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Uber
HENDRIK62
Member Posts: 3,146
I realise this isn't really poker related unless but perhaps I can shoehorn trips home from the casino to justify it :-)
As a London dweller, what is your take on the recent ruling regarding Uber?
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Call white knuckle ride for Mr Hendrik62 p
If you watched TV programme " Doing the Knowledge" you would see the stuff they have to go through to get even the easiest of the Area Licences pass. My son spent two years ridding around London on his Moped every evening & weekend.
I sat up nights testing him with cards with journeys on, how he remembered them god only know's. He went for countless exam's to cover the hole of Greater London before passing. He's not rich and struggles to cover costs. Sitting at the wheel all day takes it's toll on his health as the years roll. the only plus he say's, he can choose when he goes to work and what time. Uber drivers are being exploited, no regulation like H.G.V driving hours.
If the uber drivers had the same exacting tests and knowledge to go through, plus, spend the same amount money as a black cab cost (to be on the road) then it would be level playing field for everyone. Everyone wants to pay less but that comes at a cost with shoddy goods & services. "Sorry I may have killed your thread" don't let Uber driver kill you.
Well ..... are you sure? He keeps on visiting the Bank of Mum & Dad.
Personally I hate the idea of somebody inventing an App and then being allowed to take over an entire industry without paying it's "staff" a fair wage, without having the required health and safety procedures and most importantly, without paying any tax in this country.
On the first point...I notice that just a few weeks after arguing in court that Uber doesn't employ anyone I see they were trying to put out the propaganda that 40,000 people would lose their "job".
On the 2nd point, I wouldn't have thought it would be that hard for TFL to insist that Uber have the same safety requirements as say, Addison Lee, or any of the other small taxi companies that have gone to the wall during the "Uber revolution".
On the 3rd point I don't ever accept this argument that it's hard to tax these multinationals and they bring in lots of work to the country and they would just go if we tax them properly. I accept that Google might be a hard one to crack but for companies with infrastructure like Starbucks or McDonalds it just seems ridiculous...If you tax them fairly like all other businesses you will simply chase them out of the country and lots of people will lose their jobs...total nonsense...we will still want to eat burgers and drink coffee...we'll just have to go to smaller operators or big operators who play by the rules, the people can get jobs there and those places will flourish. Anyway, it's nonsense to suggest that McDonalds would not operate in the 6th biggest economy in the world if they had to pay a fair tax rate. Personally I think if a business only is viable because it doesn't pay fair wages and taxes then it should go to the wall.
Having said all of that I'm a massive hypocrite because I used Uber every day in Vegas this year. I had never used it before but I vowed to never again take a Vegas taxi...those people are the absolute worst. I found the Uber drivers to be all totally charming and they gave a much better service at cheaper price. I tipped every one of them in cash to bring the fare up to what it would have been in a cab.
Personally I think that TFL don't need Uber. They should simply run a version of it themselves...build their own App, pay the drivers more and charge a slightly higher fare which brings it in line with mini-cabs.