so its going from st pauls all the way to Trafalgar square …they have actually stopped and got out and standing next to their cabs.
Total gridlock.
All this because Uber is offering a service that is actually competitive.
Its 2014 and we still have service that is the only one allowed to use bus lanes pick up off the street and park in taxi ranks. It is an outdated service that needs to be got rid of or level the playing field
two weeks ago in a black cab I paid £35 from SE1 to nw2
black cabs protest cant stand in law as Uber isn’t a meter
all meter or measurements taken have to be calibrated by Law under the Weights and Measures Act 1985
they don’t want competition that’s all
im sure once a few palms have been greased the black cabs will get there own way & MP’s can breath a sigh of relief that there personal service is safe & paid for by us at a vastly extracted cost
Understand that it’s not a protest from the black cabs against Uber, it’s more that Uber isn’t having to jump through the same costly regulations as black cabs do to offer the same service. If you’d spent a few years learning The Knowledge for example, you’d be annoyed that your competition isn’t also being forced to do the same.
this is true but most black cabs I see have pratnavs & to charge a furtune isn’t on
I also done an apprenticeship over 5 years & the same could be said for plumbers & electricians I have to attend courses every year to make sure im uptodate with regulations
I don’t get paid any more I get “paid” & I don’t try to monopolize my job
Yup, but just to understand, in your example you would be forced into taking the courses whilst, for some reason, a plumber or electrician booked via an app doesn’t have to but can still do your job. How you then react to the change in the marketplace is entirely up to you, and in the original example, we find the black cabs to be holding a protest about their regulator TfL not making the competition a level playing field in their eyes.
For those of you who think they charge a fortune, you musn’t have been in black cabs very often. Their pricing for short journeys is usually the same or a negligible difference between any minicab firm. I understand an airport run may be a different story however the tube goes str8 to Heathrow for £5.60…
They spend years and years taking the knowledge, pump massive amounts of money into their vehicles and are answerable to higher authorities.
I feel a lot safer getting into a black cab than I do getting into a minicab.
I’d much rather my sister took a black cab home after a night out also.
All green badge holders need a detailed knowledge of everything within a six mile radius of Charing Cross. All-London drivers’ Knowledge is based on learning 320 routes (or runs). This will help them learn the 25,000 streets and 20,000 landmarks and places of interest in the six mile radius of Charing Cross.
And that’s what makes Londons cab trade so great. The vehicles have been imitated the world over as they are just that iconic.
I hope in 50 years time a tourist will still be able to step off a Plane or a Train and hop into the back of a black cab knowing the driver is licensed, insured, isn’t going to scam them and most of all will have a bit of banter with them and show them what a wonderful city London is.
Then the logical consequence would be to abolish those excessive hurdles since they don’t add enough quality to compensate for the cost difference. In the meantime, consumers are losing out because a strong lobby group would like to retain their privileges. I don’t care if they use a satnav or their memory and apparently, many consumers don’t do either. While the increased competition might be unpleasant for some cab drivers, consumer surplus is rising significantly.
I will always catch a London black cab over a minicab. These guys/gals put years and years of effort to learn the roads and knowledge. Any twat can be a minicab driver with a twat nav, they don’t know the area they patrol and have no clue on a better route if diversions are in place.
Good on the cabbies for protesting I hope they get what they want.
Time and technology moves on…Uber ensures its drivers are licensed and insured and does criminal background checks and because of the app cannot scam them. (I have been scammed by black cabs) Also black cab drivers have also had a number of high profile criminal incidents.
I gave you an example done last week Se1 to NW2 and Uber was half price in a brand new Audi.
The protest is against Uber because of competition not because of the app…they do no use a fare meter calibrated to the car do clearly dont fall under its regulations. As mentioned the power to pick up on the street and use bus lanes and taxi ranks is a huge advantage. This is why addisson lee has taken the bus lane usage to court as there is no legimate reason that a black cab can use a bus lane but no other taxi firm can. This includes whilst empty off duty or going for a fare.
Yes the knowledge is an amazing process but needs to be phased out…yet the monoploy continues. This reminds me of flying before the open skies agreement…all the incumbents cried foul and said it would never work…yet now we have lowest prices in the history of avaition…same thing with the city of london and its open cry system. Traders on the floor fought tooth and nail against the opening up with trading electronically now we have one of the lowest execution prices in the world.
I agree with competition - it definitely has some excellent features - and I can see the merit in the points the pro-uber people are making,
but you also have to recognise that there is the problem that a totally unregulated market system can result in a race to the bottom in which standards drop and everyone ends up earning peanuts - this is not theory - it is a provable fact in the trajectory of western economies over the last 40 years where economic de-regulation has resulted in widening wealth gaps and increasing financial insecurity affecting the traditional working classes and increasingly the middle class as well.
In this situation groups of workers or service providers are bound to come together to defend their interests - in some cases this is justifiable and in other cases not so justifiable - I haven’t made up my mind whether the cabbies are justified in this case - but there is definitely a debate to be had here.
(It’s also ironic that cabbies are taking part in what is de facto union action - as the popular image of the London taxi diver is the libertarian, right wing, union bashing Mail/Sun reader - sorry to any cabbies who don’t fit this stereotype.)
I hadn’t even heard of Uber until all this kicked off, now I have the app and I have free credit to use it. Also, they’ve pissed off a large proportion of central London who have no control over whether the app is legal or not.
WELL DONE cabbies for bringing central London to a standstill and inconveniencing thousands of Londoners/your customers with your protest which you ‘claim’ is not with Uber but with TFL for not policing some rules or something.
If you didn’t know where TFL headquarters is so you could protest outside it with your banner, perhaps you should have googled it :Whistling:
In the age of sat nav, is there actually any need to have The Knowledge any more? A great thing in its day, but surely its time has passed.
Also, if you book a minicab, it takes you where you want to go. None of this “Don’t go south of the river” bollocks - which has only happened to me once, but I was on crutches and it was snowing. ####
My main issue with minicab drivers is that the average level of driving proficiency seems to be far lower to that of a black cab driver. That’s just from my own, anecdotal experience both as passenger and motorbike on the road rather than hard fact…
Personally the ‘inconvenience’ to Londoners never bothered me, not even when I was in London. Any form of protest is sacrosant in my view - be it tube, bus, train or cab drivers
If they accepted fairs out of london that was not near where they live, did uturns properly and used their eyes, didn’t have £3 (or so) on the meter when you get in it, were actually good drivers considering the amount of time they drive and think that taking a longer route then is necessary (with no traffic) as per maps route you have on your phone (always use this in cabs) then I would stick up for them but it’s all to similar to BT owning the market until competition showed what monopoly did for innovation!
BT are one of the slowest and more expensive in broadband and phone calls, black cabbies are expensive and never there when you want one but you see loads when you don’t- using an app let alone phone call is the way forward and to be honest if they didn’t think to create this then it shows how behind the times they are! Addison lee have been taking a LOT of their business in london now because you can call them or book online, you can create accounts if you are a business for staff and client pickup/collections so it was only a matter of time before another company got in on the action!
Don’t get me started on strikes - if you don’t like the pay then change your fcuking job not disrupt the fcuking nation over 0.5% - you knew the salary before taking the role and most companies put on pay freezes! FFS!
