Education & Work Any uber drivers out there?

Taxis often stop where they are not legally allowed - if I had $1 for every time I cursed a taxi for unpredictable driving!

 

Those $6 fare drivers had better be getting plenty of them otherwise they are working for nothing. And with no street pick up or rank work allowed I can't see them making money. They are naive and won't last long as drivers. Uber will probably rely on high driver turnover.

The way I see it, Uber drivers will need street hails and Private Jobs (ie passenger likes driver service and makes bookings direct with driver) to survive. So what if it's illegal ,it won't stop the drivers. People do illegal things.....even Uber operates illegally in NSW.

Uber makes out it's going to fix the broken taxi industry. All they are doing is lining their pockets by acting illegally. They don't care about safety....where's the cameras?...where's the decal on the cars?...who's checking drivers are licensed and medically fit to drive? Oh, lets worry about that when something happens and then we can reinvent the wheel.

In the end a lot of the drivers and passengers will be the mugs.

 

well drivers are under no contract and can leave at any time if they money isnt enough and apart from a few hundred dollars in licensing and some insurance costs they are not out of pocket if it doesnt work out. the fact that there are actually drivers on the road shows they are making money. sure some would want to make more but if your claim was right there would be no drivers.

personally i find uber to be a lot safer than cabs, you might disagree thats fine. You know your drivers name, have his photo and licence plate. they have also now launched a feature where with 1 click you can share your ride with up to 5 people who can monitor where the car goes, did you get home safe etc.

contrast that with a cab. i know when my mum is travelling alone or my girlfriend, especially late at night im much more comfortable with her doing so in an uber than with a random taxi driver where, in the likely event, something were to go wrong it would be hard to know or find them.

btw you should probably contact uber and offer your expertise, in it entire existence it has never relied on street hails but clearly they've missed something major and need it to survive according to you.

 

As more and more drivers join Uber, that's when the problems will rear their ugly heads. Drivers will start bypassing Uber for jobs, they will work long hours and person hygiene will be an issue. Also, private jobs will allow drivers to rip off passengers not the Uber generated work.

When cars start doing 200 - 300 km a day in travel they will start to rattle and roll in a much quicker period of time. If they are not maintained they will become dangerous (eg brakes, suspension, steering).

 

uber was launched in 2009. im sure that, from operating in hundreds of cities, they will consider the above.

if drivers have bad personal hygiene or drive badly from workiung too much uber will know due to the rating system. those drivers will be either given help/chances to improve or be removed from the system. does this happen with cab drivers?

incidentally the problems you have listed above pretty much all already exist with cabs. so, even based on your worse case scenario, we will end up with something as bad as what we already accept? i'll take those odds all day everyday

 

out of curiosity, have you had much direct experience with using uber? it really doesnt seem like you have.


to be clear im not saying the service is perfect and neither is the company. in fact i do disagree with some of their practices as a corporation.

from my personal POV though it is a far superior product to the incumbent, ie taxis. more reliable, safer, better service, fully trackable in case you leave something in there AND CHEAPER.

yet customers are apparently mugs? id argue those paying more for a worse product/service when a better option out there are more likely to be mugs.

 

No, I have never used Uber. Is it any good?

 

$6 for a few minutes work isn't bad at all, they could do very well doing 5 of them an hour.

How are they going to do street hails? it's just a normal car. Private jobs aren't uber, you literally can't do them as a driver, if you choose to go outside the system then you're the problem, not uber.

Why do they need cameras? There is GPS tracking available to every driver which tells you exactly where the car is and at the push of one button will signal for help. Cameras have done nothing to prevent taxi crime and with no tracking or driver awareness there is no way to chase down anyone who misbehaves.

There are negatives on both sides but my experience is that knowing exactly who the driver is, exactly where you went and tracking it live is far more secure than a camera that only proves you did something wrong after the fact. The Uber system is a better security system than Taxi's have where you don't know who your driver is, the cab you're in and have no way to quickly alert friends and family.

What does a decal possibly add to the situation? Part of why there is no street hailing is because there is no decal. The decal just adds nothing.

You have to complete a full medical to upgrade your license to the level required to drive with Uber, you have to have regular vehicle checks to remain driving with Uber.

I suggest you actually do some research into the requirements to sign up before saying things like you have, it's abundantly clear that you actually know nothing about the service or how it works and are just spouting off at nothing.

If the driver starts driving poorly or smelling they will be voted off the system. If you don't maintain the required rating you're out, no ifs or buts, you're gone. So if the drivers want to make a living they will uphold the standard required of them by Uber to work for them.

I have no idea how your so called private jobs are going to rip off passengers, given it's operating outside the system the only reason a passenger would use it would be for a discount on the fare, otherwise they'd just, you know, book through Uber and pay the tracked fair that they can complain about and receive a refund on if they've been ripped off.

Again, your complete lack of understanding of how it actually works seems to create issues that just don't and wont exist.

Again, they are required to pass a vehicle inspection every 3 months (iirc). Given the cars have to be within a certain age and standard to begin with, this isn't a major issue.

 

WI, I know the game. Taxis and drivers are regulated for a reason. Cameras protect the drivers, it's a fact. Decal identify the vehicle.

Taxis also have duress button and an M13 code which the drivers use. If activated, surrounding cabs come to assist.

Street pickups is where most of the ripping off occurs.

 

Don't know where you live but taxi drivers in nsw have photo ID up on the dash and you can also track where the taxi is so I think your facts are incorrect.

 

which fact i stated is incorrect? in terms of say a lady travelling alone, i feel uber is safer, that's an opinion not a fact. i didnt say in my post that nsw taxi drivers dont have photo id or that you cant track it so not quite sure what youre disagreeing with me about.

i feel uber is safer as it is always recorded and trackable, the fact that every single ride needs to be booked through the app means there are no instances where both parties dont have each others details.

while taxis can be tracked via that app that doesnt work if you just hop into one off the street and is generally clunkier. you also cant share your location with 5 people, including live tracking if you want.

all of the above is just my opinion though so im relly not sure what the fact is i apparently stated in that post and where it was incorrect.

 

I don't know what it's like where you are but over here it's the passengers that need protecting from the drivers more often than vice versa. So taxis continue to have a one sided protection system that doesn't offer a scrap of protection to the passengers who are the vulnerable party in the equation more often than not.

Decal's don't identify the vehicle any better than a license plate and drivers license number which are both a part of Uber. Really all the decals do is identify a taxi so you can drive extra cautiously around them on the roads because you should expect them to swerve into your lane and drive erratically.

Which doesn't change that the whole cashless element and the passenger being required to provide all of their details is a far bigger deterrent than a camera could ever be. It doesn't make a lot of sense to give the person you're going to try and rob all of your contact and credit card details now does it? Especially when they have nothing for you to steal.

Pretty sure we don't have the live tracking you can provide to friends and family in Perth, I also couldn't count how many taxi's I've been in where the ID on the dashboard didn't match the driver, not to mention that having some guys first name, that you must remember to be of any use, isn't nearly as safe as having all of their contact details and proof when and where they picked you up and dropped you off and the entire path they took on the way, including if they stopped.

I probably sound anti-taxi which isn't really fair because I'm actually not but a hell of a lot of what Uber is doing is a much better service than taxis and it's absolutely the shakeup that the archaic taxi industry needed, I don't know if taxis are a hell of a lot better in other states but in Perth Uber has been an absolute godsend and even if they get pushed out the changes they will force upon the taxi industry would make the whole thing worthwhile for the public. Simple fact is that it's a better, cheaper and safer service than taxis over here are offering. Taxis have their benefits, the taxi stand is a real bonus if your phone is flat for instance but overall Uber has left taxis for dead in all the key areas.

 

These guys are not employees, somewhere between casuals and contractors. Uber doesn't care what they do outside of their Uber trips. So whether they pick up for $8 or $80 they are only doing piece work'.

@wogitalia - how can $30/hr be classed as good? The driver is providing their own vehicle, paying running costs etc. More like pocket/fuel/beer money if done in the right frame of mind but definitely not 'good'. I suppose it depends upon your definition of 'good' at the end of the day - if you're a pizza delivery person getting $2.20 for each drop then it's gold but if your a retail employee on award rates, stay behind the counter.

 

That's still going to end up being $25 an hour after costs (unless they're driving a hummer) which is better than most people without any skills are getting working retail or other similar unskilled jobs. Throw in the flexibility of working whenever you want for as long as you want and it's a pretty good rate.

They make more than that on weekends as well and that was really just an example that the small fares don't make a big difference.

Let's be honest here, it's never been advertised as a job you'll retire in 5 years off, it's a supplement income source for most drivers, some people are doing it for a living, still better than welfare.

I think you need to remember that the median household income in Australia is only 65k a year, for those who aren't as well off as the majority of this forum, being able to make $600 a week doing 25 hours is a pretty massive win.

 

The part where you said with uber drivers you have their name, photo id and licence plate. A taxi driver has the same on their ID card that is on their dashboard and it's not hard to read a number plate.

 

Wait and see how many uber drivers are left if they have to start paying $300k for a taxi number plate.

 

Yum CEO Says Pizza Hut Needs to Be More Like Uber - NDTVProfit.com

 

i did not say that taxi drivers do not have their ID card so how is what i said incorrect? the fact is, every single uber ride is recorded with details of both parties, every single one. As you yourself mentioned, with taxis it involves looking at the drivers ID and car licence plate and recording that info. then what? do you send it to someone? what if you've had a few drinks and forget to record the details? it requires human intervention vs an automated solution.

where is what i said in that post factually inaccurate like youre claiming?

"i feel uber is safer as it is always recorded and trackable, the fact that every single ride needs to be booked through the app means there are no instances where both parties dont have each others details.

while taxis can be tracked via that app that doesnt work if you just hop into one off the street and is generally clunkier. you also cant share your location with 5 people, including live tracking if you want."

facts ive claimed
- every single uber right booked through app and recorded
- taxi tracking doesnt work/is clunkier if you just hop into one off the street and you cant share live location etc

 

Well that's kind of the whole point of the debate though. I personally think that the cost of taxi plates is a complete price gouge by the state governments. There is just no need for a zero skill industry to require so much regulation that it costs that much to license.

Hopefully part of the outcome will be that those ridiculous plates are gone and we get some actual competition in that market, as Uber is currently providing.

 

Agreed though I believe the $300k isn't because of regulation costs but more due to supply and demand. From speaking with taxi drivers it was due to a number of cashed up people/company buying the plates and controlling them in a manner which made them most money but didn't involve them driving - they lease the plates out. Plates sell at a price set by the market not the govt. When private owners control those plates they can play with the supply and demand themselves.

In less dense populations plates are cheaper. In 2012 the prices were even more according to A lot on their plates