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A comment on Uber CEO says its service will probably shut down temporarily in California. Parent comment

Re:Uber CEO says its service will probably shut down tempora... by Slartie on Wednesday August 12, 2020 @04:11PM (#24136298)
I don't know whether it's the same in the US, but here in Germany, the good old taxis have a special obligation that disallows them to decline a rider based on where he wants to go, as long as that target is within the geographic area for which a particular taxi is licensed. The idea is that taxis are part of public transport and thus should have a certain reliability for customers, regardless of how lucrative a particular ride happens to be.

I find it laughable to hear that Uber, the arch-enemy of the taxi business, attempts to (secretly, because obviously the customer isn't informed about drivers not seeing the target locations beforehand) rebuild this particular property of the system it aims to replace. And it's doubly laughable that they now stumble over that exact attempt, which they now can't actually continue, because in order to have the necessary authority over drivers they would need to make them official employees.

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Re:Uber CEO says its service will probably shut down tempora... by valuearb on Wednesday August 12, 2020 @04:20PM (#24136412)
The law in Germany is a fantasy. Drivers still can and claim a break down, bad cell service, etc.
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Re:Uber CEO says its service will probably shut down tempora... by Slartie on Wednesday August 12, 2020 @04:44PM (#24136737)
Having some people cheat their way around it does not invalidate the law in the first place and neither does it invalidate its intention. The equivalent in Uber's system is a driver cancelling a ride after accepting it and seeing the destination, maybe claiming his car broke down on the way to the pickup location or whatever. The fact that people can pull that off also does not invalidate Uber's original attempt to make drivers accept riders regardless of their destination.
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