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French taxi drivers are the latest to protest the entry of Uber into their protected market. Their protests feature vandalism and blocking roads. From the AP story:
French taxi drivers pulled out the throttle in an all-out confrontation with the ultra-cheap Uber car service Thursday, smashing livery cars, setting tires ablaze and blocking traffic during a nationwide strike that caught tourists and celebrities alike in the mayhem.
[...] Taxi drivers justified their rage, saying Uber's lowest-cost service UberPop was ruining their livihoods.[sic]
[...] Anger seethed across France, with riot police chasing strikers from Paris' ring road, where protesters torched tires and swarmed onto exit ramps during rush hour on the busy artery that leads to Charles de Gaulle airport. In Toulouse in the southwest, angry taxi drivers dumped flour onto UberPop cars, tires were burned in Nantes in the west, and in Lyon, in the southeast, roads were blocked.
Compare this to Uber protests in London.
Vive le monopole!
Original Submission
(Score: 5, Insightful) by hemocyanin on Monday June 29 2015, @05:44AM
I have no idea what the UK law on the subject is, but under any reasonable theory of agency, if a driver (as agent of employer) causes damage, the driver and the company would be liable. With Uber, who knows what the driver has for insurance and some insurance isn't going to pay out if the car is being used for business purposes but insured as a personal vehicle. And there are bystanders. Say an Uber driver with minimal to no insurance and no assets makes a pedestrian a quadriplegic. That person, because they have nobody to realistically sue, then becomes a burden on the state, i.e., all taxpayers. Those who own Uber simply shift the risks and burdens of their business onto the public. It's a form of robbery.
Secondly, I guess you missed my too subtle point about "businesses like Uber" -- I'm not talking about other taxi companies -- any work could be subjected to this sort of system. Own spatula? Get a few hours at random burger joints. Have a decrepit semi? Haul some loads for barely more than the cost of fuel. Eventually it will be the public that picks up all the expenses of operating a business, while the owners take only profit without risk or responsibility. Talk about a way to eviscerate the middle class while abusing the poor. That's what Uber is about.
(Score: 3, Informative) by isostatic on Monday June 29 2015, @07:47AM
In the UK Uber drivers are registered minicab drivers, which means
1) The driver pays a fee (£95 - £207 a year, increasing with car age in Manchester) to the council
2) The car gets a more thorough MOT as part of this (and othe older the car the more tests, hence the increase in price)
3) The driver pays a fee - £144 for the first year, which covers a basic competency test and checks for things like insurance. Renewal costs less.
4) They're no different from your local minicab firm. Apart from the service is far better and the drivers earn more money (at least the ones I talk to). The drivers operate their own car, just like they do at local minicab firms.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by wantkitteh on Monday June 29 2015, @08:37AM
Also, 5) The mandatory motor vehicle insurance policy required by law for every vehicle on the road has to specifically cover commercial use, not just private.
I should also point out that point 3 also includes criminal record checks, but if your locality doesn't require points 2, 3 and 5 by law to operate as a cab driver of any kind, they are negligent in ensuring a basic level of passenger safety.
(Score: 2) by wantkitteh on Monday June 29 2015, @08:43AM
Basic economics suggest that your business will go bankrupt if the public aren't paying all your expenses, no matter what kind of company you are. If they aren't, your undervaluing your services and your customers aren't paying enough. The agency model of business, where someone else sets it up and walks away, taking a cut no matter what happens after that, is nothing new at all - I've been working for agencies for 15 years, all Uber changes is the contract setup speed and granularity. Your idea about this becoming the norm is unrealistic, failing to take into account the fact that business owners expect a certain level of ability from their employees and (unless they're idiots) won't let the good ones get away - you know, by employing them full time.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by TheRaven on Monday June 29 2015, @08:58AM
Have a decrepit semi? Haul some loads for barely more than the cost of fuel
In the UK, 'man with a van' is a fairly common thing to see advertised...
sudo mod me up
(Score: 2) by wantkitteh on Tuesday June 30 2015, @08:43AM
Indeed - I've used Man With A Van services on many occasions, I keep one guy's card on my kitchen door because he's specially insured and experienced in transporting works of art.