https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://amp.theguardian.com/technology/2017/sep/22/uber-licence-transport-for-london-tfl&ved=0ahUKEwiT4eT57LjWAhWoCMAKHf9PBGMQqUMIJDAC&usg=AFQjCNEL2HEHdQyjQ6imIk4OKx_4HQNEEg&cf=1
I don't agree with much of what Sadiq Khan has done as Mayor but on this I'm definitely in agreement. One sexual assault per WEEK by an Uber driver-and that's just the crimes reported. Uber are gone.
Quote from: markcf83 on September 22, 2017, 05:26:46 PM
I don't agree with much of what Sadiq Khan has done as Mayor but on this I'm definitely in agreement. One sexual assault per WEEK by an Uber driver-and that's just the crimes reported. Uber are gone.
Just a shame it's not a nationwide ban - yet.
Quote from: WMT3000 on September 22, 2017, 06:34:50 PM
Just a shame it's not a nationwide ban - yet.
I can't see what's wrong with uber. I've used them more and more as buses are getting unreliable
Quote from: the trainbasher on September 22, 2017, 06:47:25 PM
I can't see what's wrong with uber. I've used them more and more as buses are getting unreliable
So one sexual assault a week, not reported to authorities like they are required to is OK?
Quote from: Tony on September 22, 2017, 07:14:18 PM
So one sexual assault a week, not reported to authorities like they are required to is OK?
I'm only going on experiences in the West Midlands. Please forgive me my Lord for not reading the Evening Standard and being as abreast of the daily situation in London
There again RT is less of a biased news outlet than the Evening Standard so it is no wonder I don't read that rubbish.
Quote from: the trainbasher on September 22, 2017, 07:26:24 PM
I'm only going on experiences in the West Midlands. Please forgive me my Lord for not reading the Evening Standard and being as abreast of the daily situation in London
There again RT is less of a biased news outlet than the Evening Standard so it is no wonder I don't read that rubbish.
What's the Evening Standard got to do with anything? TfL have given not reporting sexual assault claims to them as one of the reasons for not renewing their license
I used uber a few times. all have turned up as promised unlike local ph firms!!! I like not having to pay cash, the app tells you who and what car is coming etc. however only once did I get a local driver. the others had fares from other towns, and took job on as they were close. relying too much on google maps, I ask them if they know where they are going and tell them the way. every driver I have had on there has been smart, clean car and friendly. wish I could say the same for my local ph firms!!!
Quote from: the trainbasher on September 22, 2017, 07:26:24 PM
I'm only going on experiences in the West Midlands. Please forgive me my Lord for not reading the Evening Standard and being as abreast of the daily situation in London
There again RT is less of a biased news outlet than the Evening Standard so it is no wonder I don't read that rubbish.
It has been reported on BBC News as a main headline few months back...
Uber I would never use them because anyone can drive for Uber.
Quote from: Chris on September 22, 2017, 11:52:38 PM
It has been reported on BBC News as a main headline few months back...
Uber I would never use them because anyone can drive for Uber.
Don't really watch BBC News as I find it too left wind. RT and Al Jazeera are more my speed. Hence I'm not aware of what happens in the capital
Quote from: the trainbasher on September 23, 2017, 01:01:25 AM
Don't really watch BBC News as I find it too left wind. RT and Al Jazeera are more my speed. Hence I'm not aware of what happens in the capital
Try reading this from the Uber Driver union rep
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/dennis-bartholomew/uber-driver-tfl-license_b_18070056.html?utm_hp_ref=uk
Employers like that do not belong in the 21st century
This decision in London is a good one and I hope that it is replicated nationwide.
Uber's business model is one of finding fares for private hire taxi drivers and many of those fares are most likely removed from the pockets of black cab drivers.
Black cab drivers are more highly regulated that private hire firms and have more stringent checks and training. They therefore deserve some element of protection from cowboys.
What Uber has done is give private hire drivers (in fact any car driver who signs up to Uber?) access to fares that rightly belong to black cabs, by effectively alowing Uber cabs to ply for hire by electronic booking means.
I recently saw a news report where an Uber taxi picked up a fare and the vehicle appeared to have no obvious identification that it was a licenced private hire vehicle. I thought that legitimate private hire vehicles prominently displayed logos and 'phone numbers for their operator.
There are then employment rights, Uber drivers have been treated as self employed as a means of avoiding taxes, national insurance, employment rights and VAT. I know that the employment rights issue has been to Court and won on the drivers behalf but it looks like Uber are not going to accept the Court decision. Regarding VAT it is the case that Uber is holding itself out as supplying taxi services but not paying VAT on the fares, a legal case is understood to be in progress in this respect.
Can Uber be banned from the West Midlands as well?
Quote from: Sandy Lane on September 23, 2017, 07:40:14 PM
Can Uber be banned from the West Midlands as well?
And either put the cost of my commute by a extra £100 or make me rely on buses which don't turn up (226 in the morning), overcrowded buses ran by WN, take forever to get me home or result in a 3 hour trip as I have to get 3 buses in a evening. No thank you!
Using uber has given me a much more reliable commute, got me home in time to get the Evening news on RT. at a decent hour, especially working in my office until after the Evening rush hour
Without Uber I'd either have to quit my job or get another job with more money. Hard to on that in local government!!
Quote from: the trainbasher on September 23, 2017, 08:17:55 PM
And either put the cost of my commute by a extra £100 or make me rely on buses which don't turn up (226 in the morning), overcrowded buses ran by WN, take forever to get me home or result in a 3 hour trip as I have to get 3 buses in a evening. No thank you!
Using uber has given me a much more reliable commute, got me home in time to get the Evening news on RT. at a decent hour, especially working in my office until after the Evening rush hour
Without Uber I'd either have to quit my job or get another job with more money. Hard to on that in local government!!
Or learn to drive??? Uber should cost you more, compared to a monthly bus pass (£61.50 nbus) Where do you live (Guessing Wordsley) and I believe you work near Mary Stevens (remember you posting you get the 125?)
Why don't you walk to the cat inn or the main road and get the 256/7 into the town? Then the 276 to Mary Stevens then walk?
Quote from: the trainbasher on September 23, 2017, 08:17:55 PM
And either put the cost of my commute by a extra £100 or make me rely on buses which don't turn up (226 in the morning), overcrowded buses ran by WN, take forever to get me home or result in a 3 hour trip as I have to get 3 buses in a evening. No thank you!
Using uber has given me a much more reliable commute, got me home in time to get the Evening news on RT. at a decent hour, especially working in my office until after the Evening rush hour
Without Uber I'd either have to quit my job or get another job with more money. Hard to on that in local government!!
So it's ok for Uber employees to have no workers rights as long as you have.
The reason they are cheap is because a lot of drivers end up working below the minimum wage with no paid holidays or sick pay
Quote from: Chris on September 23, 2017, 08:29:35 PM
Or learn to drive??? Uber should cost you more, compared to a monthly bus pass (£61.50 nbus) Where do you live (Guessing Wordsley) and I believe you work near Mary Stevens (remember you posting you get the 125?)
Why don't you walk to the cat inn or the main road and get the 256/7 into the town? Then the 276 to Mary Stevens then walk?
Tried driving lessons but didn't have the concentration hence I haven't took my test as otherwise it'd be a waste of cashI
256/7 are always unusable due to the college students in the morning.
Plus with certain factors that I'm not prepared to discuss in public forum, using the bus via changing at Brierley Hill or Wordsley is not an option for me. (Factors which mean I hardly go out much)
Anyway, uber is also useful for the very few trips I do go away on, same with Gett as you can track where they are coming to you
Quote from: Tony on September 23, 2017, 08:30:35 PM
So it's ok for Uber employees to have no workers rights as long as you have.
The reason they are cheap is because a lot of drivers end up working below the minimum wage with no paid holidays or sick pay
But that's the same as a normal taxi driver with the self employed bit, same with professional wrestlers, same with some delivery drivers/operators
If they don't like it they should form a union.
I just find it bizarre you would pay more to get work. Stourbridge to wordsley is not even close to 3 hours even in rush hour, would say an hour tops, you have the 276 every 20 mins, 288?, 125 to get you to town centre ( 5 bph) then the 267, 657, 256, 257, 250 (7 bph) and 226 ( 3bph) I can not calculate 3 hours???
I used to work in willenhall and live in stourbridge and that was at least 2 1/2 hours to get home in the evening .
If you have your own reasons for getting uber instead of buses because you have reasons you can not use the buses plus do the most indirect route to get your destination.
I could walk from my house to stourbridge in 50 mins so an hour to Mary Stevens...
Quote from: the trainbasher on September 23, 2017, 08:40:23 PM
But that's the same as a normal taxi driver with the self employed bit, same with professional wrestlers, same with some delivery drivers/operators
If they don't like it they should form a union.
They have formed a Union in London, who took Uber to court over the employment rights. The union won the court case and Uber have ignored the ruling. The union leader has said this morning he us glad TfL has withdrawn the license, They are an illegal cowboy operations no different to the bus companies you criticise on here who use blocking software to stop authorities checking their illegalities, but just because they save you a few pennies against other private hire firms you back them
IF this is readable in LinkedIn it is worth reading
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/whats-all-fuss-life-carry-normal-once-uber-gone-only-have-stewart/
I usually disagree with most of Christian Woolmer's views, but I think he is spot on with Uber
https://labourlist.org/2017/09/christian-wolmar-ubers-argument-over-its-license-are-total-nonsense/
Quote from: Tony on September 30, 2017, 03:27:04 PM
I usually disagree with most of Christian Woolmer's views, but I think he is spot on with Uber
https://labourlist.org/2017/09/christian-wolmar-ubers-argument-over-its-license-are-total-nonsense/
I agree, Tony. I expect Uber will change a few things so that it just about meets the minimum TfL criteria to have another licence. That won't address the fundamental issues with Uber though.
A few months ago I posted a link to an article about one American town awarding its public transport contracts to Uber. After the mess of Uber's own making in London, I am glad that any danger of that possibly happening in the UK has surely been blown away.