France bans Uber car-sharing service after violent nationwide taxi driver protests

[Deleted]

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-33267581

France's interior minister has ordered a ban on the low-cost car-sharing service UberPOP after a day of nationwide protests by taxi drivers.

Bernard Cazeneuve said the service was "illegal" and ordered police and prosecutors to enforce its closure.

His announcement followed a day of sometimes violent protests by French taxi drivers, who say the US-based firm Uber is stealing their livelihoods.

US rock singer Courtney Cobain was caught up in the unrest. She tweeted her frustration, saying her taxi had been ambushed as she left the airport. The musician shared an image of the window of her car spattered with egg, and thanking two motorcyclists she said rescued her.

Key highways around Paris were blocked and tyres were burned during the day-long strike. Barriers also appeared around Marseille and Aix-en-Provence in southeast France.

Some cars were overturned and others had their windows smashed with bats.

[GennGreymane]

I need context for that picture

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Also a company cant handle competition, so they ban the competition? Sounds like Bull.

[LilSaihah]

Also a company cant handle competition, so they ban the competition? Sounds like Bull.

Sounds normal, to me.

[Deleted]

I need context for that picture

Its a monopoly Uber breaks it people pay horrendous license fee to drive taxis and it artificially raises the prices for taxis.

Uber pisses them really off.

[THE Bigzoman]

I need context for that picture

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Also a company cant handle competition, so they ban the competition? Sounds like Bull.

It's France.

They're the epicenter of bullshit mercantile socialist SJWism.

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Its a monopoly Uber breaks it people pay horrendous license fee to drive taxis and it artificially raises the prices for taxis.

Uber pisses them really off.

Given that they're protesting something that was cheaper than Taxis, it sounds like the drivers are the monopolies.,

[LilSaihah]

Another thought:
What happens when robocars become relevant? Is the taxi union going to demand the government outlaw that, too?

It's France.

They're the epicenter of bullshit mercantile socialist SJWism.

I thought that was Sweden.

[AeneasBK]

*shrug* Obsolete profession is becoming obsolete.

Another thought:
What happens when robocars become relevant? Is the taxi union going to demand the government outlaw that, too?

Well quite.

[Olo]

Competitor beating you? Lets riot, piss everyone off, and stop service...that'll teach them.

Next thing you know microsoft is gonna shut down bing to protest google's market share.

Another thought:
What happens when robocars become relevant? Is the taxi union going to demand the government outlaw that, too?

On a related note; uber just poached a big chunk of carnegie mellon's robotics team.

[THE Bigzoman]

Another thought:
What happens when robocars become relevant? Is the taxi union going to demand the government outlaw that, too?



I thought that was Sweden.

Sweden doesn't have renowned economists that actually thinks he can predict macroeconomic conditions a century from now.

[Ealyssa]

Given that they're protesting something that was cheaper than Taxis, it sounds like the drivers are the monopolies.,

Yes that's precisely it. In pretty much the whole Europe taxi are a monopole managed by the state. Who deliver taxi licence within a certain limit, thus rising the value of these licence really high in some places.

Take Paris. A Taxi licence start at 250'000 euro. 1/4 a million to be able to drive a taxi. So understand that when Uber comes and say to the taxi drivers who paid that much "fuck you we do the same without licence" they got a bit mad.

I'm not for Uber's interdiction (was stoped in Geneva too, I found it dumb as fuck). But negotiation need to be done. And the state need to do something with these crazy taxi licence prices (easier would be to buy them back, but France is poor). And "professional" drivers need to understand that they are too much, and maybe that this job is done being a full time job.

[Deleted]

Competitor beating you? Lets riot, piss everyone off, and stop service...that'll teach them.

Next thing you know microsoft is gonna shut down bing to protest google's market share.



On a related note; uber just poached a big chunk of carnegie mellon's robotics team.

I agree with the competitor beating you part, but there is more to it. People pay huge amount of money whilst using uber, compared to regular taxi which is cheaper. There are plenty of stories where a customer told the uber driver to stop half way to the final destination and guess what? The uber driver went and drove to the final destination without the customer, leaving the customer to pay the full amount. A dickmove and now we get riots, so yea uber is going downhill

[imabanana]

It's France.

They're the epicenter of bullshit mercantile socialist SJWism.

Except in that care, French people are almost completely all against taxis. So unusual to see almost every comment on every newspaper/news website, regardless of their political orientation, agreeing that French taxis are sh*t, and put themselves in that situation by turning into a mafia-like organization over the past decades.

Licences for taxis have always been issued by government, for free. But with massive lobbying, taxis prevented it from delivering more licences over the years, leading to not enough taxis and crazy monopole (which in turn lead to terrible service). So much that now, to become a taxi, you need to buy a license from an existing (or retiring) taxi, prices are around 200 000€ and 250 000€, which is utter nonsense.

Of course taxis are very pissed off at Uber, not only at the fact that they get less work, but mostly because on top of that, Uber and similar companies makes their license worth much less than what they bought it (same for the loans almost all of them had to get just to become part of that super-elite-French-taxi-club). But that's only because of what they did in the past.

But well, people agree, let them rot. Sadly, government might still be corrupt enough to try and save them.

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Take Paris. A Taxi licence start at 250'000 euro. 1/4 a million to be able to drive a taxi. So understand that when Uber comes and say to the taxi drivers who paid that much "fuck you we do the same without licence" they got a bit mad.

I'm not for Uber's interdiction (was stoped in Geneva too, I found it dumb as fuck). But negotiation need to be done. And the state need to do something with these crazy taxi licence prices (easier would be to buy them back, but France is poor). And "professional" drivers need to understand that they are too much, and maybe that this job is done being a full time job.

^ See my post, problem is not the licence plate, it's the massive lobbying from taxis that made something free turn into a huge overpriced black market.

[Gloupi]

Uber was already illegal, except it was not really enforced. Taxi drivers rioted to ask for an enforcement of the law...

Sadly the law was not enforced against those riots.

For most profession (french) law requires you to have some kind of a license to ensure that :
1) You are somewhat qualified
2) You are running a somewhat legal business
3) You pay your taxes

For taxi, you might wonder why such restrictions would apply (technically to have a cab license in France you need some kind of first aid courses...), but you'd understand why law makers would be doubtful regarding an 'Uber Heart Surgeon'.

Laws is not in favor of monopolies, but as often, it is in favor of official, registered businesses

[Kasierith]

Competitor beating you? Lets riot, piss everyone off, and stop service...that'll teach them.

Next thing you know microsoft is gonna shut down bing to protest google's market share.

And the response of the world to that event: what the hell is Bing and why should we care?

Yes, I know what bing is, but it's so far behind on the mark and is such a bad search engine that it's not even notable.

As for this, I'd be interested to know what grounds the government declared the service illegal, because if they overlooked some legal technicality that's a bit different. People destroying property and attacking others because their "livelihoods are threatened," ie they're too old and slow to keep up with the world so they revert to preschoolers, is straight out stupid.

[THE Bigzoman]

Except in that care, French people are almost completely all against taxis. So unusual to see almost every comment on every newspaper/news website, regardless of their political orientation, agreeing that French taxis are sh*t, and put themselves in that situation by turning into a mafia-like organization over the past decades.

Licences for taxis have always been issued by government, for free. But with massive lobbying, taxis prevented it from delivering more licences over the years, leading to not enough taxis and crazy monopole (which in turn lead to terrible service). So much that now, to become a taxi, you need to buy a license from an existing (or retiring) taxi, prices are around 200 000€ and 250 000€, which is utter nonsense.

Of course taxis are very pissed off at Uber, not only at the fact that they get less work, but mostly because on top of that, Uber and similar companies makes their license worth much less than what they bought it (same for the loans almost all of them had to get just to become part of that super-elite-French-taxi-club). But that's only because of what they did in the past.

But well, people agree, let them rot. Sadly, government might still be corrupt enough to try and save them.

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^ See my post, problem is not the licence plate, it's the massive lobbying from taxis that made something free turn into a huge overpriced black market.

Seems like these monopolies have plently of support.

I didn't see a lot of fat people burning shit down when Wendys overtook them in profits.

[Deleted]

And the response of the world to that event: what the hell is Bing and why should we care?

I think Spider-Man uses it.

[imabanana]

Seems like these monopolies have plently of support.

Reason most people call taxi monopoly "mafia-like" is because they have enough lobbying/corruption power to have government support. This doesn't mean people support them, which is exactly what we're seeing right now. Most people (again, regardless of political orientation) think we should just let the current taxi system drown and even totally disappear, but at the same time, government goes the other way and still tries to protect them despite their terrible service and practices.

[Vyxn]

I need context for that picture

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Also a company cant handle competition, so they ban the competition? Sounds like Bull.

sounds like what unions do. unions cant compete with non union shops
so what do they do ?

[Tya]

It's not that taxi drivers are becoming obsolete nor that they can't compete.

It's that taxi drivers are subject to Government-mandated training, checks and costly maintenance that Uber drivers do not face.

You may as well rewrite the title to "French government enforces existing taxi laws", though that's far less click-baity.

[Sforza]

They can't deal with competition and change so they proceed to burn everything to the ground, excellent.