No competition please, we are French

[Derec]

Taxi drivers in France are rioting over competition from Uber, prompting the left wing government's interior minister to pledge to shut the company down and confiscate their vehicles.
Irate French taxi drivers smash cars in strike against Uber
I say let different car services freely compete. If uber can offer significantly cheaper prices that only means the taxi monopoly has been overcharging all this time.
If I was French, I'd boycott taxis. Who wants to be driven by angry thugs anyway.
Also I'd vote against this government in the next elections. They sure love banning stuff for ideological reasons.

 

[credoconsolans]

Taxi drivers in France are rioting over competition from Uber, prompting the left wing government's interior minister to pledge to shut the company down and confiscate their vehicles.
Irate French taxi drivers smash cars in strike against Uber
I say let different car services freely compete. If uber can offer significantly cheaper prices that only means the taxi monopoly has been overcharging all this time.
If I was French, I'd boycott taxis. Who wants to be driven by angry thugs anyway.
Also I'd vote against this government in the next elections. They sure love banning stuff for ideological reasons.

But do taxi drivers have overhead that uber drivers do not?

 

[rousseau]

Uber is just another symptom of automation. They as well as Airbnb are tapping into long untapped resources: people with cars, and people with homes that aren't doing anything profitable with them. The internet, and a cleverly designed app that automates and streamlines the process makes it possible, and so it's happening.

Of course there's going to be resistance, there's even been pretty heavy resistance to Uber in my small nowhere town Ontario: Uber means real cab drivers who use their position to support themselves and their families will be out of work. That's something anybody would be angry about, but the question is what is the precedent that's been set throughout human history? Have we ever managed to halt technological progress? No. So Uber will be no different in the long run.

 

[Axulus]

It's like horsebreeders and dealers rioting over the introduction of the automobile. Uber is investing heavily into driverless tech. These taxi drivers will soon be obsolete.

 

[Angra Mainyu]

Also I'd vote against this government in the next elections. They sure love banning stuff for ideological reasons.

But then again, according to your link, it seems that many government opponents, instead of banning paying for sex, banned offering sex for money. They're also banning stuff for ideological reasons - it's just that they ban different stuff because they have a different ideology.
Whom would you vote for, to avoid that problem?

 

[whichphilosophy]

In Britain we solved the problem several years ago. When MINICABS were introduced there were riots. Now it isn't a problem.
Taxis may pick someone up on the street as they tour around. MINICABS cannot do this so you have to phone them. A MINICAB is generally much cheaper and nearly always works on a fixed price per route which can be quoted in advance.

Competition from minicabs didn't put taxis out of business in London.

 

[Togo]

But do taxi drivers have overhead that uber drivers do not?

Is the playing field the same from a tax and regulatory perspective?

 

[ZiprHead]

Can't speak for France but generally in the US, taxi drivers must lease the cab from the cab company. They are also required to get chauffer's licenses. Neither is required by Uber.

 

[Speakpigeon]

Taxi drivers in France are rioting over competition from Uber, prompting the left wing govern-ment's interior minister to pledge to shut the company down and confiscate their vehicles.

Only if you could prove that you and most people wouldn't riot if you or they were in the situation taxi drivers are in today would you have a point. You cannot prove it therefore you don't have a point.

I say let different car services freely compete. If uber can offer significantly cheaper prices that only means the taxi monopoly has been overcharging all this time.

Uber don't pay taxes in France, taxi drivers do. And I'd like to see who is paying what level of damages and compensations in case of a car crash or aggression.

If I was French, I'd boycott taxis. Who wants to be driven by angry thugs anyway.

I am French, you're not and you probably know little about France. Most people who do use taxis expect a professional driver, i.e. a driver they can trust.

Also, we are unable to assess the risk taken by choosing Uber over taxis so a boycott could not be rationally justified.

Also I'd vote against this government in the next elections. They sure love banning stuff for ideo-logical reasons.

That has been dealt with pretty good already.


In fact, while some policies of our government are ideologically motivated, most are not. Rather, they are based on the probabilities of how they are going to affect voters, meaning it's not really a left-wing government it's just not so right wing as Sarkozy's was. Voters may have ideological motivations themselves but that's democracy so if there's democracy at all in America feel free to go leave for North Korea to escape from the horror of that. In France, most people who vote are aware that taxes pay for schools and hospitals and most of our schools are almost free of charge and our health system is arguably quite good and also less expensive and more efficient for most people than the one you had in America (I don't know how much Obama's reform will improve it).

As I understand it, the government may have decided to ban Uber but without doing all it could to enforce the ban so as to put pressure on taxi drivers to accept a reform of the profession, which is badly needed. That's real-life politics to me, i.e. the opposite of ideology, and since you are criticising the government, you are doing it either through sheer ignorance of the facts on the ground or because your criticism is motivated by your own private ideology.
EB

 

[Nice Squirrel]

banning

Wow! Just wow. In a taxi discussion.

 

[laughing dog]

Taxi drivers in France are rioting over competition from Uber, prompting the left wing government's interior minister to pledge to shut the company down and confiscate their vehicles.
Irate French taxi drivers smash cars in strike against Uber
I say let different car services freely compete. If uber can offer significantly cheaper prices that only means the taxi monopoly has been overcharging all this time.
If I was French, I'd boycott taxis. Who wants to be driven by angry thugs anyway.
Also I'd vote against this government in the next elections. They sure love banning stuff for ideological reasons.

The French have a much different view of the role of economics and commerce in society than we do. IMO, they view it much more as more intimate social connection than we do. When a group goes on strike, they tend to get support from other sectors in the economy.

As for banning things for ideological reasons, that is simply a tautology. The banning of any item, activity or person can always be reduced to some ideological reason.

 

[ronburgundy]

Also I'd vote against this government in the next elections. They sure love banning stuff for ideological reasons.

So, I am guessing you'll want to vote out all Republicans in the next election since they are the primary forces behind the same prostitution bans in the US, plus bans on use of drugs, gay marriage, flag burning bans, book bans (yeah they still do that), and 90% of what FCC bans on speech and other television content.

 

[prideandfall]

Have we ever managed to halt technological progress? No.

minor quibble: yes, we have, countless times.

also: is there a reason that the taxi drivers can't just quit and become uber drivers?

 

[ronburgundy]

Taxi drivers in France are rioting over competition from Uber, prompting the left wing government's interior minister to pledge to shut the company down and confiscate their vehicles.
Irate French taxi drivers smash cars in strike against Uber
I say let different car services freely compete. If uber can offer significantly cheaper prices that only means the taxi monopoly has been overcharging all this time.
If I was French, I'd boycott taxis. Who wants to be driven by angry thugs anyway.
Also I'd vote against this government in the next elections. They sure love banning stuff for ideological reasons.

The French have a much different view of the role of economics and commerce in society than we do. IMO, they view it much more as more intimate social connection than we do. When a group goes on strike, they tend to get support from other sectors in the economy.

As for banning things for ideological reasons, that is simply a tautology. The banning of any item, activity or person can always be reduced to some ideological reason.

They are doing the equivalent of banning personal computers from accessing any news information in order to protect the jobs of librarians an newspaper delivery boys. It is idiocy. Actually it is more absurd than that example, because all the cab drivers can become Uber drivers, so they will not be out of work.
IF France wants to regulate these platforms, such as force them to have a min % of full time drivers, min fares, etc., then that could be reasonable, especially as a transitional strategy. But an outright ban is an extremist stance against liberty and progress, and the welfare of most people, including future drivers that in the long run would be better off, able to essentially work for themselves or at least have multiple platforms competing for their services.

 

[fromderinside]

Have we ever managed to halt technological progress? No.

minor quibble: yes, we have, countless times.

also: is there a reason that the taxi drivers can't just quit and become uber drivers?

So bypassing rules and regulations that may have gone too far so someone can make a quick buck is progress? Since I'm on my 'you lazy fucks' rail, I'm going: "You lazy fucks. Modernize the regulations so they work and don't ensure government jobs." Sure, go all Bush on me and say
"Its so hard". Stupid too?

WTF?

 

[prideandfall]

So bypassing rules and regulations that may have gone too far so someone can make a quick buck is progress? Since I'm on my 'you lazy fucks' rail, I'm going: "You lazy fucks. Modernize the regulations so they work and don't ensure government jobs." Sure, go all Bush on me and say
"Its so hard". Stupid too?

WTF?

... what?

 

[ronburgundy]

So bypassing rules and regulations that may have gone too far so someone can make a quick buck is progress? Since I'm on my 'you lazy fucks' rail, I'm going: "You lazy fucks. Modernize the regulations so they work and don't ensure government jobs." Sure, go all Bush on me and say
"Its so hard". Stupid too?

WTF?

... what?

QFT

 

[Tom Sawyer]

It's not just France. We have the same kind of thing here in Canada where taxi drivers are rioting* over the Uber cars starting to take a share of their fares. They tried to get them banned but failed and are now stepping up a marketing campaign to convince people that cabs are a better choice than those dangerous and unregulated Uber cars because you'll die if you get into one of those.

* "Rioting" in Canada means standing around peacefully and calmly explaining the rationales behind your positions to any passersby who choose to stop and talk to you.

 

[laughing dog]

They are doing the equivalent of banning personal computers from accessing any news information in order to protect the jobs of librarians an newspaper delivery boys. It is idiocy. Actually it is more absurd than that example, because all the cab drivers can become Uber drivers, so they will not be out of work.

Perhaps. On the other hand, the French are under no legal nor logical necessity to conform to your or my standards of rationality. Obviously, they prefer to engage ins some short-run stop gap method that they feel will forestall the inevitable. From their actions, they clearly prefer any short-run increase in expense and costs to themselves in order to maintain (for some period of time) incomes of regular taxi drivers.

Of course there are less expensive and less costly forms of engaging in such help. But sometimes history, culture and social norms are more important in social reactions and policy than economic reasoning. In the end, this really only affects people in France who use taxis.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Can't speak for France but generally in the US, taxi drivers must lease the cab from the cab company. They are also required to get chauffer's licenses. Neither is required by Uber.

Yeah, I have my doubt about Uber specifically because of the driver licensing issue. I would love to see the taxicab quasi-monopolies destroyed but I have my doubts about Uber's model.