Originally Posted by
PWMTrav
We get it, you don't like Uber. Independent of the company itself, though, the service is clearly valuable to a lot of people or Uber wouldn't be causing the problems in the industry that it does. Yes, it makes a dent in entrenched interests, but there's clearly a problem that Uber is addressing in the market or they wouldn't have the passenger numbers that they do. Even if you don't like Uber, something needs to change, and that change isn't limited to simply banning Uber and similar services.
Its not
me not liking Uber. If you read the newspapers, Attorneys Generals around the USA, and their equivalents around the world, have concluded that it's breaking rules and laws around the world. And so they are getting progressively handcuffed. I'm just reporting the news.
The reason why you can't get Uber in Florence right now is not because they are not operating there. Uber is 100% operable in Florence. Italy banned Uber Pop, known as UberX in the USA, which is the regular Uber service, as we know it in the USA. Florence, Milan, Rome, and finally the whole country made Uber Pop illegal because there was no requirement for the drivers to have a license, no required background check, no fingerprinting, or anything else. Anybody could represent themselves to you as a driver. Would you let someone who knocks on your door and represents themselves as a builder come in an remodel your home, without a license?
I didn't decide that I
don't like Uber. I was just reporting Italian news, but even that news is now widespread here after the Attorney General's report, and after the EU court in Luxembourg ruled that Uber misrepresented itself as a website consisting of locals who have a car who want to share a ride with you, like a car pool in the USA. Instead of five parents taking their kids to school in five separate cars, you car pool. The EU, and countries around the world decided that was a fraudulent misrepresentation, and that Uber is a taxi company that uses drivers who don't have a license.
In Florence, when Italy banned Uber Pop, aka UberX, the courts ruled that Uber can operate in Italy, but only if it uses drivers with a license. To get a commercial drivers license in Italy you have to go through NCC, which requires a background check, fingerprinting, etc. The guy next door can't just decide to download the Uber app and become a taxi driver overnight, but that is what Uber did. You could have been a Uber driver with multiple previous DUI arrests who just got out of jail, and still be a driver for them.
Uber does operate in Florence right now, it is just that there is nobody qualified to do it. There are no licensed Uber drivers. If you go to their app you will be forced into choosing Uber Black, because Uber Pop (UberX) is banned in the whole county. Uber Black is a limo service with NCC licensed commercial drivers. When you do that you will always get the same response: "Currently, there are no Uber Black Drivers available," because no one who has a commercial drivers license in Florence wants to drive for Uber, as they already have their own limo service, and if they take an Uber ride, Uber takes a 20% cut.
Florence had Uber until it recognized that it was a form of public transportation that wasn't requiring drivers to be licensed, just like the person who fixes the roof of your house must have a license to do so. You can't hire the guy next door to hang a roof. It must be a licensed contractor, and go through inspection. Just like a taxi driver in Italy must have a license, a year of schooling, and pass a test.
Uber is operable in Florence at this time. It just doesn't have any licensed, background checked drivers at the moment, and that is why the app always says, "no driver available." It doesn't say, "we are not in Florence yet."
If someone who is licensed shows up in Florence tomorrow they would be free to pick up a fare, it's just that licensed driver are not rushing to sign up because the future of Uber is uncertain, and Uber is very unpopular over there.
I disagree with the statement,
"We get it, you don't like Uber." You can't pick up a newspaper in the USA without it having at least a few stories a day about Uber's criminal, sexual harassment, cultural, and management problems, and the fact that it always loses billions of dollars per year. I'm not expressing my opinion: I'm just reporting the news. It's up to each individual if they want to support Uber, without them documenting that they've made legal and ethical changes in how they operate. I try to support things that fit my values. If you read the report from the Attorney General Holder that was released two days ago, you would need a shower after patronizing Uber. It may be that since they recently fired the whole management team, including the founder, they are salvageable, because the concept itself is good. Maybe the new managers will be experienced enough to know that it is wise to respect the laws and customs of the countries they want to operate in.
Berlin just banned all Uber, outright. Berlin and Florence are much opposite places politically, with Berlin being very liberal, and Florence being very conservative, yet they are both in synch on this.
I'm not trying to judge, I'm just trying to put news out there that some may not see, because I read the Italian newspapers. You get a completely different perspective than what you get over here. I just quoted a series of headlines, none favorable about Uber lately.