Uber Suspends Low-Cost Service In France

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This is probably the best thing for everyone involved until Uber can settle this whole thing with the French government in court.

Uber today announced the suspension of its low-cost UberPop service in France, amid heightening tensions with taxi unions and French authorities. In a blog post published today, the company said the service will be officially suspended in France Friday evening, with the option disappearing from the app by 8PM local time.
 
And another loss for consumers. Who needs low-cost service when you can have a government-mandated cartel to jack up the prices in the name of "protecting the consumer"!
 
Yeah, who needs insurance and liability coverage... Not!
Come on, Uber is gaming the system and they lost in France. If you want to drive a cab then become a cabbie, pay your insurance and coverage like everyone else.
 
Yeah, who needs insurance and liability coverage... Not!
Come on, Uber is gaming the system and they lost in France. If you want to drive a cab then become a cabbie, pay your insurance and coverage like everyone else.

But they're a "tech company" and therefore they're exempt. They're young and hip, not like filthy boatpeople driving cabs.

Quick, can you spot the Uber! driver?

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All of the above
 
Effectively, you nailed it. If they weren't a "tech company" then this, and many other communities on the internet would be ignoring them completely and they'd not get near the attention. But, because it is an "app" and "apps are cool" ... that's all it takes for people to support them breaking the law in many different countries.
 
Yeah, who needs insurance and liability coverage... Not!
Come on, Uber is gaming the system and they lost in France. If you want to drive a cab then become a cabbie, pay your insurance and coverage like everyone else.
Who says that the poor should be able to afford a cab? Only the rich should be able to! Yay! Let's keep the cartel going by government fiat and fuck over the consumers! W00t! YES!
 
Who says that the poor should be able to afford a cab? Only the rich should be able to! Yay! Let's keep the cartel going by government fiat and fuck over the consumers! W00t! YES!
Taxis have always been a relative luxury and the costs of driving (plus driver wages) make it too costly for most people except for special circumstances or where work is paying for it.

Uber only makes for hire services cheaper because :

a) They are entering a new market and massively subsidize the costs of the ride to gain market share; like in China where they supposedly spend $3 to make $1 in revenue.
b) Have lots of dumb/desperate drivers who are unable to understand the costs of driving (depreciation, gas, maintenance) and thereby slowly trading their car value for cash and subsidizing the passenger along the way; like in some markets in the USA where they only pay US$0.56/passenger mile (after Uber cut). Curiously, that's the same as the IRS mileage deduction so these drivers are losing money unless they game the system.
 
Taxis have always been a relative luxury and the costs of driving (plus driver wages) make it too costly for most people except for special circumstances or where work is paying for it.
Usually it's a luxury and expensive because of the governmental regulations, such as NYC's medallion scheme.

Uber only makes for hire services cheaper because :

a) They are entering a new market and massively subsidize the costs of the ride to gain market share; like in China where they supposedly spend $3 to make $1 in revenue.
b) Have lots of dumb/desperate drivers who are unable to understand the costs of driving (depreciation, gas, maintenance) and thereby slowly trading their car value for cash and subsidizing the passenger along the way; like in some markets in the USA where they only pay US$0.56/passenger mile (after Uber cut). Curiously, that's the same as the IRS mileage deduction so these drivers are losing money unless they game the system.
Once again: sounds like a problem of government increasing costs (gas taxes, income taxes, car registration, etc).
 
Usually it's a luxury and expensive because of the governmental regulations, such as NYC's medallion scheme.


Once again: sounds like a problem of government increasing costs (gas taxes, income taxes, car registration, etc).
The infrastructure for vehicles is expensive, and many cities don't want and are unable handle too many vehicles in their inner core.

If a poor person can't afford to drive a cheap used car, well they can't afford to pay someone to drive them around either, unless the driver is subsidizing them.
 
The infrastructure for vehicles is expensive, and many cities don't want and are unable handle too many vehicles in their inner core.
Some city governments have implemented congestion charges.

If a poor person can't afford to drive a cheap used car, well they can't afford to pay someone to drive them around either, unless the driver is subsidizing them.
Not necessarily. The "cash for clunkers" program in the US got rid of a lot of good cars that could otherwise have been bought by poorer people. Now please don't think I'm saying anything about Obama; I'm not. I'm pointing out the consequences of the program, one of which was to eliminate good, cheap used cars and keep the price of used cars higher than it otherwise would be.
 
Yeah, who needs insurance and liability coverage... Not!
Come on, Uber is gaming the system and they lost in France. If you want to drive a cab then become a cabbie, pay your insurance and coverage like everyone else.

Do you know how to drive a car?
 
Quick, shutdown craigslist ads and the classifieds, people are out there SELLING things totally unlicensed! Nobody is collecting a fee! This is madness! eBay has a tightly regulated system that protects the consumers. It's no fun when you get scammed afterall. Those seller fees make ebay completely 100% different from any other method you could ever possibly sell something on. And you are insured. You want to be insured dont you? Lets make a law requiring you to be insured, which works out easy enough because ebay is there! Now that we have this new law we drafted up out of our assholes lets ban any other service that fails to comply.
 
Usually it's a luxury and expensive because of the governmental regulations, such as NYC's medallion scheme.
While NYC isn't exactly business friendly in that regards, the scheme is not a function of the city, it's a function of the secondary market. It's a HUGE business opportunity to be able to legally pick up people anywhere in NYC, the only fault of NYC really is that they restrict the number of taxis who can pick up anywhere (aka the Medallion). And IMO, that's perfectly fine, limiting the number of taxis that operate in a city is a good thing, otherwise they'd be all over the damn place (and not in a good way). Sure NYC would sell medallions for a pretty penny, but it's the secondary market that is making a killing selling them. If NYC gave away medallions for free, but still limited the quantities, you would see the same exact thing happening with million dollar price tags on the secondary market.

About the only thing NYC can do is to make medallions non-transferable, and if you no longer wish to be a taxi driver you forfeit your medallion, and if you want to do it again get to the back of the line.
 
A lot of people say uber is subsidizing the taxi service, so what lots of companies do that? The thing to do is let them do it and go through with it. If their business is really not sustainable its going to show sooner or later.
 
Quick, shutdown craigslist ads and the classifieds, people are out there SELLING things totally unlicensed! Nobody is collecting a fee! This is madness! eBay has a tightly regulated system that protects the consumers. It's no fun when you get scammed afterall. Those seller fees make ebay completely 100% different from any other method you could ever possibly sell something on. And you are insured. You want to be insured dont you? Lets make a law requiring you to be insured, which works out easy enough because ebay is there! Now that we have this new law we drafted up out of our assholes lets ban any other service that fails to comply.

The difference is that in America, where these companies are founded, we are taught (other countries might say brainwashed with) these social and economic values. It doesn't make either of our cultures wrong, it just means that we operate under a different set of moral guidelines. In America there is nothing wrong with depriving someone else a livelihood so long as the main principle was based value. Most Americans would argue that if Person B can do what Person A does for cheaper, then Person A has obviously been over charging this whole time and doesn't deserve any support anyways.

France was founded under different aspirations than America.

But surely you must be noticing that as more of our population becomes scared of "unregulated" industry that we are slowly moving towards countries like France.
 
The difference is that in America, where these companies are founded, we are taught (other countries might say brainwashed with) these social and economic values. It doesn't make either of our cultures wrong, it just means that we operate under a different set of moral guidelines. In America there is nothing wrong with depriving someone else a livelihood so long as the main principle was based value. Most Americans would argue that if Person B can do what Person A does for cheaper, then Person A has obviously been over charging this whole time and doesn't deserve any support anyways.

France was founded under different aspirations than America.

But surely you must be noticing that as more of our population becomes scared of "unregulated" industry that we are slowly moving towards countries like France.

What aspirations was France founded on?
 
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