# Taxi drivers force Uber passenger out of car



## JimS (Aug 18, 2015)

http://www.groundup.org.za/article/taxi-drivers-force-uber-passengers-out-cars/

Metre taxi drivers have closed the road to Cape Town International Airport and forced passengers out of Uber cars. Uber drivers have reacted by going offline. They are fearful of violent attacks and that their cars will be burnt.

Police vans blocked the road too, and police were in discussions with both metre taxi and Uber drivers. They advised Uber drivers to leave the airport. A group of men was seen attempting to lift an Uber vehicle.

Last year in Mexico City, taxi drivers smashed windows and pelted Uber drivers with eggs.

Uber announced two weeks ago that it was going to allow drivers to take cash fares. Drivers warned that this would cause conflict with metre taxis.

A Cape Town Uber drivers' WhatsApp group is a flurry of voice notes and messages warning drivers to be careful. (The group is trying to form a union for Uber drivers and consists of over 200 people. Many Uber drivers are dissatisfied with their work conditions.)

Passenger Romanda de Bastos was pulled from her Uber into a metre taxi. She told her mother, Lita, that she saw the Uber driver being kicked. He was then driven off in his vehicle. Romando was distraught, worried that the man might be killed. UPDATE: The driver was assaulted. His license disk was stolen. He is shaken but okay.

Stranded riders could be seen walking to the airport.

Uber spokesperson Samantha Allenberg said, "We are aware of the situation and we are speaking to the authorities and relevant stakeholders to ensure this is resolved quickly. Drivers have a security number they can use should they feel unsafe at anytime."

An Uber driver said, "Guys, I just told a client I can't take her to the airport. She was crying she is going to miss her plane. All Uber drivers are cancelling her."

UPDATE 21:10 - Uber has urged GroundUp to update our article to inform the public that the route to the airport opened again many hours ago.


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## JimS (Aug 18, 2015)

Folks - this nonsense has got to stop. First of all, these lawsuits by drivers are a huge waste of time and energy. Not one person who signed up with Uber was told anything different than that they would be an independent contractor. Here's the job, here's the pay, take it or leave it. Even when they drop the rates, take it or leave it.

But the Cabbies are really off their mark. This sort of action is exactly why people hate cabs. They are mean, ugly people sometimes. Fact is, adapt or get out of the business. No one has the right to earn whatever they feel is right for any job they want to do.

Then again, in Mass., maybe they do...


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## Another Uber Driver (May 27, 2015)

JimS said:


> Then again, in Mass., maybe they do...


The link goes to a story about events in South Africa. There is no place in South Africa called "Massachusetts" nor is there a place in South Africa that anyone abbreviates as "Mass.". In fact, nowhere in the article is there a mention of either "Mass." or Massachusetts.

There are, however, Catholic Churches in South Africa where priests do "say Mass".


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## wk1102 (Dec 25, 2015)

Cape Town, Cape Cod, Caped Crusader, Cab Driver... 

How to keep track of them?


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## Huberis (Mar 15, 2015)

JimS said:


> Not one person who signed up with Uber was told anything different than that they would be an independent contractor. Here's the job, here's the pay, take it or leave it. Even when they drop the rates, take it or leave it


If you are an independent contractor you are receiving pay, you have your earnings. If you truly are an independent contractor, you would be expected to have a bit of personal agency from the get go. Uber drivers do not have the least bit of decision making ability other than when to log on or off.


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## JimS (Aug 18, 2015)

Oops. So long as it's New Zealand'ers...


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## Huberis (Mar 15, 2015)

JimS said:


> No one has the right to earn whatever they feel is right for any job they want to do.


That isn't what people are fighting for. That said, surge pricing itself seems to be an expression of your statement - charge whatever you can get away with at that moment. Uber themselves have openly admitted from a consumer's perspective their surge pricing model is their biggest failure. Of course when word got back to drivers about the comment Uber tried to backtrack...... The bottom line is your statement is in contradiction to surge pricing. You may not get to charge what you want all the time, but every time you can, you do. Uber adds the odd twist that during the times they can't stick it to the the pax, in mature markets, they turn around and stick it to their own drivers. - Someone is always being played and the work becomes a game, not much more than a hobby.


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## JimS (Aug 18, 2015)

That's just silly. You're comparing the economics of supply and demand to workers rights. That's what the New Zealand taxi drivers are upset about - they're losing their livelihood like folks here in the US have. On the other side, those sticking it to the cabbies (the TNC drivers) are willfully taking those jobs away then complaining they aren't treated nice, despite having agreed to the terms to begin with.


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## ChortlingCrison (Mar 30, 2016)

I could just see this as a great SNL skit. "Young man, get out of that uber car, and come with me!"""


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## Huberis (Mar 15, 2015)

JimS said:


> having agreed to the terms to begin with.


They are being taken advantage of. THey are often lied to which is made to believe the work is whatever they most like to hear. I am going to go out on a limb and suggest that neither of us has much of a clue as to what conditions are like for workers or TNC drivers in either South Africa or New Zealand. I will suggest your are projecting your understanding of workers rights as you believe them to exist here in the US and projecting them a representative of conditions in other countries. That isn't likely accurate or helpful.

People often take work because they have no other perceived choice. What does it mean when you suggest "drivers agreed to terms to begin with" - The only agreement is that there are no steadfast rules or protections in place. Uber reserves the right to change the terms at will. Drivers are brought in ignorant and decisions are made daily which jeopardizes their ability to earn a reasonable income. - There is no reason not to fight that.

- Look at Uber's own actions. They move into towns ahead of permission or meaningful regulation, orders to shut down. They agree to one thing and routinely do as they please in state after state. They agree to one thing and lobby for another, they do not stop or rest because they agreed with a state's regulatory board concerning one thing or another at one time. If a municipality wants to enforce measures for the general public, TNC companies cry foul and withdraw.

There is no reason in such a mercurial environment to suggest that anyone driver truly agreed to anything. Nothing is set in stone. You have zero clue what is going on in Either South Africa or New Zealand or whatever the story other than their was a kind of disruption that followed a pattern of disrupting Uber drivers. Their is zero story behind the link.


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## Huberis (Mar 15, 2015)

JimS said:


> That's just silly. You're comparing the economics of supply and demand to workers rights.


By Uber's own admission, surge pricing is their biggest failure. The surge is often fabricated and trumped up. Plot the rise and fall of rates and surges in a given town from introduction to maturity. It is very manipulative. The only way Uber can get away with their pricing practices is because they have managed to avoid being classified a common carrier, yet if you look at how they market their services to the public, the general direction they head in, they present themselves as the world's great common carrier.

If you look at how surge pricing works, someone is usually getting ripped off while the other side makes out like a bandit. In more mature markets, the drivers tend to end on the shorter end of the stick. Her in the US, we do not have a free market economy as some would suggest. We have a managed economy, one which set rules when possible to protect certain abuses from happening. The TNC industry through self definition has sidestepped protective measures.


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## JimS (Aug 18, 2015)

That's just not true. Someone is paying more for a product in short supply. If they don't want to pay surge, they can wait. Period.

Now, when I see 30 drivers sitting in an area that's surging at 2.8x, and no one is pinging, then it should come down. But the priority goes to those willing to pay.


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## Huberis (Mar 15, 2015)

JimS said:


> That's just not true. Someone is paying more for a product in short supply. If they don't want to pay surge, they can wait. Period.


They are only able to do that by avoiding being designated a common carrier. No common carrier is allowed to manipulate prices like that. As markets mature, rates are dropped such that the drivers are forced (they did not agree) to drive at rates which are noncompetitive, they are almost at cost or lower than cost. A regulated industry would not allow for that.

To simply suggest the consumer is paying for the short supply, they can wait if they don't want to pay, that is not honest. It is contrived and manipulated. Uber itself agrees. You must have by now seen the video from a conference filmed by NPR where an Uber executive openly admits surge pricing is their single greatest failure.

The statement was retracted after driver feedback came back in the form of an uproar, but the statement was made in public and recorded. Uber execs don't even try to sell your claim anymore.


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## JimS (Aug 18, 2015)

I'm really not disagreeing with you. I have heard over and over from passengers that a stable rate that is double what it is now is more preferable than a low rate that's constantly surging.

But the act of supply and demand in and of itself it not inherently evil. It just seems that way in a lot of cases because it's real time.


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## Huberis (Mar 15, 2015)

JimS said:


> But the act of supply and demand in and of itself it not inherently evil. It just seems that way in a lot of cases because it's real time.


It is manipulative and nearly always at one party's expense. The trend is for rates to be either excessively high or low, rarely fair. Over time, that will prove to be good for no one. It is that simple. As a general rule, in this country, we do not have a true free market. Pric controls are routinely put in place. Look at the disaster that was the deregulation of the electricity/power industry as an example. Many of those companies used forms of bait and switch on their customers. the same thing is happening here.

Drivers are as much or more customers of Uber as they are so called partners.


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## JimS (Aug 18, 2015)

Nah. High surge prices hurt the drivers, too. We're sitting in the middle of a 3.4x, 15 drivers around, twiddling their thumbs because riders are holding out for the rates to drop back to below minimum wage. And it hurts Uber because they aren't making any money with no one accepting rides.


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## Huberis (Mar 15, 2015)

JimS said:


> Nah. High surge prices hurt the drivers, too. We're sitting in the middle of a 3.4x, 15 drivers around, twiddling their thumbs because riders are holding out for the rates to drop back to below minimum wage.


Depends on where you are and when


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## JimS (Aug 18, 2015)

I did edit a line there - but you beat me to quoting it. 

I didn't mind it not surging when the rates were $1.50/mi.

Now I have to count on it if I want to make more than $50 in a night.


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## JimS (Aug 18, 2015)

Make no mistake - Uber's rush to gain market share and their desire to have as many drivers as possible available has caused all kinds of trouble. Period.


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## Huberis (Mar 15, 2015)

JimS said:


> I did edit a line there - but you beat me to quoting it.
> 
> I didn't mind it not surging when the rates were $1.50/mi.
> 
> Now I have to count on it if I want to make more than $50 in a night.


That suggests to me you are being manipulated, thrown a bone, a carrot on a string. That is my point. Sometimes the pax gets taken advantage of, but over time, the trend is towards that of the drivers. It is all broken. It is exploitive, asat.


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## Leftright? (Mar 11, 2016)

Driving at this point is much like the pic in Hubers' avitar

If your stupid enough to drive, go for it, the opportunity is there...


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## WeirdBob (Jan 2, 2016)

wk1102 said:


> Cape Town, Cape Cod, Caped Crusader, Cab Driver...
> 
> How to keep track of them?


Perhaps "The Tile"?
https://www.thetileapp.com/


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