Uber v Taxis

Hooroo

I am yet to use Uber but I was wondering after reading an article on some protesting taxi drivers, how come an Uber driver doesn't need to have a license endorsed to carry passengers but taxi drivers do?

jegga

I think they use a loophole and call it ride sharing . I'd be wary of driving for them , it looks like overseas it ends up being a shit deal for the drivers. 
My dad was a cab driver and that wasn't s particularly lucrative industry back then , he did have the occasional bonus of hanging round parliament and subjecting mps to his rants while they were his captive audience though.

SammyC

It's been great for christchurch.
 
Apparently we had some of the most expensive taxis in the world, and jeez they were unreliable.
 
If there was a major event in town, you couldnt get a taxi to the suburbs. A couple of nights I had to wait 3 hours plus for a taxi.
 
Uber is about half the price, a shitload more reliable. and they have a rating system for drivers and passengers. Anyone dodgy gets blacklisted straight away.
 
 
My Mrs (or as you w@nkers say "better half") works at a restaurant, and doesnt drive. She's Mexican but often gets mistaken for Indian. I've lost count of the times she was uncomfortably propositioned by taxi drivers on her way home (may sound racist, but its the way it's happened)
 
 
She catches 4-5 ubers a week now and has yet to encounter anything but exceptional service. 
 
 
I have asked the drivers a few times how well they get paid. For most its a second job and not extremely well paid, they get 80% of the fare I think from memory. but they all seem happy to be doing it

MN5

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="SammyC" data-cid="594279" data-time="1467754951">
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It's been great for christchurch.
 
Apparently we had some of the most expensive taxis in the world, and jeez they were unreliable.
 
If there was a major event in town, you couldnt get a taxi to the suburbs. A couple of nights I had to wait 3 hours plus for a taxi.
 
Uber is about half the price, a shitload more reliable. and they have a rating system for drivers and passengers. Anyone dodgy gets blacklisted straight away.
 
 
My Mrs (or as you w@nkers say "better half") works at a restaurant, and doesnt drive. She's Mexican but often gets mistaken for Indian. I've lost count of the times she was uncomfortably propositioned by taxi drivers on her way home (may sound racist, but its the way it's happened)
 
 
She catches 4-5 ubers a week now and has yet to encounter anything but exceptional service. 
 
 
I have asked the drivers a few times how well they get paid. For most its a second job and not extremely well paid, they get 80% of the fare I think from memory. but they all seem happy to be doing it
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A real gentleman would go and pick her up :whistle:
 
Funny you mention the uncomfortable proposition thing, a really nice Fijian indian chick I worked with got propositioned by an Indian guy in the office ( they were based in Auckland but I got to meet them via Skype every week so got to know them all reasonably well ).
 
Dodgy Indians on the pull just make your skin crawl, luckily this creep got the boot. Happened to my ex wife ( who is NZ European ) from a cabby as well at three in the morning, after he dropped her I could hear them arguing, he wanted FIFTY dollars for a ride from Courtney Place to Berhampore. I woke up and informed him that his kind weren't tolerated on my lawn and he should leave. I'm not racist but in the heat of the moment it seemed the thing to say. She got a free lift out of the whole thing too. Sweet.

SammyC

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="MN5" data-cid="594284" data-time="1467755506">
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A real gentleman would go and pick her up :whistle:
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I don't drive either. 
 
We've had this discussion on another thread (and you called me a piston wristed gibbon who rides a bike or something similar) :)

Kirwan

The uber long term business plan is self driving cars. They have all the infrastructure for the rest of it now, so it doesn't surprise me to hear that they don't look after their drivers all that well.
 
Still competition for taxis is a good thing, as long as passengers are safe.

MN5

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="SammyC" data-cid="594285" data-time="1467755637">
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I don't drive either. 
 
We've had this discussion on another thread (and you called me a Willis who rides a bike or something similar) :)
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You don't drive ??????
 
While I'll happily walk somewhere rather than drive the inconvenience would get to me I think. Any particular reason ? ( don't worry, not gonna start a car vs cyclist debate although I still enjoy getting the popcorn to read about the clusterfuck that is the island bay cycleway in welly )

SammyC

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="MN5" data-cid="594293" data-time="1467756679">
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You don't drive ??????
 
While I'll happily walk somewhere rather than drive the inconvenience would get to me I think. Any particular reason ? ( don't worry, not gonna start a car vs cyclist debate although I still enjoy getting the popcorn to read about the clusterfuck that is the island bay cycleway in welly )
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I can drive, just don't own a car. Sold my last car about 3 years ago.
 
I just love cycling mate, even in the cold and rain I'd rather be on my bike..
 
 
Occasionally I'll rent or borrow a car for a weekend to run a few errands or take a trip out of town, but other than that have no need. 
 
 
So anyway back on topic, Uber has been bloody great for me. It's like catching a ride with a friend and giving them a little money for it

jegga

Cyclings a very third world way of getting around and that's before we delve into the murky motivations behind wearing bike pants and sharing the sight of your scrotum with unsuspecting cafe diners. 
Back to uber I'm sure I read that overseas they finance drivers into cars which is a way of locking them into working for them . At first that doesn't probably seem too bad until uber lowers the rates without lowering the percentage of their cut.

MN5

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="SammyC" data-cid="594297" data-time="1467757161">
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I can drive, just don't own a car. Sold my last car about 3 years ago.
 
I just love cycling mate, even in the cold and rain I'd rather be on my bike..
 
 
Occasionally I'll rent or borrow a car for a weekend to run a few errands or take a trip out of town, but other than that have no need. 
 
 
So anyway back on topic, Uber has been bloody great for me. It's like catching a ride with a friend and giving them a little money for it 
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I think I'd only ever use it if I was on the piss and even then as I said I'm happy to walk most places even at 2 in the morning from town ( although I haven't done this for years ), needless to say I would never have let the ex contemplate this so she always cabbed it ( or would have Ubered if it existed ) my partner lives in the Hutt and rarely drinks so my rides are usually covered that way.

Hooroo

Dry July also helps!

dogmeat

My first experience with uber put me off for a long time - the driver cancelled the booking 2 mins before the due pick-up, but I did eventually give it a go and has been very good. I'll still jump in a cab if I walk out of a bar and ones sitting there but otherwise the app makes it so easy and its cheap.
 
I even had to organise a couple the other week from Dunedin for someone up in Akl who had no money and had to get a rather complicated trip. Spoke to driver and could follow progress on app - all good.
 
I have had the same driver quite a few times and he said he was a taxi driver for 20 years and he has never had it so good, so it must be possible to make some money. Like MN5 I'm usually happy to walk but having done it from Akl CBD to the shore once, I decided a cab is easier (I was fine until the beers ran out at about 3 am in Bayswater and I still had about another 8 kms to walk).

SammyC

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="jegga" data-cid="594301" data-time="1467757495">
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Cyclings a very third world way of getting around and that's before we delve into the murky motivations behind wearing bike pants and sharing the sight of your scrotum with unsuspecting cafe diners. 

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As I said, I do it because I enjoy it. I don't need a car to prove I'm rich and successful like you do :)
 
I've never worn lycra into a cafe at all, fuck those guys.
 
The only time I wear lycra is on training rides and is a necessity for comfort reasons. (most Sundays I hit the hills for 4-6 hours). You'd get some pretty uncomfortable chafing doing that in cotton rugby shorts.

jegga

When did I become either rich or successful? Why am I the last to know these things?

Rancid Schnitzel

I'm a bit torn over the issue. On the one hand it seems unfair to someone who has followed the rules and paid a shitload for a taxi license. On the other hand, the price and quality of taxis are so shit that they don't deserve customers. I've used Uber quite a few times. They're really really good. Clean car, reasonable prices, nice competent drivers, even a bottle of water or mints. 
Taxis are now ridiculously expensive and instead of being driven by a local who knows pretty much every street, you get someone who appears to have been in the country for 5 minutes and who doesn't even know where major highways are. My wife needed a taxi home from the hospital once and the driver had no idea how to even get near her destination. 
The father of one of the kids in my sons soccer team is an uber driver. It isn't great money, but you can clock on and off at any time and it's a great way to supplement your income. This particular fella works over the other side of town and on Friday afternoon he'll switch on the app and make some money on the way home. 
So again, I sympathize with taxi owners but they have to seriously lift their game.

taniwharugby

Taxi service up here sucks, don't think we have Uber at all...
 
I joined a Workingmans type club, who have a courtesy van, and plenty of memebrs use it as a taxi service: ie get to the Club, have a few, van takes you out to restaurant or where ever, get van to bring you back, have a couple more brews and get it to take you home, usually gold coin donation per person.
 
Is very handy!
 
When I first arrived in the UK and got stranded at Baker Street at 2am a black cab driver got me and my mate lost and wanted to charge us the full fare (Â£115) once we eventually got home, but we offered him Â£60 otherwise we were gonna leg it (having pulled up down the road form our house)

JK

Havent used a taxi for a long time now. Always uber - to clients, to/from functions, airports etc.
 
Actually used uber a lot on Bangkok over the past few weeks as felt safer than their dodgy taxis and better than tuk tuks. So cheap there too. 20min ride across town cost us 73 baht (about $3) and that was at surge rates too. Awesome.

MN5

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Hooroo" data-cid="594305" data-time="1467757730">
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Dry July also helps!
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I'm doing fucken well so far, extremely proud of myself, helps when the beer is in the garage at the other halfs place and have lost a kg or two already.....
 
 
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="SammyC" data-cid="594312" data-time="1467758121">
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As I said, I do it because I enjoy it. I don't need a car to prove I'm rich and successful like you do :)
 
I've never worn lycra into a cafe at all, fuck those guys.
 
The only time I wear lycra is on training rides and is a necessity for comfort reasons. (most Sundays I hit the hills for 4-6 hours). You'd get some pretty uncomfortable chafing doing that in cotton rugby shorts.
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I'm a real non car guy too to be fair. Have never owned anything particularly flash and as a topic of conversation it gets boring really fast.
 
 
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="taniwharugby" data-cid="594317" data-time="1467758387">
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Taxi service up here sucks, don't think we have Uber at all...
 
I joined a Workingmans type club, who have a courtesy van, and plenty of memebrs use it as a taxi service: ie get to the Club, have a few, van takes you out to restaurant or where ever, get van to bring you back, have a couple more brews and get it to take you home, usually gold coin donation per person.
 
Is very handy!
 
When I first arrived in the UK and got stranded at Baker Street at 2am a black cab driver got me and my mate lost and wanted to charge us the full fare (Â£115) once we eventually got home, but we offered him Â£60 otherwise we were gonna leg it (having pulled up down the road form our house) 
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You were boasting about your incredible pace on the MN5 fitness forum, I can only imagine how rapid you would have been in your prime.

Hooroo

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="MN5" data-cid="594333" data-time="1467761367">
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I'm a real non car guy too to be fair. Have never owned anything particularly flash and as a topic of conversation it gets boring really fast.
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Ha ha I hear you.
 
Nothing 'bores me more than retards arguing over which is better, Holden or Ford! They are both RUBBISH (I own a Holden and drive a ford for work)

jegga

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Hooroo" data-cid="594338" data-time="1467761892">
Ha ha I hear you. 
Nothing 'bores me more than retards arguing over which is better, Holden or Ford! They are both RUBBISH (I own a Holden and drive a ford for work)</blockquote>
 
Damn right, mopar or no car.

The Silver Fern

Uber v Taxis