On 24/08/2016 15:50, d wrote:
On Wed, 24 Aug 2016 15:30:04 +0100
Someone Somewhere wrote:
On 24/08/2016 14:51, d wrote:
On Wed, 24 Aug 2016 13:55:08 +0100
David Cantrell wrote:
- Third reason: you have to have a smart phone, with a signal/wi-fi
access (which is why very few blind people will have an Uber account).

The blind people I know actually find a smart phone more useful than a
dumb phone.

Oh really? And how exactly do they operate a touchscreen, press it randomly
and hope for the best?

- Fourth reason: you have to have an Uber account before you can use
it, and Uber's app installed on your smart phone.

Well duh. And how long does it take to install and set up? Not very long
at all. It certainly takes less time than it does to find a local
minicab office if you don't know the area.

The question is - why are you supporting this silicon valley shark instead of
local businesses? Do you have any sort of conscience?


Because, as each driver is a self-employed contractor I am supporting
local businesses!

Hardly. Thats like saying buying a coffee at Starbucks is the same as buying
it from your local cafe. One pays corporation tax, one doesn't.

If you're talking about the profit margin, then if some of the rumours
about the alleged owners of some of the local minicab firms are in any
way true, I'd far prefer my money to go to Uber than them.

There will always be dodgy companies in any sector. That doesn't mean they're
all bent. Why TfL allowed Uber to operate here with its hailing model is
anyones guess. In thrall to big business presumably.


Should we only use minicab firms that run cars that are British made and
from British owned firms to avoid some of the purchase price ending up
overseas potentially with a firm that doesn't fulfil all its moral tax
obligations? What about the provenance of the fuel and other consumables?

wrote in message ...
On Wed, 24 Aug 2016 15:30:04 +0100
Someone Somewhere wrote:
On 24/08/2016 14:51, d wrote:
On Wed, 24 Aug 2016 13:55:08 +0100
David Cantrell wrote:
- Third reason: you have to have a smart phone, with a signal/wi-fi
access (which is why very few blind people will have an Uber account).

The blind people I know actually find a smart phone more useful than a
dumb phone.

Oh really? And how exactly do they operate a touchscreen, press it
randomly
and hope for the best?

- Fourth reason: you have to have an Uber account before you can use
it, and Uber's app installed on your smart phone.

Well duh. And how long does it take to install and set up? Not very
long
at all. It certainly takes less time than it does to find a local
minicab office if you don't know the area.

The question is - why are you supporting this silicon valley shark
instead of
local businesses? Do you have any sort of conscience?


Because, as each driver is a self-employed contractor I am supporting
local businesses!

Hardly. Thats like saying buying a coffee at Starbucks is the same as
buying
it from your local cafe. One pays corporation tax, one doesn't.

If you're talking about the profit margin, then if some of the rumours
about the alleged owners of some of the local minicab firms are in any
way true, I'd far prefer my money to go to Uber than them.

There will always be dodgy companies in any sector. That doesn't mean
they're
all bent. Why TfL allowed Uber to operate here with its hailing model is
anyones guess.

because TfL doesn't get to decide. Ultimately the courts do.

and so far, when asked to rule whether Uber complies with the (London mini
cab) rules, the courts decided yes.

Albeit on a narrow point, and TfL could have continued on a wider point, but
they considered it a lost cause.

tim

On Wed, 24 Aug 2016 16:02:39 +0100
Someone Somewhere wrote:
On 24/08/2016 15:50, d wrote:
There will always be dodgy companies in any sector. That doesn't mean they're
all bent. Why TfL allowed Uber to operate here with its hailing model is
anyones guess. In thrall to big business presumably.


Should we only use minicab firms that run cars that are British made and
from British owned firms to avoid some of the purchase price ending up
overseas potentially with a firm that doesn't fulfil all its moral tax
obligations? What about the provenance of the fuel and other consumables?

There's a limit to what one person can do, but if given the choice of 2
pretty similar services - one which pays their tax and one which jumps through
all sorts of grey area hoops to avoid it then anyone with a moral conscience
should go with option A. I wouldn't out of principle give a penny to Uber.

--
Spud

On Wed, 24 Aug 2016 16:11:06 +0100
"tim..." wrote:
wrote in message ...
There will always be dodgy companies in any sector. That doesn't mean
they're
all bent. Why TfL allowed Uber to operate here with its hailing model is
anyones guess.

because TfL doesn't get to decide. Ultimately the courts do.

and so far, when asked to rule whether Uber complies with the (London mini
cab) rules, the courts decided yes.

I suppose thats the problem you get when non specialists in a wig get to decide
on specialist matters.

Albeit on a narrow point, and TfL could have continued on a wider point, but
they considered it a lost cause.

I get the impression they never really tried.

--
Spud

On Wed, Aug 24, 2016 at 01:51:21PM +0000, d wrote:
On Wed, 24 Aug 2016 13:55:08 +0100
David Cantrell wrote:
- Third reason: you have to have a smart phone, with a signal/wi-fi
access (which is why very few blind people will have an Uber account).
The blind people I know actually find a smart phone more useful than a
dumb phone.
Oh really? And how exactly do they operate a touchscreen, press it randomly
and hope for the best?

Modern smartphones have all kinds of accessibility Stuff. In Apple-land
the bit for blind people is called VoiceOver.

- Fourth reason: you have to have an Uber account before you can use
it, and Uber's app installed on your smart phone.
Well duh. And how long does it take to install and set up? Not very long
at all. It certainly takes less time than it does to find a local
minicab office if you don't know the area.
The question is - why are you supporting this silicon valley shark instead of
local businesses?

I use Uber because the local businesses that they compete with, in this
case, are ****.

--
David Cantrell | A machine for turning tea into grumpiness

PLEASE NOTE: This message was meant to offend everyone equally,
regardless of race, creed, sexual orientation, politics, choice
of beer, operating system, mode of transport, or their editor.

On 25.08.16 12:54, David Cantrell wrote:
On Wed, Aug 24, 2016 at 01:51:21PM +0000, d wrote:
On Wed, 24 Aug 2016 13:55:08 +0100
David Cantrell wrote:
- Third reason: you have to have a smart phone, with a signal/wi-fi
access (which is why very few blind people will have an Uber account).
The blind people I know actually find a smart phone more useful than a
dumb phone.
Oh really? And how exactly do they operate a touchscreen, press it randomly
and hope for the best?

Modern smartphones have all kinds of accessibility Stuff. In Apple-land
the bit for blind people is called VoiceOver.

- Fourth reason: you have to have an Uber account before you can use
it, and Uber's app installed on your smart phone.
Well duh. And how long does it take to install and set up? Not very long
at all. It certainly takes less time than it does to find a local
minicab office if you don't know the area.
The question is - why are you supporting this silicon valley shark instead of
local businesses?

I use Uber because the local businesses that they compete with, in this
case, are ****.

They are starting driverless taxi service in Singapore as of Thursday, BTW.

On Wed, Aug 24, 2016 at 02:48:12PM -0000, Recliner wrote:
David Cantrell wrote:
On Wed, Aug 17, 2016 at 01:26:03PM +0100, Recliner wrote:
One obvious reason: it's more expensive
IME Uber is cheaper than a local minicab company by around 25%.
especially at 'surge' times.
OK, I'll grant you that. They're rare though.
Lots of people say otherwise.

My own journey history says otherwise, but that, of course, isn't a
particularly valid survey :-) But then, nor is people bitching about it.

Looking through the details of the few journeys I've made where surge
pricing was in effect, and where I have a rough idea of how much a
non-Uber cab would cost - surge pricing only appears to bring the cost
up to that of a non-Uber cab most of the time.

- Second reason: it's less likely to have cars available locally in
residential areas (just like black cabs).

Wrong. There are four, right now, within 500 yards of my flat.

I suspect you're near the sort of traffic magnet that attracts Uber
drivers. They don't otherwise hang around residential areas.

I'd love to know what traffic magnet there is near CR7 8JH during the
middle of a working day.

- Third reason: you have to have a smart phone, with a signal/wi-fi
access (which is why very few blind people will have an Uber account).
The blind people I know actually find a smart phone more useful than a
dumb phone.
And how exactly do they operate the Uber app if they can't see the screen?

I take it that you're not familiar with modern smart phones.

They'd operate it the same way they'd operate any other app. At least in
Apple-land, the Uber app has "Voiceover" enabled. It is apparently fully
accessible for blind people. See eg
http://www.applevis.com/forum/access...sible-are-they

And please note that most "blind" people aren't completely blind. The
term covers all kinds of serious visual impairments. Many moons ago this
thread was whining about guide dogs. You don't have to have absolutely
no sight at all to have a guide dog.

--
David Cantrell | Reality Engineer, Ministry of Information

Blessed are the pessimists, for they test their backups

On Thu, 25 Aug 2016 12:54:21 +0100
David Cantrell wrote:
On Wed, Aug 24, 2016 at 01:51:21PM +0000, d wrote:
On Wed, 24 Aug 2016 13:55:08 +0100
David Cantrell wrote:
- Third reason: you have to have a smart phone, with a signal/wi-fi
access (which is why very few blind people will have an Uber account).
The blind people I know actually find a smart phone more useful than a
dumb phone.
Oh really? And how exactly do they operate a touchscreen, press it randomly
and hope for the best?

Modern smartphones have all kinds of accessibility Stuff. In Apple-land
the bit for blind people is called VoiceOver.

Apparently you tap on the screen and it tells you whats there. Call me old
fashioned but I'm struggling to see how thats easier to use than physical
buttons that are always in the same place and easily found by touch. Seems
to me they'll be constantly prodding the screen to find the correct piece of
information and if any app presents some information as a picture or bitmap
then I suspect its screwed.

The question is - why are you supporting this silicon valley shark instead of
local businesses?

I use Uber because the local businesses that they compete with, in this
case, are ****.

Never had a problem with my local minicab service. They turn up on time and
get you where you need to go without taking stupid routes.

--
Spud

wrote:
On 25.08.16 12:54, David Cantrell wrote:
On Wed, Aug 24, 2016 at 01:51:21PM +0000, d wrote:
On Wed, 24 Aug 2016 13:55:08 +0100
David Cantrell wrote:
- Third reason: you have to have a smart phone, with a signal/wi-fi
access (which is why very few blind people will have an Uber account).
The blind people I know actually find a smart phone more useful than a
dumb phone.
Oh really? And how exactly do they operate a touchscreen, press it randomly
and hope for the best?

Modern smartphones have all kinds of accessibility Stuff. In Apple-land
the bit for blind people is called VoiceOver.

- Fourth reason: you have to have an Uber account before you can use
it, and Uber's app installed on your smart phone.
Well duh. And how long does it take to install and set up? Not very long
at all. It certainly takes less time than it does to find a local
minicab office if you don't know the area.
The question is - why are you supporting this silicon valley shark instead of
local businesses?

I use Uber because the local businesses that they compete with, in this
case, are ****.

They are starting driverless taxi service in Singapore as of Thursday, BTW.

NuTonomy, not Uber.

wrote:
On Thu, 25 Aug 2016 12:54:21 +0100
David Cantrell wrote:
On Wed, Aug 24, 2016 at 01:51:21PM +0000, d wrote:
On Wed, 24 Aug 2016 13:55:08 +0100
David Cantrell wrote:
- Third reason: you have to have a smart phone, with a signal/wi-fi
access (which is why very few blind people will have an Uber account).
The blind people I know actually find a smart phone more useful than a
dumb phone.
Oh really? And how exactly do they operate a touchscreen, press it randomly
and hope for the best?

Modern smartphones have all kinds of accessibility Stuff. In Apple-land
the bit for blind people is called VoiceOver.

Apparently you tap on the screen and it tells you whats there. Call me old
fashioned but I'm struggling to see how thats easier to use than physical
buttons that are always in the same place and easily found by touch. Seems
to me they'll be constantly prodding the screen to find the correct piece of
information and if any app presents some information as a picture or bitmap
then I suspect its screwed.

And I still fail to understand how it will work with a graphical app.


The question is - why are you supporting this silicon valley shark instead of
local businesses?

I use Uber because the local businesses that they compete with, in this
case, are ****.

Never had a problem with my local minicab service. They turn up on time and
get you where you need to go without taking stupid routes.

Yup, same here. And when I get Uber's quote for those same journeys, it's
always more expensive.