name Uber it didn't stand out as meaning anything to most non-tech consumers (or even many tech-types for that matter) but the protests made the news and made taxi service harder to come by, planting the name in consumers' minds and giving them a reason to use it.
The smartest thing that the cabbies could have done was to step up their game as far as their service, doing as good a job as possible to show why they're professionals and deserve to be paid as such, compared to any-random-driver that Uber could deliver. Unfortunately hindsight is 20/20...
Re:Backfire (Score:5, Informative)
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London cab drivers can't exactly step up their game without insane amounts of investment - they're the best of the best.
They can improve their level of customer service, though. Also, all that vaunted "knowledge" is still inferior to Google. Google knows all that stuff too, and it's more reliable than a cab driver.
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Google doesn't know that stuff, though. Google's map data is great - don't get me wrong - but it doesn't know about the fluctuations in traffic that the cabbies do. It doesn't know about that accident that happened 30 minutes ago, that the cabby saw earlier, or that small street which is marked incorrectly on Google Maps which is navigable. It also doesn't know what "That road of Essex Road where there used to be that pub called the Red Lion or Red Dragon or something" refers to, which is something plent
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On the other hand, cabbies are known to sometimes be complete and utter shits, and there's virtually no comeback.
Failing to stop for fares is a common one.
Spouting off vile opinions.
Driving like a twat.
Driving people the long way round to make extra cash
etc
Uber doesn't eliminate all this, but it certainly does make it much more difficult for a driver to take the piss, given that the journey details are recorded, including passenger and driver details.
Cabbies are their own worst enemy, I'm afraid.
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Black cabs can sometimes be cheaper than AddLee, whose fares depend on crossing postcode boundaries. But I agree in general with your hierarchy.
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It doesn't know about that accident that happened 30 minutes ago
I'm not sure sure about this. In certain major cities I've driven (Canada mind, not the UK), my maps has been pretty good at flagging heavy-traffic areas as yellow or red. It might not know it's an accident, but it does seem to know where slowdowns are. Perhaps it's just basing data on prediction via time-of-day, or maybe they'll aggregating phone GPS/nav data and figuring out that "X devices have been stuck/slowed in this area for Y minutes".
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I've seen a cab recently with an U-B-E-R sign in the back (Manchester UK).
Presumably his taxi-overlords don't know anything about it :D
Car analogy? (Score:1)
I am finding this difficult to understand... How about a good old-fashioned car analogy?
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And I thought, "wouldn't it be great if it was like this every day?" .... and now it sounds like it might be, because they'll not take this ruling quietly! But I much prefer taxis parked in long lines than zipping around trying to hit everyone, so for now, it's all good.
People would still need to get -across- the city. I was thinking about this the other day - if the roads are going to be jammed up, then perhaps there'd be a way to use rail to get people about, maybe run the trains -underneath- the city somehow. There must be old tunnels or caves or whatever they could run the tracks through?
say what you will... (Score:5, Insightful)
...agree with the decision or disagree. But what's the deal with every legal matter, ever, requiring the involved parties to make public statements that sound like they're on the junior high debate team?
"The decision was welcomed by Uber's general manger as a 'victory for common sense, technology, innovation - and above all, London.'" No - the end of WWII was a victory for London. This is just one more thing Londoners can spend their money on.
"Aereo CEO and founder Chet Kanojia said, 'We are disappointed in the outcome, but our work is not done. We will continue to fight for our consumers and fight to create innovative technologies that have a meaningful and positive impact on our world." No, you're basically a cable company. A meaningful impact would be finding a cure for Alzheimer's.
Are canned statements like this actually effective in convincing the public that your pet project is inextricably linked to the survival of humanity itself? 'Cause to me, they just make you sound like a disingenuous prick.
Even better: this cliche soundbite garbage seems to be the only language spoken by our elected representatives, as well. Why not hire an orchestra to play ominous music in the background, while you're at it? It saddens me to see supposed leaders and captains of industry acting like pre-teens. It speaks poorly of us as a race.
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That kind of attitude will be the cause of our demise. Motivating statements are the fabric on which reposes the well being of London, and, by extension the Earth.
We were at the edge of the precipice, but this is a big step forward. A three sixty degree turn that will allow us to set foot where no one has gone before.
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A three sixty degree turn that will allow us to set foot where no one has gone before.
So much for changing direction :/
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There's quite a margin between "worthwhile" and "A victory for common sense, technology, innovation - and above all, London.".
Disliking the hysteria and sensationalization of day to day legal decisions is not bitterness but maturity.
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Holland (Score:2)
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Except that 'holland' does not exist as anything other than as a general geographical region. There's the country the Netherlands, and there are the provinces North Holland and South Holland. And those don't keep company registers. So it's probably safe to assume that 'Holland' here is the colloquially used term for The Netherlands (as we tend to do ourselves, adding to the general confusion but always giving the pedantics like me and gp something to do).
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to be fair... (Score:1)
That's not going to make (Score:2, Interesting)
the fat, racist, overpriced cabbies happy! "They come over 'ere, with their apps and technology... you can't beat the knowledge". Turns out, you can; you just need to know where you are, where you're going, and how to get there. Works fine when I'm travelling abroad; why do you suppose it should stop working in London? (North London at that; they don't like driving South of the river...too many darkies, right fat boy?)
Re:That's not going to make (Score:4, Insightful)
Google maps or whatever Uber drivers are using is not better than the Knowledge.
Uh, what? Google knows with far more precision than any cabbie where the roads are, where they go, what's on them, what it looks like, and when each particular road tends to have the highest utilization. That's because Google not only "never" forgets, but also because a cabbie is just one person, but Google reads the driving behavior of many.
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There's nothing unique about London cabbies, in that regard. All over the world there are drivers who are familiar with the road system they live/work in.
Amused how you managed to find a way to imply that, as someone who spells utilization that way, his opinion is somehow inferior to a natives! (You might, given this attitude - to say nothing of your username - like "the book of Dave", by Will Self, which imagines a future society which has at its scripture a notebook from a 20th century London cab driver!
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Except London cabdrivers are required by law to know the roads. They have to literally memorize the map of London and be able to instantly create a trip given any two endpoints without consulting a map. (That is part of the test). Most cabbies spend 1-2 years just studying for this part of the test.
That has been one of the distinguishing features of London
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Except London cabdrivers are required by law to know the roads. They have to literally memorize the map of London and be able to instantly create a trip given any two endpoints without consulting a map. (That is part of the test). Most cabbies spend 1-2 years just studying for this part of the test.
That has been one of the distinguishing features of London taxis - the drivers know where they're going. By law.
You might also want to point out that it is illegal for a licensed cab driver to NOT pick up a fare because of race or because they want to go to a less profitable trip. Not to say that it never happens, but they can be fined if caught discriminating. There is no such requirement that ANYONE from uber accept a fare requesting to go to the poor side of town, or take you from the supermarket back to your home if they don't think they'll be able to get a paying fare back to the downtown districts.
Once any less
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Umm.. you do realize that if the Google technology is all that great, then the experienced cabbies can just get one of the traffic broadcast tools.
Which is better, experienced London cabbie+technology, or some random guy+technology?
The london cabbie is also regulated on price. Ueber has "surge" pricing, so you can suddenly be gouged by Ueber when they detect a period when they can get away with charging more.
Re: That's not going to make (Score:1)
Suspect you have never been to London, and possibly haven't used Google. Try it. It doesn't work. Race an average guy with satnav against a cabbie without, cabbie still wins. And Google is wrong about about my journey daily (I am not a cabbie).
Re: That's not going to make (Score:2)
Google doesn't know anything. I've met her .... Being serious you totally lost credibility when you started anthropomorphising a network of computers. Be scientific, the test has been done repeatedly between satnavs and trained cabbies - cabbies still win.
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Traffic info (Score:1)
Anyone know where Goog gets this info? From some public traffic report, or by polling/interpreting data from local mobile devices?
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Do you take one day a week out of your life to worship Google, or does Google know that your thoughts are of Google and this is penance enough?
I have real concerns about Google's proliferation, and their expanding control of information, but that doesn't change the validity of the point. Google knows right now where people are stuck in traffic and where they aren't, all over the world. And they have street-level imagery of streets individual cabbies haven't been down. What a cab driver might know that google maps won't tell you is where the high-crime areas are. You might want to route around them. On the other hand, few of those areas are the mos
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Google knows almost no information that is not known already by someone else.
Yes, someone else. But not everyone else. Google compiles information and then makes sense of it, that's what makes it valuable. That information is only slightly valuable when spread across a population, it's highly valuable when centralized.
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Where on *earth* have you been going? Every cab I've been in has had a smartphone / satnav in it, but it's only used for obscure journeys.
Cabs (Score:5, Interesting)
I avoid using cabs, despite the fact that two of my family members drive them for a living.
Sorry, they are expensive, inflexible and provide little advantage in somewhere like London. When you do need them (Tube strikes, etc.,) they are impossible to use.
I've spent an evening walking home from the theatre with a lady with severe knee problems trying to hail a cab. We'd had to help them them to the underground station before we found one that would stop (even when they were showing as available). We were sober, well-dressed, just stepped out of the Royal Albert Hall, had a lady in obvious pain on our shoulders, had waited 20 mins to avoid walking / crowds and in the end made it to our destination before we could hail one.
The last time a train of mine was cancelled, I was on my way to a filming of a TV show in the afternoon. I came out of the train station 30 mins after I should have been on a train further into London, and there were four cabs waiting. All refused to take two people deeper into London because "they'd have to drive back" - it was the middle of the afternoon, so it wasn't like they wanted to get home. In the end, we ran home, got in our car, drove to the place and got there just in the nick of time.
I just don't see the cab in the future of a city like London. We're famously rude as a nation, and cabbies are probably among the worst. They are only there for gullible tourists, from what I see. Sure, there will be exceptions, but the fact is that I've avoided cabs for 15 years and when forced to use them, haven't been able to.
Last time I used one was when my boss was paying for me to come to a meeting with him and we went about 800 yards in one. I'm just glad I wasn't the one paying, and if I remember, we walked back.
There is a distinction between "Hackney Carriage" and just a private mini-cab in terms of service - the mini-cab will generally turn up when you book them and will know where they are going to and not refuse it. But London taxis? Forget it. All this is is confirmation that some guy who wants the job tries harder to help you than someone who has a protected living and specialist privileges.
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Not to forget their cars are specifically designed for London's streets
In that they have four wheels and a decent turning radius?
and can fit 5 people in the back with ease.
Are you sure? Brits are getting fatter with alarming alacrity.
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They have a ridiculously small turning circle, surprising acceleration, and a roomy, disabled-accessible interior.
Your comment about fat people is absolutely pointless, as you well know, and doesn't exactly reflect well on you.
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Your comment about fat people is absolutely pointless, as you well know, and doesn't exactly reflect well on you.
Ah yes, it's cute when people say it about Americans, but it's offensive when Americans say it about other people. Be still, my whining violin.
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If any refuse you again then take their number and report them. They are obliged by their licence to take you anywhere less than 12 miles if they stop for you.
Can someone please explain... (Score:1)
...how in the case where two groups of people doing essentially the same job are subject to entirely different rules and regulations is "a victory for common sense" ?
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Uh, I don't think the United Kingdom has any Republicans, or at least none with any particular political power...
Maybe not American Republicans... But the UK is currently in the grips of a Conservative government (that party is actually called the Conservatives but commonly referred to as the Tories) and much like the US conservatives, they hate the working class with a passion.
Re:Expect the Republicans... (Score:5, Insightful)
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I thought it was Labour that try to make the rich richer and accept back-handers from industry leaders? Or was it the LibDems? Maybe I'm just getting confused, but it seems like they're all equally sleazebags and they'll say whatever they think people want to hear.
I think you've summed up the whole of politics in that last sentence of yours there. We rarely see it described so succinctly.
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If you can't live within your means the cuts are going to happen one way or another whether you want them to or not. The current method is simply to inflate the currency (print or borrow) until it is worth less. That monthly welfare handout drops in buying power even as they increase the dollar/pound amount on the check.
If you think either part is "pro-working class/poor" you are an idiot. They are "pro" themselves and that's it.
Re: Expect the Republicans... (Score:2)
Spending cuts targeting benefits that haven't cut the debt or deficit (go read the government stats) are politically motivated. And you sir, by name calling, have already lost the argument.
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It's all of them. Now move on.
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Except the vast majority of British Conservatives regard America Republicans as slightly loony extreme right wing. They have far more in common with the Democrats which goes to show how right wing American politics is.
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Uh, I don't think the United Kingdom has any Republicans, or at least none with any particular political power...
British republicans are av fringe group, as you would expect the term "republican" has an entirely different meaning [republic.org.uk] in a monarchy, constitutional or otherwise.
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I believe, the Green Party (with 1 MP) has an official policy of republicanism, so technically there is at least one. I gather a few other MPs support this as well. Of course this is a pedantic reinterpretation of what republicanism means.
In fairness, the US's Democratic party has an official policy of republicanism. Every Democrat elected official from President Obama on down was, tautologically, either elected by individual voters, or selected in some manner to fill an unexpired term. In either case, the Democrat elected official is charged with voting on behalf of their constituents; their constituents don't get to vote themselves.
Also of note, the US's Republican party has an official policy of support for a democratic system of govern
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"Republic" doesn't mean what you think it does. It has nothing to do with democracy. It simply means a country that is not ruled by a dynastic leader. That's it.
So both parties have an official policy of republicanism if they are not actively seeking to replace the president with a leader chosen by dynasty.
Re: Expect the Republicans... (Score:3)
*cough* Bush
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Sinn Fein are a republican party, but very different to the US Republican Party. They are the second largest party in Northern Ireland, and want Northern Ireland to be part of the Republic of Ireland rather than the UK. They sit as part of the European United Left–Nordic Green Left in the EU Parliament, so very much to the left of the US Republicans.
Re:Expect the Republicans... (Score:4, Funny)
I don't think they hate people who make a living - they're just trying to serve up some booze.
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It makes me laugh that the USA used to be so happy to fund terrorism and now they get so crazy scared of terrorists that they allow their government to run rough-shod all over their constitution.