Re:Uber Is Dealt a Fresh Blow in European Legal Case
by alkonaut on Tuesday July 04, 2017 @06:19PM
(#14698704)
Stockholm has dozens of taxi companies and strict regulations (special training required etc, safety and insurance regulations, etc).
All the major companies, perhaps the top 10 - have apps with pre-paying and hailing or pre-booking in the app.
I haven't called a taxi by phone or hailed one on the street for years. I can't find when the first company launched their app, but I'm pretty sure I hadn't heard the name Uber when they did (which doesn't mean Uber weren't first - just that I hadn't heard of them because they didn't exist in Sweden then).
There are obviously no taxi medallions or similar, so anyone is free to start a taxi service and the cost for doing so is low. Usually you'd join one of the bigger players to be connected to a booking central and app service but you can just get a license and start driving.
So the bottom line is - in ANY city where there isn't a US-style medallion bureaucracy surrounding taxis I just don't see the point of Uber. Uber is Taxi. If there are 100 taxi companies with apps, then with Uber they are 101.
US cities (and others worldwide) should just buy back all medallions at the last transfer price and then allow free competition.
All the major companies, perhaps the top 10 - have apps with pre-paying and hailing or pre-booking in the app.
I haven't called a taxi by phone or hailed one on the street for years. I can't find when the first company launched their app, but I'm pretty sure I hadn't heard the name Uber when they did (which doesn't mean Uber weren't first - just that I hadn't heard of them because they didn't exist in Sweden then).
There are obviously no taxi medallions or similar, so anyone is free to start a taxi service and the cost for doing so is low. Usually you'd join one of the bigger players to be connected to a booking central and app service but you can just get a license and start driving.
So the bottom line is - in ANY city where there isn't a US-style medallion bureaucracy surrounding taxis I just don't see the point of Uber. Uber is Taxi. If there are 100 taxi companies with apps, then with Uber they are 101.
US cities (and others worldwide) should just buy back all medallions at the last transfer price and then allow free competition.