UBER V TAXI's

[Jezza]

Uber is 'effectively legal' in Victoria after a major court decision involving Nathan Brenner is handed down in the County Court yesterday.

[David]

That's good news, right? Not so much for taxi drivers, but maybe it's about time that business model was disrupted.

[Jezza]

[Culprit]

[Dark Beanie]

I haven't used Uber but have in the past used Taxis quite often.

Main complaint is drivers that do not know where they are going. Although over the past 2 months, I have had drivers for evening trips that didn't have to be directed to my destination, cars were clean and drivers friendly.

[5150]

Taxis are a mixed bag. You can get a clean one with a decent and awake driver or a stinker with a straight off the boat guy that's half asleep towards the end of his 14 hour shift.

Never used uber, but I can't fault their model. Not sure if they do or if its already part of the service but a GPS system with the drivers details would be hard to beat.

[Pies4shaw]

[HAL]

""? You do?

[stui magpie]

Never used Uber, I get good enough service from taxis. Generally.

Although I do usually have to give directions.

[John Wren]

if i have to use a taxi i call my regular driver. always on time if not early and always know where they are going. tried uber for the first time the other day and was quite impressed. clean, new car. offered bottled water and mints. the driver used google maps but we told him the directions for the quickest route for that time of day b

[stui magpie]

^

I had a regular more than 10 years ago when I did a lot of interstate trips. Not now. The main times I catch a taxi these days is flagging one down near the corner of King and latrobe in the early hours.

[John Wren]

^ i was down your way this afternoon and strangely enough thought of you as i wandered by.

[die4pies]

Hi guys,

Interesting discussion.

I drove for Uber for a little over six months from October 2014 to April 2015, which is pretty much the start of the Uber in Melbourne. Initially I just wanted to see what the fuss was about. I was going to drive for the Cup carnival and then give it away. I ended up going out for around 20 hours a week on average. It was very addictive. I took over 2,000 passengers in that time and heard a lot of stories.

Women love (and NEED) Uber. In 2,000 trips I would guess 70% were women and at least half of those had stories of harassment, assault and some of rape in Taxis. None of these are in the statistics as the stories of the Police handling of the complaints are equally sickening.

Ages and backgrounds varied greatly but Fitzroy was the most popular pickup/dropoff place.

Insurance would never be an issue as no one would ever know it was commercial trip. I could be just giving someone a lift. There is no financial transaction between the driver and passenger.

The money is not good. I drive a Camry Hybrid so my operating costs are minimal. In six months I made $20,000 fares driving around 15-20 hours a week.

The registration process was extraordinarily simple. A bit too simple. The checks are very thorough though and unlike Taxi's it is very difficult to 'share' accounts around. Passengers all expressed how much safer it was knowing who was coming to pick them up. Interestingly when I did my induction half the guys there were disgruntled taxi drivers and at the end two walked out and got straight into their VHA cars and drove off to work. They were double dipping I think.

Last Christmas I walked into the Taxi Services Commission on Collins Street and was given full driver accreditation too, so I was a licenced driver for purpose of driving a commercial passenger vehicle. My insurance was also business insurance which covered me for carrying business customers (I had this before Uber anyway)

I received a letter from the ATO last year in November saying they had detected that I had been earning "ride sharing" and that I needed to declare this in my tax. They got the amount spot on too. The ATO have access to my bank account which is normal, but it was a bit stupid them saying I needed to declare it when I had already done so THREE months earlier. They were too busy with their nose stuck in my bank account to check their own records I guess. On the tax issue, 80% of Uber fares are paid to the driver from an account in Amsterdam. the other 20% is taxed in Amsterdam at around 5% I believe. That is the biggest issue with Uber, they should pay tax in the countries in which they use the public infrastructure to generate their revenue.

The Taxi industry is in appalling disarray. The attacks on Uber drivers I heard about but never experienced myself, highlight why people are turning away from Taxis and coming over to Uber. Where they shot themselves in the foot was going down the safety path. Uber is by far the safer option, especially for women.

[Jezza]

Interesting perspective of things. Thanks for sharing.

It will be fascinating to see where this issue heads in the next five to ten years. Can the Taxi industry revitalise itself or will Uber officially make Taxis redundant?

[stui magpie]

I'd be surprised if the Taxi industry didn't bounce back. I don't know if having Uber as the primary would work well for anyone. Having competition is good as it makes the incumbent lift their game.

Once they shake it up and drivers start getting a fair whack, it will improve.

I might give Uber a go when I'm in the states.