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Gerald Montgomery, a 51-year-old UberX driver, has been arrested on suspicion of second-degree burglary. He was reportedly trying to break into the Denver home of a woman he had just driven to Denver International Airport, and was found carrying "burglar tools". Uber says that Montgomery had passed all background checks, and the man had no criminal history in Colorado according to Colorado Bureau of Investigation records. Montgomery has been "deactivated" from the UberX platform and the Denver victim's fare was refunded.
The UberX platform requires drivers to operate their own vehicles and is less regulated than taxi services. Rides are covered by commercial insurance. An investigation [autoplay video] by NBC Los Angeles last year found that Uber has employed "screened" drivers with long-term felony records.
The company continues to attract unwanted attention around the globe; Uber's headquarters in Amsterdam has been raided twice this week, and an Uber employee has been arrested for obstructing the investigation. The investigators were looking for evidence that the company is continuing to operate UberPop, an urban ridesharing service deemed illegal by a Dutch court.
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Sunday April 05 2015, @02:28PM
I am wondering the same thing. How does paying an exhibortant license fee to the city or state going to help here? The drivers are not getting the huge fees traditional taxi services charge, so what would prevent one of them from doing the same thing?
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 4, Insightful) by gnuman on Sunday April 05 2015, @03:13PM
The difference is that taxi driver has a job. That shuttle driver has a job too. The Uber driver is self-employed, always in competition for rides with the next Uber driver that could just happen to be closer or cheaper or whatever. Taxi drivers have fixed fees precisely so there is a little bit more normalcy in their lives. Taxis have queues - something that does not happen with Uber. An Uber driver has it worse than the Taxi driver. Much worse.
In almost every situation, I would prefer a normal, regulated taxi over Uber precisely because of these reasons.
On the other hand, self-driving cars will make taxis obsolete. Maybe Uber is just trying to position themselves as "reliable taxi alternative" in the post-driver world.
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Sunday April 05 2015, @03:45PM
Yeah, I suppose that is a good point. I guess there are still scumbag taxi drivers though. I wonder how many times this kind of thing happens and we simply don't hear about it because Uber is the big news draw now.
Besides, the guy had to be a moron to break into a place without casing it for an extended period of time.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 3, Interesting) by BasilBrush on Sunday April 05 2015, @04:30PM
I don't know what it's like where you are, but most Taxi drivers are effectively or actually self employed, whether traditional or Uber. They take the fares, then pay fees to the Taxi company. And they hope that the fares are sufficiently ahead of the fees to make a living.
With Uber the software decides which car will take a fare. How exactly is waiting in a queue or prowling the streets supposed to civilise the traditional taxi driver?
With Uber the software decides the fare. They are just as fixed for the driver as a traditional taxi. And less so than taxis without meters.
Pretty much on every point the reality is the opposite of what you imagine.
Hurrah! Quoting works now!
(Score: 2) by gnuman on Monday April 06 2015, @01:56AM
I don't know what it's like where you are, but most Taxi drivers are effectively or actually self employed, whether traditional or Uber.
Where I live, most taxis licenses are owned by large taxi companies. Yes, there are independents too. But here is the difference.
1. taxis have agreed upon price, not random prices
2. supply of taxis is such that everyone can make a living
If taxi driver can't make a basic living driving their taxi, then they have to get money from another source. Therefore they are automatically more likely to turn to crime - there is only so many hours in a day. Give a man a normal wage, and it is much less likely they will step on the wrong side of the law (I know, general statement, but it applies to taxis as any other job).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 06 2015, @06:50PM
Where I live, most taxis licenses are owned by large taxi companies.
And are the taxi drivers paid hourly employees of the large taxi company? Not anyplace I've ever lived. The driver 'leases' the cab and license for their shift and are independent contractors. Unless you know it's 100% different from that, that's what you can assume is happening.
Yes, there are independents too. But here is the difference.
1. taxis have agreed upon price, not random prices
2. supply of taxis is such that everyone can make a living
In theory, yes. In practice, taxi drivers eat their downtime and the preset prices are no guarantee the driver will actually make a living.
If taxi driver can't make a basic living driving their taxi, then they have to get money from another source. Therefore they are automatically more likely to turn to crime - there is only so many hours in a day. Give a man a normal wage, and it is much less likely they will step on the wrong side of the law (I know, general statement, but it applies to taxis as any other job).
True. But "normal wage" has a lot of elasticity in it, and not all "normal wages" are "living wages."
(Ex-taxi driver, here... Absolutely loved it, absolutely couldn't make a sustainable living at it.)
(Score: 3, Insightful) by frojack on Sunday April 05 2015, @06:00PM
Apparently your definition of "Job" is different than mine.
Who is behind the wheel at any given moment is subject to a great deal of hanky-panky in most jurisdictions. Many times you are lucky if the driver's picture on the hack licence bears any resemblance to the person at the wheel. If you ask about it, the pictured person is sick, and his brother, cousin, son, relative is filling in for them today.
The only thing that makes this unique was instead of passing the vacant address to someone else, the driver himself did the break-in. We have no idea how many times this occurs with taxi drivers who have accomplices.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.