Uber Sheffield suspended from 16th December.

[Cyclone 10]

Addressed

 

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/nov/21/uber-data-hack-cyber-attack

 

Firm paid hackers $100,000 to delete data and keep breach quiet

Chief security officer Joe Sullivan fired for concealing October 2016 breach

 

There are lots of other problems with Uber as a corporation, although as a consumer you don't necessarily care.

 

https://thenextweb.com/opinion/2017/04/22/uber-in-a-nutshell/

https://stallman.org/uber.html

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/george-hobica/5-very-good-reasons-why-i_b_5406643.html

 

I'm mostly interested in getting to my destination safely and paying a low fare. I'm still interested, but a bit less in the drivers getting fair pay, and in employees being treated reasonably.

[NigelFargate 10]

Addressed

 

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/nov/21/uber-data-hack-cyber-attack

 

 

 

There are lots of other problems with Uber as a corporation, although as a consumer you don't necessarily care.

 

https://thenextweb.com/opinion/2017/04/22/uber-in-a-nutshell/

https://stallman.org/uber.html

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/george-hobica/5-very-good-reasons-why-i_b_5406643.html

 

 

 

I'm mostly interested in getting to my destination safely and paying a low fare. I'm still interested, but a bit less in the drivers getting fair pay, and in employees being treated reasonably.

 

I have had many conversations with uber drivers about their employment status and almost invariably they say that they like the flexibility that über gives them, I.e. To work when they want, where they want within a city and also leaving them time to do other things. In other words, the ones I have spoken to do not want to be employees, with all the constraints that implies. The one thing they complain about is the 25% fee uber takes for each ride.

[Cyclone 10]

Probably worried that you're a corporate shill.

 

Don't most taxi drivers have exactly the same flexibility, no matter who they work for?

[Grappler 12]

If you don't like Uber, or the concept of Uber, then don't use them, simple!, I use them all the time, if it suits me to do so. You get an idea of the fare up front, so during a "surge" period, I use City taxis, and any other time, I use Uber. They are always cheaper (outside of Surge times), for example, last night my son got a cab from near Hallam FC football ground, to the Punchbowl pub at Crookes, the Uber fare he paid was £3.99, a City Taxis car would have picked him up with £3.80 already on the meter.

[realcockney 10]

If you don't like Uber, or the concept of Uber, then don't use them, simple!, I use them all the time, if it suits me to do so. You get an idea of the fare up front, so during a "surge" period, I use City taxis, and any other time, I use Uber. They are always cheaper (outside of Surge times), for example, last night my son got a cab from near Hallam FC football ground, to the Punchbowl pub at Crookes, the Uber fare he paid was £3.99, a City Taxis car would have picked him up with £3.80 already on the meter.

 

exactly i do the same when there are no UBERS around or surge time, also another point is that if you pay by barclay card first ride is free and every 15th ride is free up to £15 i think , its a no brainer.

[NigelFargate 10]

Probably worried that you're a corporate shill.

 

Don't most taxi drivers have exactly the same flexibility, no matter who they work for?

 

I doubt if they have as much flexibility as uber drivers. Can you imagine what would happen if a driver for a taxi company started to pick and choose which rides he would carry, which routes he would take on, which days he would turn up for work etc.? Many uber drivers used to work for taxi firms, but have decided that uber offers them advantages. The uber driver I used this morning told me that he used to work for a large taxi firm in Sheffield but got fed up of the best rides being given to a clique of drivers. In other words, he was saying that he didn't have control. Uber drivers by contrast can choose when, how, how often and where they work.

 

Based on my discussions with many uber drivers over the last two years, the reasons why these drivers choose uber vary somewhat, but flexibility and being their own boss come high on the list.

 

Some have their own business projects in mind and are using uber as a stop gap, until their business takes off. Others have part-time jobs, So are using uber to supplement their income. Others are migrants, whose work opportunities in other fields may be limited. I have met also a small number of ex-senior managers who have been made redundant and can't get jobs in their field because of their age. One guy I met in his late fifties recently said he had applied for hundreds of management jobs but had not even been given a single interview. He said that he had come to like uber because it gave him more time to see his grandkids and to pursue his hobbies.

Edited December 15, 2017 by NigelFargate

[actionman 12]

Every uber cab in sheffield is regulated the same as any phv. Part time work = part time wage

 

---------- Post added 15-12-2017 at 21:47 ----------

 

I doubt if they have as much flexibility as uber drivers. Can you imagine what would happen if a driver for a taxi company started to pick and choose which rides he would carry, which routes he would take on, which days he would turn up for work etc.? Many uber drivers used to work for taxi firms, but have decided that uber offers them advantages. The uber driver I used this morning told me that he used to work for a large taxi firm in Sheffield but got fed up of the best rides being given to a clique of drivers. In other words, he was saying that he didn't have control. Uber drivers by contrast can choose when, how, how often and where they work.

 

Based on my discussions with many uber drivers over the last two years, the reasons why these drivers choose uber vary somewhat, but flexibility and being their own boss come high on the list.

 

Some have their own business projects in mind and are using uber as a stop gap, until their business takes off. Others have part-time jobs, So are using uber to supplement their income. Others are migrants, whose work opportunities in other fields may be limited. I have met also a small number of ex-senior managers who have been made redundant and can't get jobs in their field because of their age. One guy I met in his late fifties recently said he had applied for hundreds of management jobs but had not even been given a single interview. He said that he had come to like uber because it gave him more time to see his grandkids and to pursue his hobbies.

Its exactly the same for any taxi driver in sheffield. All self employed we can come and go and pick and chose as and when we want.

[Cyclone 10]

I doubt if they have as much flexibility as uber drivers. Can you imagine what would happen if a driver for a taxi company started to pick and choose which rides he would carry, which routes he would take on, which days he would turn up for work etc.? Many uber drivers used to work for taxi firms, but have decided that uber offers them advantages. The uber driver I used this morning told me that he used to work for a large taxi firm in Sheffield but got fed up of the best rides being given to a clique of drivers. In other words, he was saying that he didn't have control. Uber drivers by contrast can choose when, how, how often and where they work.

 

Based on my discussions with many uber drivers over the last two years, the reasons why these drivers choose uber vary somewhat, but flexibility and being their own boss come high on the list.

 

Some have their own business projects in mind and are using uber as a stop gap, until their business takes off. Others have part-time jobs, So are using uber to supplement their income. Others are migrants, whose work opportunities in other fields may be limited. I have met also a small number of ex-senior managers who have been made redundant and can't get jobs in their field because of their age. One guy I met in his late fifties recently said he had applied for hundreds of management jobs but had not even been given a single interview. He said that he had come to like uber because it gave him more time to see his grandkids and to pursue his hobbies.

 

You're describing exactly how most taxi companies operate. They charge to hire out the equipment to drivers, but the drivers are self employed and independent, they do precisely what you've described of deciding when to work, where to work and so on.

[Jeffrey Shaw 93]

Yet there seems to be a move to treat drivers as employees, with employees' rights.

[Cyclone 10]

From Uber? Only where they are being forced by legislation or license negotiations.

[Jeffrey Shaw 93]

From Uber? Only where they are being forced by legislation or license negotiations.

Or the ECJ! See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42423627

[Blue Day 10]

Yet there seems to be a move to treat drivers as employees, with employees' rights.

 

Problem with Uber in that respect is, they have to pay the drivers their money because Uber take all the fares via the app. All other taxi drivers mostly take cash and pay the taxi company their rent money every week.

 

However I still can’t understand why an Uber driver took them to court to be recognised as an employee and not self employed. Taxi drivers have always been self employed, it’s the major perk that attracts the drivers. If you got the chance to look at a taxi drivers yearly returns, you’d see the majority earn less than £20k a year. As it were ?