'Oh great Commission, save us from the French' pleads Uber Uber has filed three official complaints with the European Commission, a spokesman confirmed. The two latest actions are against France and Spain, where the ride-sharing service is banned. The third complaint was also made against France last year. The Commish refused to go into detail about the content of the complaints, …
There's nothing wrong with ordering a taxi via an app. There's everythgin wrong with offering taxi services where there is no audit system in place to ensure that:
1) Taxis and their drivers have all relevant licensing and insurance
2) Taxi drivers are known, background checked and less likely than the average citizen to be crazy murderapists
3) Taxi drivers are somewhat capable of driving (we hope)
4) Taxi drivers are not allowed to discriminate on who they pick up
5) Taxi companies cover the whole of the city, not just the lucrative bits
There are some others, but you get the idea. There is a pretty big difference between a licensed and regulated taxi company and "Bob's free candy van and iPhone App emporium".
@Trevor_Potts
You've not been to France, have you?
Taxis in France are a law unto themselves.
They refuse fares, overcharge, don't bother working after 10pm and just hang around airports and train stations all day for the 2 or 3 lucrative runs before heading home.
Also they are massively overpriced and represented by a mafia-like organization that brings cities to a standstill at the slightest whiff of reform or competition.
The worst taxis in the world by a country mile.
Still think it is really odd the different ways uber appears to operate in different locations.
Here in Ireland they seem to be able to work within the law with licenced taxi drivers, just operating really as a central booking service. Is it just a legislation barrier in other countries?
This post has been deleted by its author
> "you can buy airline tickets online, but it is still considered a transport service"
Depends who you buy them from, you numpty. Pretty sure lowcostholidays/expedia/cheapflights are not an airline and aren't regulated like one. BA/Ryanair et al. on the other hand are. The difference being, do you provide flights? The question here then becomes "do Uber provide taxi services?" In some markets they do (drivers are paid employees of Uber) and in some markets they are not (Uber simply link passengers with private vehicle owners).
Taxi regulations should be binned anyway. The alleged protection they once afforded passengers has long since been superseded by a stringent M.O.T. test and online references.
Depends who you buy them from, you numpty. Pretty sure lowcostholidays/expedia/cheapflights are not an airline and aren't regulated like one.
Airline tickets are tickets for transport services, regardless of the source, and as such are treated as transport services. Why does this matter? There is an industry exemption for the distance sales act that says that transport service providers may sell non-refundable services remotely.
I can see where you are coming from, the cheap firm certainly isn't giving you anything extra, but then neither are BA - everyone gets the exemption.
The Consumer Contracts Regulations (2014) has certain exemptions for regular distance selling regulations, but 'transport services' are no more special than haircuts or window washing. The same exemptions would apply to Uber.
What we are talking about is the additional, burdensome regulation of a company based on the service they provide. Are Uber providing a transportation service, or are they simply providing a marketplace and payment services. It seems clear to me that they are in the business of bringing buyers and sellers together (in the UK at least) much more than they are hiring drivers to take people places. ymmv.
When I buy a ticket on Expedia and my BA plane is delayed I get compensation from BA, not from Expedia. What they are trying to do to Uber is make them responsible for all the things that BA are responsible for, when they should be the drivers' responsibilities. That would mean higher fares, sobeit.
"Are Uber providing a transportation service, or are they simply providing a marketplace and payment services. It seems clear to me that they are in the business of bringing buyers and sellers together (in the UK at least) much more than they are hiring drivers to take people places."
And there's nothing wrong with being a market place for licensed transport services at all. The problem is when Uber doesn't enforce compliance with local laws for all those transport drivers signed up to it's service. Then it's no longer "helping people get taxis" it's "letting people roll the dice to see if they'll get Bob's Candy Van".
Exactly Trevor, it is irrelevant whether I order a taxi via a phone call from my smartphone or via one of the plethora of taxi apps, I am ordering a taxi and the driver has regulations they have to abide by. If Uber isn't ensuring its drivers are properly registered and insured.
They seem to thin, just because they a using a smartphone app, as opposed to a telephone call, that all the regulations for drivers plying for hire do not relate to them. Wrong. A driver plying for hire is a driver plying for hire, regardless of how he is informed about his fares.
> The problem is when Uber doesn't enforce compliance with local laws
Like being insured and having an MOT, or applicable insurance? Surely that's a driver's business? Why is Uber suddenly forced to regulate and inspect people on it's glorified craig's list page?
If someone wants to come up with an Uber competitor that enforces all these onerous regulations, and the market decides they want the additional safety or insurance coverage or whatever the perceived benefits are, great, but let the people choose.
Uber is employing / contracting these drivers to carry out services on their behalf. They are putting their paying customers into vehicles that Uber is paying for to transport those passengers from A to B.
Therefore it is their responsibility to ensure that all the drivers they sub-contract to are properly licensed and insured and that their vehicles meet local road worthiness rules - which are generally much higher for private hire vehicles than normal private vehicles.
The problem is, Uber are saying that it has nothing to do with them, whether the drivers are properly licensed and insured and that the vehicles are safe. Wrong. It is their responsibility to ensure that their drivers are properly licensed and insured.
It is the same in any other industry. If I hire people for a building site and I pay them cash in hand, then I am liable if the Customs & Excise catch onto it. Likewise, if I hire cheap foreign labour without checking that they have valid work permits, I am going to face fines. Uber is no different, they are hiring drivers without ensuring they are legal, therefore they are facing sanctions.
It would be very easy for Uber to ensure that their drivers are legal, but they refuse to do so, because that would cost time, money and hassle. Why do things legally, when you can cut corners and do things on the cheap and put your customers at risk?
The authorities take a dim view on such sharp practices and are sanctioning Uber appropriately. If Uber want to avoid sanctions they just need to stop being arrogant idiots and comply with the law.
Uber is a scam, imagine a country where hospitals and shools cound operate without any regulatios, Imagine a "university" teaching kids about a world 6000 years old, that is scam, don't accept anything like that into Europe. I do admit that there might be drivers who do not stand up to the stadard demanded but correcting a problem adding shit is not the solution. In Finland there is now a similar app for the whole country with wetted insured drivers and that is the way to go. Fuck off Uber fuck off.
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