Uber in Waterloo Region

[Canard]

Well, that's (sadly) going to kill the program right there, I'm afraid. Although I really don't understand the wisdom of issuing fines on a "complaint basis". Who is going to complain that an Uber driver just drove past their house? About the only thing I can figure this will do is cause Taxi drivers to go stalking Uber drivers and try and ID them/write down their plates and give Bylaw an earful. This seems like an awful way to do it, if they must.

[JoeKW]

I don't think it will do much. Uber has an amazing amount of cash and has fought and won against larger cities.

[taylortbb]

I don't think it will do much. Uber has an amazing amount of cash and has fought and won against larger cities.

Agreed. I believe Uber has a policy of paying any fines their drivers receive (related to being an Uber driver, not parking tickets, etc). To them it's just part of the cost of breaking the taxi monopoly, and therefore a cost of doing business.

[KevinL]

Just noticed today that the Transit app also shows you the time that the nearest Uber driver can reach you. Handy!

[numberguy]

City Taxi is trying to incorporate some of the convenience customer facing side things of Uber into their app/website (such as real time tracking of when the cab gets to you, driver rating etc) but they are having big dev issues and the rollout for test keeps on getting pushed out.

[ookpik]

Driverless cars at the heart of the Uber battleground  

While the battle is being fought to determine how human drivers are controlled and dispatched, the war is being waged to determine which entity will ultimately control the driverless cabs of the future. If the experts are right, in a couple of decades there won’t be much need for human drivers...

The fight’s really about who will run the future fleets of driverless cars; about whether ride sharing can be so cheap that car ownership becomes obsolete; about who will flood driverless vehicles with “content.”

I can understand some of the arguments against Uber even if I don't necessarily agree with them. But this is a bit over the top. We've had similar revolutions yet economies have not only survived but thrived as a result.

Enjoy the hurly burly. But don’t be surprised if, in a few decades when the cabbies, and truckers and drivers are gone and the economic devastation hits, you lose your livelihood because the sector you work in relied on those automotive-sector jobs existing. Technology’s great until it lands you in the breadline.

Send not for whom the app tolls. It tolls for thee.

Whether or not we change and adapt to change rest assured that our global competitors will. Do we want to be on board? The sort of paranoia about change that this article is peddling is like arguing a few decades ago that we shouldn't allow businesses to computerize  because it would lead to massive unemployment of clerks who shuffle paper for the insurance companies in the region.

[numberguy]

Interestingly, the local cab companies have been improving their websites. At least two of them (Waterloo Taxi and City Cab) are close to launching smartphone apps:
http://www.waterloochronicle.ca/news/ste...heir-game/
In the meanwhile, one can book rides on their websites.

Speaking of drivers and automation, companies are pilot testing driverless rigs in the Canadian oilpatch:
http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Ca...story.html

[BuildingScout]

Interestingly, the local cab companies have been improving their websites.   At least two of them (Waterloo Taxi and City Cab) are close to launching smartphone apps:
http://www.waterloochronicle.ca/news/ste...heir-game/
In the meanwhile, one can book rides on their websites. 

Speaking of service, back in the day before ubiquitous cell phones a couple of times we asked a waiting cab to please radio back the base and order us a cab. They refused. With service like that and with their business model centered around owning a medallion they left the door wide open to Uber if you ask me.

[Canard]

How's Über making out these days?

[ookpik]

This is rather disturbing, both that it happened when there was a shooting but also that it happens so frequently that it's the third most common formal complaint about taxis.

 Rejected fares a major complaint for taxi passengers 

Navarro-Fenoy’s friend Franca Abate said several cabbies idling along Dufferin St. refused to take them and a third friend on what would have been a short ride, leaving them stranded. According to Abate, they were told their fare to the Bathurst and Lake Shore area, about $8, was too low. Moments later, 26-year-old Navarro-Fenoy was gunned down.


Nneka MacGregor, executive director of the local non-profit group Women at the Centre, said the fare claim is “disconcerting on so many levels.”

“Refusing to do your job and not realizing the far reaching consequence — a vulnerable young woman at night — that is what really is so appalling,” she said. “I’m really shaken because I have two daughters who go out and take taxis.

“How are my kids going to be safe when a taxi driver would rather sit and wait for another fare than take them home?”

Would this be less of an issue with Uber?  On one hand Uber drivers know up front how much they're going to make from a ride and are assured of getting paid. On the other hand, by simply not responding to "short" rides it's easier for them to refuse them without consequence.
---
On another tack, drivers licenses indicate a driver's license class. You need  special classes to drive specialty vehicles like trucks, buses and school buses. Ontario used to have a Chauffeur class for people who drove for compensation. Perhaps we need to (re)introduce a class for taxi/Uber type drivers. This would deal with the allegation that Uber drivers aren't as competent as taxi drivers.
Likewise, in Ontario you need a special endorsement on your car insurance in order to drive for compensation. But the standard "pink card" that shows that you have insurance coverage doesn't show any details of what sorts of coverage you have. Perhaps it should, especially with respect to this endorsement.
It seems to me that these two measures would go a long way in addressing concerns by the public (and the taxi industry) that Uber drivers are somehow less safe and/or underinsured.

[JoeKW]

I was kicked out of a cab in Toronto because I wanted to pay with credit card.  He had a machine, he just didn't want to use it.  The medallion owners deserve what they're getting for not enforcing any kind of customer service standards with their drivers.

Another stupidity: My friend took a cab in Toronto once and mentioned he was paying with credit after they already started moving.  The cabbie told him to get out at an ATM and get cash.  My friend refused and the cabbie drove him back to the starting point.

[KevinL]

Why do the cabbies have such an attitude towards credit cards? I don't see how the method of payment is such a factor. I certainly carry very little cash on me; the only time I make large cash purchases these days is at the farmers' market.

[ookpik]

I can think of several reasons:
1. The CC company charges the cab company up to 5% of the value of the transaction. I wouldn't be surprised if the cab company deducts this, perhaps even adds a further service charge, from the cabblie's take.
2. When you tip on a CC the cabbie has to rely on the cab company to break out the tip and pay the cabbie that amount in addition to their take of the fare itself. Again even if the cab company does this they may charge a fee for it.
3. When you tip in cash there's no record. The cabbie has the option to omit some or all of the tip from income tax. They can't do that if your tip is on a CC transaction.
4. When you pay cash the cabbie gets to keep the money right away. With a CC transaction they have to wait for the cab company to pay them. This probably happens only once a week or even less often.
5. With CCs a customer can call the CC company, make a bogus claim against the charge, and the CC will do a chargeback. Cash is cash. There is no possibility of a chargeback.
6. People in a hurry who hand the cabbie a large bill and say "keep the change" usually leave a larger tip than those who pay the exact amount on a CC slip and add a tip.

Now that's based on a couple of minutes of contemplation. I'm not particularly creative. I bet there are even more reasons.

[Canard]

Basically, they don't like you using a credit card because they can't cheat the system as easily.

I've ridden in cabs maybe 3 times my whole life and this thread just is reaffirming my absolute distaste for them.

[ookpik]

Basically, they don't like you using a credit card because they can't cheat the system as easily.

How does that apply to my points 1., 2., 4. and 6.?

I've ridden in cabs maybe 3 times my whole life and this thread just is reaffirming my absolute distaste for them.

Sounds like all the letter writers to The Record who expressed "absolute distaste" for the LRT based on having "ridden [on public transit] maybe 3 times my whole life."