Education & Work Any uber drivers out there?

anyway im happy to agree to disagree with the likes of brian or datto. companies or services dont have to be everything to everyone.

 

The population of Sydney and Melbourne must be getting less dense (or is that smarter) as the prices of plates have fallen dramatically?

 

Uber illegal in Victoria.

 

I'll think you'll find it has far more to do with Uber and the market expectation that the taxi industry will have to reform, which in large part will mean doing away with the plates. Realistically the public has voted by supporting Uber and the taxi industry will need to adapt. As such those monopoly plates are worth a lot less once competition comes crashing in.

 

@wogitalia - I must have forgotten to add at the end of my post (I strongly doubt that the increasing IQ of the population would have any effect on the price of taxi plates).

 

Sanj this is what you wrote which was implying that taxi drivers don't have id otherwise you wouldn't have wrote it.



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.

 

this was the very next sentence:

"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"

there was no implication, i stated clearly where i felt there was a difference. i also stated that taxis can be tracked too but i felt it was clunkier. there is no factual inaccuracy there whatsoever, some opinions and some facts but name one single factual inaccuracy in that statement??

in one service, uber, 100% of the time the rides are trackable and record both parties details.

in the other service, taxis, that does not happen 100% of the time. even if it happened 80% of the time, it makes uber safer simply by definition.

i could, if i needed to for something important, find out who drove me, what time, what route etc on a ride i took 2 years ago in uber let alone today, can all taxis do that? if the answer to that is no then by definition it isnt as trackable.

anyway this is the last i am posting on this topic. i simply cannot be any clearer than i have been.

 

Uber is less anonymous than taxis with both parties registered (still room for fraud) but both parties are making an effort to use/provide the service.
Drivers providing their own vehicles is quite a commitment and being less than 6 years is a strict criteria meaning they're still fairly new.
For a punter to use the service they state where they are going and gps shows where they are (to my understanding) the driver is also "registered " with uber and it's not just signing on to a website, uber physically see's and copy drivers licence, vehicle rego and ownership, plus ctp. So its not just people signing up willy nilly. I would think uber is safer to given the gps in phones these days and both parties id'd before committing to the uber short term relationship
As for drivers well I'd think the "turn over "is much higher, but not like hiring and firing it is much more casual as you drive as much or as little as you like. It would be interesting to see the hrs/wk uber drivers do. I'd think low... <20hrs Avg at a guess?
It's the old thing "that everyone has their price " to some the money may be rubbish but others happy with it. But I don't see it going anywhere and had already staked it's claim around the world.
As for car costs, what's a car with these days $13k a year? so allowing 4 weeks holiday thats $6.7 per hour. But becomes more costs efficient when drivers at already or and about rather than sitting parked waiting for jobs

 

Rubbish. Were Uber users walking before Uber arrived?

Rubbish again. If foreign multinationals want to do business in Australia then need to pay tax here - whatever that is. A higher corporate tax rate in oz than Ireland or the Cayman Islands will not deter them from doing business here where profits are very high.

 

I see it a bit like the Air Bnb rise. It is creating a 'new segment' to the market.

Though I look at traditional cabs and see massive opportunity to work against and thrive against Uber. If I was in senior management I would be pushing for benefits that uber cannot provide.

- Make it aware that it is a flat fee charged, simplify the way taxis charge a fare. Make it really clear to a customer i.e peak times (which is) but more how the fare is calculated - gives certainty to customers knowing the price. Uber has this surge function (which is a massive cash grab and would be when they really make the profit) so you can estimate a fare only 10 minutes apart and get a 40% difference (happened to me plenty of times)
- Ditch cabcharge (which was a great way to clip some profit on a transaction) and even considering to wear merchant fees. Great offering to say to customer pay via AMEX or cash or CC vs uber which is linked via paypal. Customers love options
- Training (get drivers off phones, clean persons and clean cars) - this is starting to happen via market forces
- Create a functioning app and perhaps consolidate the tax companies and aggregate via one app. Work together

Work with the government to ease the regulation costs.

 

Über marketer handing out these in front of a taxi stop at a Sydney train station this morning..

One of my neighbour who is a tax driver in the Sydney cbd region said he is feeling the pinch.

 

At my train station this morning the card I was given was for a $20 offer. But I might have to open a new account to use it as I've already ridden with Uber.....
$10 vs. $20... Its for testing the marketing response.

 

* Uber legalised in NSW.
* $250 million taxi Industry Assistance Package to compensate plate owners for loss of revenue/value due to competition
* Passenger levy on every Uber and taxi ride will be used to partially fund the compensation package
* Taxis will still have the exclusive right to pick up passengers from taxi ranks, off the streets and will still have exclusive access to Sydney Airport.

Uber declared legal in New South Wales, with government to offer compensation plan to taxi owners

Uber is officially legal in NSW, with the Baird government giving the ride sharing service the go ahead in cabinet at a cost.

Premier Mike Baird's cabinet today agreed to legalise the service immediately, as well as establish a compensation plan for taxi owners, who expect to see a significant drop in revenue.

New legislation will see the creation of a $250 million Industry Assistance Package, with perpetual plate owners given $20,000 for each plate they own, capped at two plates.

A compensation fund will be distributed on a case-by-case basis for plate owners who only recently entered the industry.

Passengers will pay a $1 levy for every trip in a taxi, Uber or hire car, to help cover the IAP.

More: Uber declared legal in New South Wales, with government to offer compensation plan to taxi owners

 

Taxi plates are history now. RIP

 

Well done capitalism

 

Great, now i just need to register as a UBER driver

@bob shovel you need to move to NSW

 

@teetotal in no hurry to come back just yet. My car misses the cut off by one year! Otherwise I'd give it a go. It's a great way for extra cash

 

$20K compensation is nowhere near enough. I just did a two minute check and found a Sydney unrestricted plate for only $250K. Some people would have paid around 400K for a Sydney plate.

Taxi plates will tank. Can't see any point in buying a plate now. Just drive Uber for a fraction of the cost of a taxi.

 

20k is a hell of a lot more than basically every other industry ever has gotten for investing in a failing industry. People who bought blockbuster stores weren't compensated when Netflix came along with a superior product.

They should be happy with the monopoly they were granted by the government for decades and be very happy that the government has decided to make the public pay them money for exiting a monopoly.

It also makes perfect sense to not have taxis and have people drive for Uber instead, it's a superior product for the end user so if it's a superior profit for the driver there really are no losers by that shift.

 

Taxis are legitimate. They operate in accordance with the Motor Transport Act. Uber act illegally until the stroke of midnight. I wonder what behind the scenes deal was done to get Uber over.