UBER - IT IS ALL ABOUT THE LAW AND REGULATIONS CATCHING UP WITH RAPIDLY CHANGING TECHNOLOGY AND CONSUMERS DEMANDS! New entrants providing point-to-point travel CHOICES must not be prevented from satisfying a clear consumer demand. CUSTOMERS are saying We want CHOICE but they are saying more than that for they further say Taxis are not providing what WE want! THE TAXI INDUSTRY SAYS WE WILL NOT ALLOW YOU, AS CONSUMERS, TO HAVE ACCESS TO ALTERNATIVE TRANSPORT ARRANGEMENTS! Or rather, We will not allow anyone else to provide point-to-point transport services UNLESS THEY DO SO IN A MANNER AS INEFFICIENT AS THE MODEL WE USE! The taxi industry maintains that the high cost of taxi licences (and/or the high cost of renting taxi licences) makes taxis uncompetitive with new entrants who do not have these licencing costs. The taxi industry calls for a level playing field and expects that all new providers should invest vast sums of money simply for the right to operate. NOT ONE CENT OF THE BILLIONS & BILLIONS OF DOLLARS INVESTED IN TAXI LICENCES IS REQUIRED TO PROVIDE TAXI SERVICES - NOT ONE CENT! Why then should taxi users have to pay to service capital when NOT ONE CENT of that capital is needed? This is the question that taxi licence holders cannot answer! Sure, they will scratch around trying to come up with some plausible reason(s) to explain the matter but, THEY HAVE NEVER ADVANCED ONE REASON TO JUSTIFY THE RIDICULOUS AMOUNT OF MONEY THAT IS INVOLVED - NONE OF THAT MONEY IS EMPLOYED IN THE PROVISION OF PASSENGER SERVICES. Now we have jurisdictions elsewhere moving - just as the Victorian Taxi Services Commission is doing - to legalise the activities of new entrants who compete head-on with taxis. In a story out of Boston Massachusetts we read:- Council President Bill Linehan said changes are coming. “We haven’t figured out a true, level-played framework for us to operate rides-for-hire in our city,” he said. “So we need to make adjustments.” Councilor Sal LaMattina held up a stack of paper, saying he’s never gotten so many emails ahead of a council hearing. “And I have to be honest with you,” he said. “There weren’t many emails of people supporting taxis. There’s all Uber supporters. OK?” LaMattina said he uses Uber, and he likes being able to track his daughter’s progress on his smartphone when she uses it. UBER has responded:- Uber spokesman Taylor Bennett said his company welcomes responsible municipal regulations — but not ones designed to protect the taxi industry. “We’re coming in with an alternative that consumers love,” he said. “Bostonians — they’re voting with their fingertips by downloading the app and taking rides every day. There’s a real need to develop a regulatory framework that applies to ride-sharing and Uber’s business model that brings more choice and opportunity.” ____________________________________________________ BUT, READ SOME QUOTES FROM THE COMMENTS AT THE FOOT OF THE STORY:- X-Ray “They’re sucking the blood of the taxi drivers,” Well, no theyre not. They are just choosing a cheaper and perhaps more convenient service. No one is bleeding taxi drivers. Avatar downtown21 > X-Ray The medallion owners are most certainly bleeding the taxi drivers. If those cabbies had any brains theyd be turning against the medallion owners instead of the Uber drivers, who are really on the same side as the cabbies. Avatar X-Ray > downtown21 They werent talking about the medallion owners. The subject was Ride-Sharing and the organizers of that service. Avatar downtown21 > X-Ray No sunshine, the subject is how hard it is to make a living as a cab driver, and the reason why is because they have to pay exorbitant rates to lease the medallions. In any case, your exact words were, no one is bleeding taxi drivers. That is a false statement, because the medallion owners most certainly are. Avatar NoFightingInTheWarRoom My grandfather was a longtime taxi driver, so I feel for them. But this is how capitalism works. If someone comes up with a better business idea than you that customers like more, theyre are going to get those customers. You can either figure out a way to compete or you can fold. Either way, its dont look to the city government to take care of your competition. Avatar road.rep Whats the big deal? If the city says Uber is fine, then most of the taxi drivers will become Uber drivers. No licensing, no vehicle inspections, no commercial insurance, no meters, no standard pricing, and no expensive medallions to buy or lease. ____________________________________________________ HERE IS THE TRUTH! IN A NUTSHELL! downtown21 • a month ago These cab drivers are absolute fools. Making Uber drivers their enemy instead of the rich medallion owners that exploit them by forcing them to lease medallions for exorbitant rates? They should consider Uber drivers their allies. If the cab drivers get the city to regulate ride sharing out of business they will only strengthen the grip the medallion owners have on them. The whole hackney license system IS A RACKET designed to squeeze as much as possible out of individual drivers while limiting consumer choice. On the secondary market they go for three quarters of a million dollars so only the wealthy can afford the entrance cost of this business, and with an artificial shortage of those licenses the drivers can be forced to pay so much to lease them that they have to work about six hours just to break even for the day before theyve even made any money. Get rid of this system already. THAT IS WHY TAXIS ARE FLOGGED AROUND-THE-CLOCK SO THAT LICENCE HOLDERS CAN ENJOY MASSIVE CAPITAL GAINS AND OUT-OF-CONTROL LICENCE RENTS! THAT IS WHY TAXI DRIVERS ARE SCREWED - SO THAT TAXI LICENCE HOLDERS ARE PAID MASSIVE INCOMES! THAT IS WHY TAXI DRIVERS ARE PAID LESS THAN HALF THE MINIMUM WAGE WITH NO ENTITILEMENTS - BECAUSE THE LICENCE HOLDERS AND TAXI OPERATORS PAY THEMSELVES FIRST - THEN THERE IS NO MONEY LEFT FOR THE HARD-WORKING FRONTLINE SERVICE PROVIDERS (THE SCREWED TAXI DRIVERS). In the single owner/driver business model, THERE IS NO NEED TO FLOG A DEAD HORSE! There is ONLY ONE MOUTH TO FEED - NOT MANY! In Victoria, we have solved the problem by making new hire car licences available for PURCHASE (and they can be on-sold!) for a FIXED (not indexed) price of just $40,000 in the metropolitan hire car zone and an absolute bargain at just $20,000 in the country hire car zone. The imminent roll-out of new hire cars (starting in regional & country Victoria - and that is being done for a very sound business reason!) will herald the commencement of the drive to make the taxi industry far more efficient. Taxis will have to match the new hire cars on:- * PRICE; and * SERVICE; THIS WILL FORCE TAXI LICENCE PROCES DOWN - CLOSE TO THE COST OF A HIRE CAR LICENCE! With a big shortage of contracted taxi drivers, an additional 548 taxis and a migration of millions of rides to hire cars this reduction in taxi licence prices (and rents) will occur quite quickly. Add to that the legalisatïon of Uber-X and the process of reform will achieve the very desirable outcomes that the Victorian Taxi Industry Inquiry recommendations were designed to achieve. Read the story Boston City Council Moves To Regulate Ride-Sharing Services at:- wbur.org/2014/12/02/boston-uber-lyft-taxi
Posted on: Wed, 31 Dec 2014 17:26:02 +0000
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