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This Wasn't Supposed To Happen: European Cab Protests Lead To 850% Increase In New Uber Users
As we reported earlier, today Europe woke up more congested than usual, with traffic snarled up beyond recognition for one simple reason: from London, to Madrid, to Berlin some 12,000 taxi drivers took to the streets... and parked there, in protest of the $18.2 billion-valued startup Uber, which has grown so fast it i) has threatened the livelihood of cab drivers from San Francisco to Stockholm, and ii) is about to launch a myriad of copycat services in this no barriers to entry model where distributed participation is merely a question of where the driver earns the most money, and thus, which company is willing to generate the lowest profits (or most negative cash flow) in order to thrive - think Amazon.
Valuation questions aside, it appears that the European taxi driver protest has led to the one outcome which not only none of the protest participants anticipated, but had desperately hoped to avoid: a sharp surge in Uber popularity and further cannibalization of the legacy taxi customer base which disgusted by the taxi protest looked for, and found, alternative means of transportation. According to the Independent, "Uber said it experienced an 850 per cent increase new users today as London's black cabs staged a protest that brought gridlock to the city centre."
How did this latest attempt to stop progress and customer choice backfire so dramatically? Simple:
Drivers’ unions said that the rise of Uber is leading people to contact unlicensed drivers without any checks on whether they are legitimate.
But Uber's UK and Ireland general manager Jo Bertram said: “Londoners are voting with their fingers, tapping the app in support of new and innovative services as we see our biggest day of sign-ups in London today since launch two years ago.
"In fact, today we're seeing an 850 per cent increase in sign-ups compared to last Wednesday. The results are clear: London wants Uber in a big way.”
Uber described the union representing black cab drivers, the Licensed Taxi Drivers Association (LTDA), as “stuck in the dark ages”, and accused it of “holding London to ransom” with an economic impact of £125 million.
Of course, there is no way to actually check if Uber is merely making up this uber surge in sign ups: certainly start ups desperate for even more buzz (and venture capital spending) have been known to fib now and then at important milestones in their lifecycles, but even if the number is one uber lie, the reality remains: as long as local governments try to extract their pound of flesh by regulating the cab business, be it in the US, or Europe, alternative providers such as Uber will prosper unhindered by encroaching bureaucracy, at least until said (very much broke) governments decide it is time to regulate the Ubers of the world too.
This may be the legacy taxi drivers' last hope:
The RMT's Ian Beetlestone said he hoped the demonstration would send a message that Uber is “operating in a grey area”.
He said: “We are not objecting to competition. We have had competition for years from minicabs but we haven't caused gridlock over it.
“We have to jump through hoops to be regulated and we don't feel people involved in these new apps are being subjected to the same regulations.”
Similar taxi driver protests took place today in Madrid, Milan, Berlin and Paris. Uber now operates in more than 100 cities in 30 countries and last week was valued at $18.2 billion, a fivefold increase in the space of a year. If the valuation is to be believed, an app launched five years ago is now worth more than the global car hire firm Hertz, which was founded in 1918.
Well, for all taxi drivers stuck in the middle ages, we have good news: in this day and age, in which every government is seeking to tax, and otherwise extract pounds, and tons if possible, of flesh from anything that generates any cash flows, it is only a matter of time before Uber too succumbs to one then another, then a third corrupt official working for that multi-headed hydra which merely takes and never gives: the local government.
It also means that in a few years, anyone who extrapolated Uber's growth rate in perpetuity, and assigned a valuation to match, will be very much regretting they day when they valued the company higher than Chipotle, Autozone, Dollar General, Loews, Seagate and so on. Because the days of free enterprise in a "fairness doctrine" world are numbered.
For now, however, enjoy the almost free ride, and watch and learn as the government destroys yet another business model.
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It's kinda hard for a strike to be effective when there is a new pool of available and ready workers (in this case uber drivers) willing to provide the same service for less.
Latka: You known in my country everyone shares with everyone.
Elaine: Oh thats beautiful.
Latka: Otherwise they shoot you.
There is no unintended market consequence that cannot be fixed by more government.
"Uber said it experienced an 850 per cent increase new users today as London's black cabs staged a protest that brought gridlock to the city centre."
How could Uber's business increase 850% if they use the same gridlocked streets..??
App downloads moron.
So they had a surge in people downloading a free app to their phone, which takes a couple seconds, not an 850% increase in actual revenue or service usage.
Isn't that kind of like a news story resulting in increased traffic to your company homepage?
An eye-opener maybe?
But look at the other side - how much does a cab licence cost - if you paid for protection, you expect to get protection.
That's SMAC Marketing coming right at ya.
Newspeak: "We have had to jump through hoops to be regulated"
Translation: "We've worked long and hard paying off crony bureaucrats to have the government enforce our monoply"
Close but in reverse. From taxicab driver it''s more like -
I pay my local taxes - Uber doesn't.
I purchased my business permit from the city - Uber didn't.
My vehicle is regulated and inspected - Uber's isn't.
I have commecial insurance requirement - Uber refuses to comply.
Get the picture? Don't believe every pump-n-dump you're witnessing.
you are driving around in a marked vehicle openly soliciting random pedestrian traffic - Uber doesn't
you are advertising your service for mass consumption to an uninformed client - Uber doesn't - it serves known clients who go out of their way to request Uber specifically
There is a MASSIVE difference in a private contracted car transport service and open public flag down taxi driving on the road hoping to be infront of someone when needed.
Uber is not a taxi service. It is basically an affordable limo service. these are nothing new and there is a reason they are not regulated like traditional hail for service taxis.
Yeah, I get the picture
Your comment is spot on! UBER isn't cheap and requires a credit card on file to use their service.
Sometimes taxis are flag-down type services (random pickup) but where I live, for example, they are never used this way. Taxis have to be called and they come to wherever you are. Same thing that Uber does, except they have to comply with all the local laws and regulations imposed on them (read: expenses).
Cry me a river. Free people should be able to choose to contract with another free person in allegedly free countries in any manner they wish. That is all that matters. Can drivers shouldn't be complaining about über, they should be questioning why they have to do all those things you listed above at all. That's the real problem. But of course most people are too dense to ask those questions, and too used to bein told what to do.
That's exactly what they are complaining about.
It's like 90% of the people on this thread need to brush up on their reading comprehension.
From that article itself:
He said: “We are not objecting to competition. We have had competition for years from minicabs but we haven't caused gridlock over it.
“We have to jump through hoops to be regulated and we don't feel people involved in these new apps are being subjected to the same regulations."
I read the article. Nothing wrong with my reading comprehension. What I got out of it is that they want über to be subjected to the same regulations the cabs are, not the cabbies saying they should ALL be free to conduct business as free people in a manner of their choosing.
I was agreeing with you. I was saying a lot of the other people on this thread are misreading the article.
Sure, it would be ideal if cabbies were free to conduct their business as free people... either way, the key thing I got out of it is there's a double standard here...one for Uber cabs, another for regular cabs
and to that I say..."Gunga, gunga, gunga ga-lunga. On your deathbed you will receive total consciousness."
Cry me a river.
Or at least adjust the attitude, now with a new competition in town. NYC taxi drivers can be fucking assholes.
The clarion call of business world wide.
I use Uber
Great service.
When you have to walk several blocks just to wait and hail a cab, they come right to your door in 7 minutes
Survival of the fittest BITCHEZ!!!
plus, they speak your language
Walk several blocks??!!
F that. The cabbie should come in your house and carry you to the chariot.
plus hearing someone complain about walking several blocks while declaring "survival of the fittest" is... awesome.
Guess pushing a stroller in the rain is a better option AND fighting for the next car.
Go fuck yourself.
I gave you an upvote simply because of the mental picture your comment gave me.
A surly NYC cabby carrying a man in a suit holding a briefcase on his shoulders as he shouts "survival of the fittest", as they head towards a waiting cab, where the fare hasn't been started yet.
Some individuals like to praise this self-glorified car service.
Others had a less "glorious" experiences such as -
having to pay medical bills following an accident in which
Uber driver was not properly insured,
or pehaps this young woman that was plain kidnapped by an Uber
driver only a few days ago:
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-uber-driver-kidnapping-hotel-20140603-story.html
Totally correct. Like that one time when we had too much dangerous freedom and then the govt came in and fixed everything and made it all perfectly safe? Remember that time? Me neither, cuz it never fuckin happens.
"...and that's all she wrote!"
That story doesn't really make sense tbh. She was drunk and can't remember anything - maybe she consented to go with him to the motel? He didn't sexually "abuse" her all night, but waited until the morning, then let her freely go when she didn't want to? So what exactly did he do wrong, then?
IMO sounds like an innocent guy got led on by a drunk girl, did nothing to her, and is probably going to go to prison for it because, you know, just looking at someone the wrong way is abuse nowadays (especially true if they're a female).
And we are supposed to believe numbers provided by Uber itself?
Sure. Gazillion % growth every two weeks.
can't wait until this happens in medicine!
Open heart surgeries at market prices? No experience or license needed.
Download the app. Have your pants on. And you all set.
(Last requirement is optional).
LOL!!!
Now that's funny. Economics are a motherfucker when your on her bad side.
Yes, I am sure these are real numbers
Why not? I woke today with news about Uber in the morning, every effing news bulletin on radio started with news about Uber, evening news featured Uber prominently. And I am about to download the Uber app to my tablet just to piss the cabbie dinosaurs.
It's hard to take the Italian protestors seriously. When I was in Italy last summer, just about every other cab was illegal. And yet the cabbies never protested against *them*. That and none of the cabs, legal or illegal, bothered to turn on their meter.
Doh! Who could have seen that one coming? Certainly not the embedded cretins who would hold the country hostage because of some competition. Market forces are a bitch.
"the internet is going to ruin everything" said a jew businessman to a cnbc reporter in 1998. yup
For a minute there, I thought that was my quote being repeated. But I wasn't that smart yet in 1988. And I'm not Jewish.
check out "flight car" in san francisco, where you lease your rig out at the airport while you fly (rather than paying to park it). sfo sued the company for "unfair and deceptive trade practices". not sure of the disposition. desperate times for the established order. https://flightcar.com/
Yes....I was talking to an Antique Dealer a few weeks ago......
he said it was really great before the Net stuffed everything up.......
now too many people are informed.....
Market forces supposed to operate within the bounds of the law, dear doctor.
Otherwise we can call offshore-based money-laundering operation
with an IPhone app - a "progress" and be done with it.
Having a double-standard is unfair. That's what this protest is about.
Laws written by special interests you mean. Market forces help tear down those laws that are designed to protect the status quo.
That's a perfect example of mass media meme sponsored by and brought to you by those
who plan (and do) benefit from reaping off thousands of law-abiding
small transportation businesses.
How is having my vehicle inspected 4 times a year a
"protection" for my small business?
How is me paying for my business permit to the local municipality
is "protecting" anything? You want to compete - it's free for all -
have a permit and operate.
Municipal permits are city revenue. Not my personal profit.
Funny how destruction of small businesses for the sake of creating
yet another offshore-based tax-evading monopoly is manipulated
into "general good".
Oh, war is peace, freedom is slavery. I forgot... Back to normal.
Go on.
Some excellent points. Another case of the big boys wiping out small business. Uber, the Walmart of the cab buniness. I know there are very few here that support Walmart after their destruction of small business, yet this is no different.
"How is me paying for my business permit to the local municipality
is "protecting" anything? You want to compete - it's free for all -
have a permit and operate"
In many jurisdictions the number of permits allowed is restricted. It is a golden ticket to make money, since only a limited number of people are allowed to do it.
On the other hand, if you let people have free-for-all competition, people will keep undercutting each other until they are operating at a loss, or by reducing expenses like maintenance.
These laws exist to make the government rich and keep them and their friends in power. Think hard - what's the down side to Uber? Taxi drivers will lose their government-enforced monopoly. People will pay less for rides. Taxi drivers may have to become Uber drivers instead, and take a cut in pay.
Are you seriously suggesting that free markets are bad because taxi drivers somehow deserve to get paid more than the fair market price for their services?
Off-shore money laundering blah blah blah. All of this is people trying to keep their money out of grasp of the government, which tries to steal money from people to feed itself. They are all good things that are slandered in popular opinion because they threaten the government's grip on everyone.
Cost of a NYC Taxi Medallion: $1,000,000. Might be double that since the last time I checked. And you wonder why apps like Uber are growing in popularity?
That's $1,000.000 in NYC municipal revenue.
Not offshore Uber bank accounts.
That's $1,000,000 in extortion money. Quit defending government theft. It's no different than the mob shaking people down for protection money.
The battle is ALWAYS over resources and markets.
People tend to forget markets and this story is a prime example of their importance.
How is $1,000.000 paid to the city for a business license is an extortion? Enlighten me.
And how is that an offshore corporation that pays no local taxes, has
no business license to operate - yet has biillions to spent - is doing
more "general good" than my local tax-paying small business?
You seem to be getting it backwards.
And I leave a technology part of this discussion out - because
there are hundreds of apps that do same, and better than Uber -
yet we never even hear about them. Fair? I don't think so.
The government force people into buying "business licenses" if they want to engage in the market. If you don't buy one, they'll send their mob around to beat you up and lock you up. Pretty clearly extortion, just as taxation is theft.
But Uber is operating. Right? No one is sending any "mob" to stop it. See? These are facts.
What taxi drivers want is fairness, not vendetta.
Fairness as in limiting the amount of medallions so that they cost a mil + and cutting down on competition and keeping rates high for consumers.
You mean that kind of 'fairness'?
"That's $1,000.000 in NYC municipal revenue."
Yeah that argument will win you a lot of support.
Well. It should. These municipl funds are paying for road repairs, schools construction, pension being paid, etc. Look into financial municipal statements - you will see it all there.
I'm supposed to believe that offshore-based Uber taking off with
that cash to its offshore bank accounts, already swelled by easy billions, is better? Better for a few oligarchs standing behind it - sure.
Think of how many machine guns could NYC buy with that extra tax revenue to keep its citizens in line...
Revenue, for what product or service?
thats 1M in mob theft
remove
Can You say FINANCIALIZATION & TAXATION ?
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-02-28/if-uber-is-killing-taxis...
"This week, New York held an auction for individual yellow-cab medallions, the rare and wonderful permits that give drivers the right to operate a taxi and pick up street hails. Winning bidders paid as much as $965,000 for the latest batch of medallions. Last year the city drew even higher, record-setting prices in an auction for corporate medallions, which went for as much as $1.26 million. That record will be broken in the coming weeks when a single medallion changes hands for $1.31 million, according to Andrew Murstein of Medallion Financial, which is helping finance the deal.
If you were to go back in time and invest in a single asset, taxi medallions would be an excellent way to make a fortune. Increases in New York’s taxi medallion values have far outpaced traditional investments such as gold. Since 1980, medallion values have soared more than 1,000 percent, while gold gained 181 percent, according to Bloomberg News."
The Cabs in NYC were caught routinely ripping off the Customers with doctored meters that ran fast, bridge toll inflation, etc. for years.
I try never to take Taxi Cabs or Black Cars if I can help it. Better to pay a Friend cash for an arranged ride..
Info/link provided, and personal opinion and response provided; -SOMEBODY is getting hella rich off the Medallion scam or it would have collapsed a long time ago. Maybe the mobsters that accrued the Medallions in the 1970's; -but, still...
Don't worry the government will create a level playing field.
What they should do is deregulate, cut bureaucracy and reduce costs of cab drivers to make them more competitive and let the free market decide. Unfortunately they will increase the cost of Uber to match that of cabs so they can get their cut.
Once again the customer loses.
yah the gov will create a "too bad you aren't on our level" playing field. Now hand over your money or we will kill you.
"Hello, I'm Johnny Cab, where can I take you tonight?"
http://www.virtualworldlets.net/Worlds/Listings/TotalRecall/JohnnyCab.jpg
Video: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xq3xfq_johnny-cab_shortfilms
Taxi drivers would be better off quitting their 'official' jobs, and taking advantage off all that apparent customer demand. On the side, off the books. And untaxed.
NYC drivers should tell the city to shove its million-dollar medallion up its greedy ass. Just drive around rogue, and pick your customers up in your unmarked car.
You are a honorary member of my Club, dear Mr. Bemused Observer. This is thinking to my liking.
The Revolution has many faces...
Thanks...:-)
I'm no good at the actual physical fighting, but there's ALL kinds of ways to 'gum up the works'. Going around the obstacles is often a lot easier and more effective than actively fighting them.
Also, fighting just gives them a target to go after. Non-cooperation on a wide scale would be impossible for them to fight against.
And, I love the message it sends...You aren't even worth my energy and effort to fight. I'll just go around your sorry ass...
one small step in the direction of the unregulated underground economy takeover.
Unfortunately, everything is tracked and will be "appropriately" back taxed when .gov gets its shit together on the matter.
when I see tax free, untracked revenue for the drivers, then i'll be impressed.
#ProjectMayhem
Regulated transportation is one of the last municipal revenue sources for many cities across the states.
How privatization by offshore-based Uber of that revenue will
help anyone except the oligarchs behind Uber?
It's your property taxes that will compensate for reduced city revenue.
Look at city financial statements - income from regulated transportation are embedded in each nd every one.
Same $$$$ that was city revenue is now taken offshore to Uber
bank accounts.
This is one of many many examples of municipalities charging fees but delivering no service. Every such instance in the municipality should be exploited just like Uber is doing. This would force municipalities to charge (tax) only for services the citizens want to buy. Citizens should demand a pay as you use fee ... and refuse to use if the fee is too high. Governments no longer get unlimited blank checks. Citizens will come up with more and more ways to tell governments they "don't want their services ... at any price." Governments are blood sucking parasites and this is another great can of "Off" repellant.
Double-post.
Safe accessibility-enabled public transportation is a service.
I'm sure that young woman who was kidnapped by an uber driver just a few days ago would agree:
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-uber-driver-kidnapping-hotel-20140603-story.html
Just like the mafia's first reaction to someone refusing their protection service is to burn a place down, so governments will use the same tactic to convice us they really are providing a service. It's called a false flag. They are masters of the technique. Brace for it ... but don't yield to it.
This how the mini cabs work in England I think. While there our group negotiated a "fair" price with a mini-cab driver before we evn got in the cab. Also, the drunker you are the more money the mini-cab drivers tend to recieve. The free markets at play
In the wild west days in Moscow in the early 90s, all one had to do to get a ride was to put one's hand out and private cars would stop.
Even, ambulances would make a detour for the extra cash!
"You- sit in back. If he turn grey give push on chest."
They still do that in Kazan.
Stereisand effect strikes again.
Cue uber-driven murders in 5,4,3, ...
Uber tried to "legalize" its entry into the Florida market at the state level this past legislative session. Uber, Lyft, and others have also tried to "play nice" with local regulatory entitites most recently - and notably - in Miami-Dade County, but also Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, and no doubt elsewhere. The state level effort (somewhat surprisingly) failed. Uber - UberX actually - and Lyfyt have said eff it and they are running openly "illegal" in Miami-Dade getting fined including confiscation of vehicles, etc - no doubt to setup a court based legal challenge.
While the Taxi industry-lobby leads the fight this also will affect the "black car" - limo - operators, too and so they, too, are engaged as well.
As in most paces, the local regulatory framework is a mess. Permits are regulated, restricted, expensive, and worse. Perhaps the worse, though, is this.
Consider that the Southeast Florida - Palm Beach County, Broward County, and Miami-Dade County - area is home to regulatory entities at the county level and also separate regulatory entities for the FLL and MIA airports as well as Port Eveglades and Port Miami. Palm Beach consolidates PBI airport and Port of Palm Beach, but in all cases a "black car" operator must buy annual registration stickers to operate - up to 7 registrations/stickers all of which cost an increasing amount of money annually. And, MIA, FLL, and PortMiami require a transponder so you are charged per pickup or dropoff. It's a little different for Taxis, but still.
While a certain degree of regulation makes sense - driver background checks, vehicle safety checks, insurance verification (commercial insurance is very expensive) - it's a redundant mess in the area and seems as much about collecting government fees as anything else.
What was never clear in the Uber effort at the state level - nominally regulation at the state level and exclusion from local regulation - was how that would have been grossly unfair to the existing "black car" businesses. Would have made more sense if the propsed legislation would have been for ALL for-hire vehcle operators.
Yes, I have a dog in this hunt but I also understand the role technology has to play. It is unfortunate that all of this is tainted by the corrupt political process at what seems to be all levels.
And in the meantime Carlos is killin 'it in his lowrider selling rides and weed.
"Ehhh...Orale, you want some mota, esse?"
I'm going to start Buber and have topless women drivers. I will also buy a bunch of Google's driverless cars, so the drivers can ride in the back seat with you. Any VC's want in on the ground floor?
I'll give you a big bag of money to invest in this business.
One question though - since the cars are driverless, can we have the topless female drivers serve drinks in the back to the customers?
can you order a car with two drivers? :-D
Yes, but no midgets or farm animals....this is going to be a classy business.
Maybe I'm missing something from the article...but wtf IS an 'uber' ?
I know, I gave the article only 2 stars because nowhere I could find what Uber was.
There:
https://www.uber.com/
It's an app for you smartphone that lets you request a driver that will come pick you up wherever you are (GPS address is enough), and is cashless, as it will debit your credit card automatically. Pretty neat, actually.
AH ok thanks.
Yeah it's really neat, just like calling a cab company on your phone and they send a taxi right to your door, and you pay by swiping a credit card through the reader.
Seriously, I don't get the Uber value proposition (unless Uber is way cheaper than a taxi, but that hasn't been my experience in the city I live in).
This app also has no barriers to competition. It's not the concept I have a problem with, it's the ludicrous valuation. I can't wait for copycat apps to start appearing that take a $1 cut from the fare instead of 20%. Where will this turd be valued then?
Economics 101
Well, I hate taking a taxi in Paris. Uncouth, surly drivers, hating the traffic, hating their job, and hating you. And for this, you pay a fortune.
By the way, excellent post from an excellent blog written by a taxi driver. It's called "The pig trap" (guess who the pigs are):
http://taxicabdepressions.com/?p=1193
"decribing the union representing black cab drivers, the Licensed Taxi Drivers Associationn (LTDA), as “stuck in the dark ages”, "
As opposed to having the capacity to roll out a global busuness model with backers at the apex of of banking and tech. Totally, dinosaurs.
Taxicab owners offer their own apps and their own websites. And these are developed by local startups, not offshore Uber.
Yet - we hear very little about these apps and websites.
With $17 BILLION valuation - I'm sure - Uber is spending good few hundreds millions on endless self-adverisements.
Not unlike Enron pre-IPO.
If I were an Uber driver I would keep a little black book (phone book app) with steady customers-- cut Uber out of the loop?? Oh you're already doing that ----sorry.
Bingo.
When it comes to copycats and competition, Uber is a bug in search of a windshield. There's no competitive moat.
Hard to feel too sorry for London black cab drivers. Self employed, cash business. Underdeclared earnings. No doubt next years declared returns will be even lower off the back of this.
Just wait till driverless cars hit mainstream.
They will put all the taxi drivers out of business, then put all the big car companies out of business. Why own a car when you can hire one at 1/10 the current price per journey? Each taxi can make around 30 journeys per day, which means about 1/30th the sales.Then they'll put all the train, bus and tram companies out of business; why wait for a bus or train when you can get a taxi for the same price which picks you up at your door and delivers you direct to your destination.
But who would you practice your Farsi or Pashtun with?
BRB, I've gotta go take an Uber.
This shouldn't be a fight between the taxi drivers and uber, it should be a fight between the taxi drivers and the licensing authorities. They made the price of licensed taxis so ridiculous.
It all comes down to taxes.
not taxis.
Upvote.
The only post on here so far that shows understanding of the real issue.
Dear Uber,
You must pay more to the pols and crats than the current monopoly holders.
Don't you know?!
An experienced corruption watcher.
It's all fun and games until tourists start ending up under bridges raped and strangled. I'm not sure the uber model will last very much longer after that.
Watch for it. It's guaranteed. The obvious defensive tactic. 9/11 was just such a tactic.
Part of my small business customer base comes to me via just such peer to peer internet apps and new app creators who service vendors and customers. My business is under threat by cities and states seeking to destroy our business model because they are under big corporate pressure that we are taking big business customers and that we may not be paying sufficent taxes to local authorities. Though all our income is declared to the IRS.
Those who have captured a market and have a business model of long standing, do not want new competiton that favors customers by offering cheaper service, more choices and freedom of the peer to peer model. It's simple, Big Corporate Capitalists HATE new competition, HATE IT! They always seek captive government to put in regulations and taxes and laws to drive out newer, and better service provides. This talk of free markets is bull shit lies. Corporate America hates the free market.
Yes but that's not what going on here. Taxi drivers don't hold gov't captive. It's the other way around. Gov't imposes burdensome regulations on taxi drivers. Uber is a totally unoriginal/obvious idea. Don't you think cab drivers would be doing the same thing at similar prices since long ago, if it wasn't for gov't regulation?
The cabbies are bitching because Uber competes against them by breaking the laws that they have to comply with.
I'm sure if you check the history, Yellow and Checker lobbied hard "for" regulation. In the beginning anyone could be a cab company. Limiting competition and protecting territories is where "all" regulations come from.
no one likes to see their margins ruined by upstarts. in this growth environment, it's all corporate america has to stand on.
welcome to the global marketplace, america. we're going to learn quickly that living high on the hog doing things people in other countries do for a fraction of the price, with the backstop that we issue a reserve currency was a poor business model from the beginning.
I assure you, Jack. That Uber - by far - is the biggest "corporate capitalist" in transportation industry.
None of the taxi fleets come even close to Uber's valuation.
Uber has politicians, bankers, oligarchs in its own pocket. For example, after Chicago major's brother became
an "investor" in Uber - Uber got green light to operate license and fee free in Chicago.
I cannot wait until uber drivers start protesting the google car. oh, the irony.
give it 20 years
Governments are fucking retarded. They keep trying to make these weird/inconsistent laws. Example: it's legal for me to make wine. I'll go to jail for a very long time if I sell that wine, but I'm allowed to give it away for free. Same with sex. Same with giving people a ride in my car. I can understand needing a license to drive a bus or a limo because that's not quite the same as driving a regular car.
I'm a horse and buggy driver and this uber thingy is very, very disconcerting.
This is just the first step. What will the taxi drivers do when the driverless taxis arrive? Burn down the city?
Or when I start my teleportation service business..
It ain't easy.
My Mag-Lev Underwear Monorail System was a sure fire winner except the VC guys had no imagination.
Okay, I admit that the butt-cheek squeeze braking plan needed more work but give a guy a chance.