Speaker: Confessions of an Uber Driver II: How we doing?
615 Responses
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goforit, in reply to
Under the new reguations waiting to go through the Parliment process, car pooling and ride sharing are two different things.
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BenWilson, in reply to
That’s the influence of Uber in our regulatory process that the words used take on Orwellian spin and sensible discussion is made more difficult. We “partners” have got used to this.
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The NZTA defination of Rideshare is " Ridesharing is when a third party connects people that want to take a trip, and the third party receives revenue for facilitating the rideshare trip"
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Yes NZ might eventually buy into mangling the word in that way, if this goes through Parliament before some passenger dies.
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Cute that they made a whole category just for Uber, though. It's almost romantic. They might get to be upgraded to partner status too!
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Its a category for private hire to do taxi work on demand and metered. But I kike the way it put it Ben, are you having a tipple ot two lol.
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goforit, in reply to
I like the cartoon, full marks Ben
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Hey Ben, have you gone into hiding LOL
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Sheesh, a man can't have an offline life these days? I had a couple of days holiday visiting my family, got the flu, pushed through it because I don't have a choice, worked several days on renovations that have to be done urgently, started a new semester, worked a couple of dozen hours on the association website, cranked out like 50 Facebook posts, had about 100 phone calls, got the car fixed, looked after my kids, cooked, cleaned, unpacked some more. Wrote half a dozen posts on this website on different threads, fixed my bike, had 2 committee meetings, assembled a bed, a cupboard, a table. Also collected and collated information my next 2 Uber posts. And to wind down, and because I'm insomniac, I also read half of War and Peace. So yeah, been slacking soz. Will be back full speed this week.
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Oh btw, thanks to the collective incompetence of Chorus and Compass, the fibre in my house still has not been switched on (despite all the hardware already being in place), 50 days after my first request, so I've written practically everything you've seen in the last 2 months using nothing more than a cheap Huawei phone. I'm getting really fast at it.
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Sacha, in reply to
The NZTA definition of Rideshare is
sounds like a taxi :)
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goforit, in reply to
its that all Ben, hope you have recovered from all that activity. LOL
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goforit, in reply to
its part of the new proposed regulations that will bring taxi, private hire and ride share under the same set of regs. Guess its a matter of time when Uber comes up with a new name to descibe there taxi service as to get around the new proposed regs.
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BenWilson, in reply to
There is a chance that those regs don't go through, though. They are being written by NZTA after all, and if there was once an understanding between then and Uber, it's possible that the big stink finger that Uber gave them had soured that. But who knows what's going on at the top level when the Minister says that the regulations will have "the lightest touch possible". Currently that's exactly what they're already getting, with open violation of existing law, almost no tax paid. Quite literally no law or regulation appears to touch Uber and that seems to be how the Minister likes it. Why bother to formalize anything, that could only bring Uber into a legal framework that they would then have to find new ways violate. Because the current violation literally made no economic sense in the first place, and it would seem the law breaking is an end in itself to establish dominance over a shockingly weak system with an even weaker government overseeing it.
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that sums it up in a nut shell. In the meantime lack of insight or taking advantage of this lack of insight has just about destroyed the taxi and private hire passenger transport industries. All we have now is a group of drivers both from the general public and taxi drivers getting the last crumbs of what is left these last crumbs of course is.the pitance Uber pays for these drivers. Looks like we all end up drawing benefits from the Government to at least live on..
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Have you heard that app prices are about to drop below the $1.00 per km mark.
Could be a rumour as there is always plenty around. -
BenWilson, in reply to
I've not heard, but with these guys, who knows. It's that low in Brisbane now.
If it went that low, than means Uber drivers would have had their rates halved in one year. From a position of already being the cheapest taxis on the road by far.
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uber drivers don't need mony they work for the pleasure of making Uber money LOL
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goforit, in reply to
Ben I tried to upload some information for you but my system was not compatable, sent via an E Mail to you.
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It's a worrying turn, I have to say. Not at all unexpected, though. I expect nothing less from a market solution to worker exploitation than a double down, because that is how it works everywhere, and always has. In other news of doubling down, it turns out that the other rival emerging recently promising salvation from Uber is turns out to be funded by a particularly controversial and disreputable church, and leads in to the market at exactly the same rates as Uber, with an almost boilerplate copy of their outrageous contract, and an app clone that can only be distinguished from Ubers by the unresolved bugs, total lack of documentation, and the requirement that drivers accept that the app will track their locations even when it's not on. The difference, of course, being that they haven't figured on just how touchable they are as an NZ registered company.
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goforit, in reply to
That takes me back when you mention funding from a church. One thing about being a relic from the past one tends to see things going the full circle, in the 90s the Morman church tried to take over a large slice of the taxi industry so there members whom where mainly in those days unemployed NZ natives could earn an income, the down side was most of the takings just disappeared into the drivers pockets so the idea just collasped. I guess the currant church involvement will be to put there unemployed members to work, could work this time as there is no cash for the drivers to help them selves to.
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I just watched a news item on the box, it was about a Police operation in the Queenstown area to do with buses and other private hire transport. The senior police officer stated vehicles involved in the hire for reward industry had regulations to adhere to. The result was about 10% of the vehicles did not meet COF conditions and several drivers didn't hold P endorsements and there where many log book infractions.
Looks like the rot is spreading throughout the industry. -
Uber hired CIA-linked research firm to investigate Seattle union politics
For months, Uber has been fending off fraud allegations related to an investigation into one of its legal opponents, which the company commissioned from a secretive CIA-linked research firm called Ergo. Documents related to the case also refer to other investigations Uber contracted with Ergo for, and so far, the details of those investigations have remained secret.
Now, The Verge has found evidence of a separate Ergo project investigating union politics in Seattle, conducted shortly after a controversial ordinance in December granted the city's drivers the power to bargain collectively. Uber confirmed the project and characterized the effort as research into the city's political landscape, emphasizing that it was not targeted at any individuals or drivers.
http://www.theverge.com/2016/7/29/12314544/uber-ergo-seattle-union-investigation-politics-teamsters
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Sacha, in reply to
Looks like the rot is spreading throughout the industry.
Exactly as intended.
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BenWilson, in reply to
I guess the currant church involvement will be to put there unemployed members to work, could work this time as there is no cash for the drivers to help them selves to.
I don't know. Not really that keen to find out. I hope not, but I doubt that it's going anywhere fast. You can't have a professional organization in NZ competing in this market fronted by a ESL zealot. I expect it won't grow market share.
Looks like the rot is spreading throughout the industry.
Uber don't even operate in Queenstown. But yes, Uber's "disruption" simply exposes how easy it is to break the law in this industry. I still have to wonder how long it is before organized crime decides that Uber has provided the perfect front for a pool of drivers they can happily use for all sorts of things. If it hasn't already. Picking people up from their houses provides the perfect opportunity for burglar groups. Driving around randomly for hire is an excellent front for drug dealing. Vehicles without COFs are perfectly equipped with unmarked child locks for kidnapping people. No one is going to question an Uber about its right to loiter, why it's hanging around somewhere.
Which is why the P endorsement always had the "Fit and proper person check", which is an extensive background check. Not that it's a catch all, but I don't think reducing that diligence is that good of an idea.
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