Uber Australia hiring lawyers, PR flaks Uber Australia has two interlinked problems: because its operations appear to be against current regulations, and it behaves with impunity, a fair share of the public thinks it is a corporate scoundrel. What a surprise then, that on the HR wishlist for the company's Sydney office are the following roles: Lead country counsel …
"Uber's argument, to date, is that it gives consumers a choice in regulated industries that protect lazy incumbents. Those incumbents have been playing the regulatory game for years."
The incumbents have been playing the game, but the important part is that it's the government that makes the rules, not the taxi companies.
Uber (and their supporters) try to make out that the taxi companies are creating the monopoly, in the same way that, say, Microsoft have, and they are there to break that monopoly and 'shake things up' and thereby force the incumbents to adapt and change.
The problem with this comparison is that the monopoly is the government - they created the system and the taxi drivers are, essentially, franchisees. And, just like any franchise, there is a buy-in cost (the 'license'), certain requirements (knowledge tests, training courses), and performance agreements that franchisees (drivers) must meet.
Uber are operating outside that system and so do not have to meet those same requirements. The simple fact that a random person working for UberX does need to pay the government $300,000 for a license is a huge difference in itself. For most owner-operators (85% of licenses in Sydney) that means having to take out a loan. Their earnings have to cover the interest and repayments on that license as well as everything else. And the cars are dedicated too - most owners will have a second, family car that they use for personal driving and so they are maintaining and insuring two vehicles.
The simple fact is that Uber are able to offer different and cheaper services simply because they aren't following the law. No amount of PR can change that so what they are trying to do is make out as if they are fighting the corrupt, monopolistic taxi companies and we all love to hate them.
Well put.
It is similar in Germany. Without valid insurance, you cannot drive a car on the road - if you are caught, you will receive big fines and lose your licence.
Not having insurance means that you don't get a licence plate for the vehicle, so it is easy to see if the vehicle is insured... Unless you are using the vehicle illegally; which is the case with Uber drivers.
In order to get commercial insurance (i.e. be insured to carry paying passengers), you need to provide your insurance company with a copy of your taxi licence. If you don't have one, you don't get insurance.
If you insure your car privately, then use it to carry paying passengers, then you have no insurance, because the insurance only covers private use and commuting to and from work. If the insurance company find out, they will cancel the policy and send somebody round to remove your licence plat. If you are caught by the police, you will face fines and probably lose your licence. If you are involved in an accident, you will be personally responsible for all damages to all parties, as well as fines, losing your licence and possibly face a prison sentence.
What sticks in my throat is if a group of us had got together and developed a similar system (lets face it, it wouldn't be the most difficult thing in the world to do) local and national governments the world over would have mauled us - we would have been jailed before they would let us operate this way and ignore all taxi licensing laws.
But because Uber is a big american company backed by Google and Goldman Sachs, governments are rolling over and letting it happen.
It will be interesting to see how all this plays out when someone is inevitably seriously hurt or killed in an accident involving an Uber driver. I suspect at that time Uber will stop taking the driver’s calls and will distance themselves bigtime from the sue balls that will be flying. But clearly there are plenty of people (drivers and passengers) stupid or desperate enough to think that won't happen to them. The difference is that when it happens, nobody from Uber corporate HQ will lose so much as a night's sleep or a single cent personally. The driver on the other hand...
Yes I agree that this is inevitable. The ratio of cars on the road to accidents/serious accidents is small but basic probability theory tells us that it will happen somewhere sometime. If you are the uber driver at that somewhere/sometime point then basically you are royally fucked. I doubt that you will get any help or recompense from Uber - they are in it to make money, not to look after you.
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