Danish prosecutors to take on Uber

[Daneman]

Following the Eastern High Court’s ruling that an Uber driver was guilty of operating an illegal taxi service, Denmark’s prosecuting authority has now filed charges against the popular ride-sharing service itself.

The Danish Prosecution Service (Anklagemyndigheden) and the Copenhagen Police announced on Friday that charges have been filed against Uber BV, the Dutch company behind the Uber app. The company is being charged with abetting drivers’ illegal taxi service.

“It has now been established that the drivers have operated in violation of the taxi laws. Therefore we have filed charges against the company for contributing to these law violations,” Vibeke Thorkil-Jensen, the head of public prosecutions, said in a press release.

http://www.thelocal.dk/20161202/dani...o-take-on-uber

It's good that someone starts cracking down on this shoddy service. More countries should follow suit.

[Flutterguy]

What's shoddy about it? Better service than taxis and cheaper.

[Omnoms]

What's shoddy about it? Better service than taxis and cheaper.

Denmark has worked hard to ensure every facet of the working industry is unionized, and tries to keep employers responsible for their employees, and that employees ensure proper working conditions.

Uber has no such guarantees, requires no education, and in many cases, uber drivers will not pay income tax from it.
In a society based so heavily on trust that members of society pay taxes, to recieve the goods they do ( Healthcare, Education and more) Uber can be an issue, if they do not adapt to the country they're in.

[Deleted]

Always have better experiences with Uber than "regular" taxi's.

The drivers are also able to speak my language, literally.

[Lartok]

Not in any state where the service is well regulated. Many European countries have well regulated taxi services. Also not everyone thinks protectionism is part of the red scare...

The reason that Uber is so successful is because taxi's are not well regulated they're either over-regulated causing high prices or under-regulated causing either high prices or poor quality.

[gegalfo]

the only people who dont want uber in denmark are the taxi people. however the current state of uber is illegal, as stated above they dont follow any regulations. so if uber adapts there would be no issue with them, except perhaps a "taxi war"

[caervek]

What's shoddy about it?

The drivers don't require proper licensing or insurance.

[Deleted]

Always have better experiences with Uber than "regular" taxi's.

The drivers are also able to speak my language, literally.

Where in NL do you live? My exp of working in Amsterdam was that the taxi drivers didn't really want to drive people around but seemingly existed to drop off coke with a cover job for doing so. Was some time ago though. Maybe they cracked down on it but it seemed very blatant when watching a taxi stand or encountering the disinterest in driving someone a few km. I only started watching their coming and goings after a police officer told me about it. Hella mad expensive rides too. I think I only used them three times: twice in the first week and once when some fucktard had put his lock through my bike frame.

Where I live now (UK), the council do a good job with managing/licensing the taxi firms and they were always quite cheap when compared to the national average. Uber seems to be hurting them and at the same time uber seems to be unreliable for my exact area as it requires a toll tunnel and the drivers don't allow for that in turning up and journey times.

[Flutterguy]

That all depends on the city uber are operating in. In my home town uber are held to the same regulation and licensing as the other taxi operators in the city.

Uber are bad for the industry though. Ubers cheaper fare are unsustainable, with the cost of cheap fares being shouldered by the driver. Private Hire drivers work long hours for little reward and here we have a Californian tech company exploiting those drivers for every penny they can. Uber's approach toward their drivers is not dissimilar to Apple's Chinese sweatshop approach.

Being an uber driver is considered an unskilled job. It's like being a burger flipper. It's not supposed to be something you build a career on. It's a job.

[Fencers]

As a former New Yorker who has never learned how to drive, I have rode in FAR more shady and unsafe taxis than ubers.

Taxis are one of the worst fucking scams. $47 to go two miles? Get the fuck out.

May the taxi industry collapse utterly.

[Independent voter]

EU countries don't like successful American companies.

If a US company is popular you can bet a European government is currently suing it.

[Collegeguy]

When is Denmark going to go after Google for having employees that are not employees and making billions off their marketing.

[Scottyjscizzle]

Denmark has worked hard to ensure every facet of the working industry is unionized, and tries to keep employers responsible for their employees, and that employees ensure proper working conditions.

Uber has no such guarantees, requires no education, and in many cases, uber drivers will not pay income tax from it.
In a society based so heavily on trust that members of society pay taxes, to recieve the goods they do ( Healthcare, Education and more) Uber can be an issue, if they do not adapt to the country they're in.

Who cares about it requiring no education, its driving a car, I got my license when i was 15 sure didn't need a masters degree to do it.

[JohnBrown1917]

What's shoddy about it? Better service than taxis and cheaper.

You need a license in a lot of countries.
Uber is already illegal where I live, the Netherlands.

- - - Updated - - -

EU countries don't like successful American companies.

If a US company is popular you can bet a European government is currently suing it.

This is what Americans actually believe.

[Tijuana]

Following the Eastern High Court’s ruling that an Uber driver was guilty of operating an illegal taxi service, Denmark’s prosecuting authority has now filed charges against the popular ride-sharing service itself.

The Danish Prosecution Service (Anklagemyndigheden) and the Copenhagen Police announced on Friday that charges have been filed against Uber BV, the Dutch company behind the Uber app. The company is being charged with abetting drivers’ illegal taxi service.

“It has now been established that the drivers have operated in violation of the taxi laws. Therefore we have filed charges against the company for contributing to these law violations,” Vibeke Thorkil-Jensen, the head of public prosecutions, said in a press release.

http://www.thelocal.dk/20161202/dani...o-take-on-uber

It's good that someone starts cracking down on this shoddy service. More countries should follow suit.

Literally the only people on this planet who are anti-Uber are members of the taxi cartels that keep anyone from operating in their area without paying huge fees and bonds.

Uber fares are a fraction of the cost of other taxi services, which shows the others are ripping people off, often due to a monopoly.

[JohnBrown1917]

Literally the only people on this planet who are anti-Uber are members of the Taxi cartels that keep anyone from operating in their area without paying huge fees and bonds.

Not a member, still think the same laws and regulations should apply to uber.

[Tijuana]

Not a member, still think the same laws and regulations should apply to uber.

Even if the entire purpose of the law, is to charge high fees to operate, that the taxi cartels know small companies and individual drivers can't afford to pay? It's a literal cartel when nobody can open a business and compete.

[caervek]

they are taxi rather than cab drivers.

It's the same thing, tax and cab are both slang for taxicab.

[Aoyi]

I understand that other countries have better taxi services than the US. My experience with Uber in the US though has been nothing, but positive. I've used the service in CA, DE, LA, and GA without any issues and saved a lot of money over what a taxi would have charged. I asked one driver how they were so much cheaper than the taxis and they said that Uber only takes 20% of the fair collected allowing the drivers to make decent money even at the cheaper fair, but they can sometimes charge higher rates depending on how in demand the service is at a given time. I haven't really experienced the higher rates, so I don't know how expensive they can get. I haven't tried Lyft or any other service other than Uber, so I can't speak to how those companies are compared to taking a taxi.

[PACOX]

What's shoddy about it? Better service than taxis and cheaper.

True, but theres nothing wrong with having it legally defined to protect the drivers, patrons, and service. You don't hear about it, but Uber has to defend itself in most states and cities that it expands to if not only for liability reasons (there's actually more to it but being legally challenged is nothing new).