
Uber – London Tube Strikes or How to take advantage of a protest - pablisco
http://blog.uber.com/tubestrike
======
basicallydan
I can see it now: Londoners huddled outside of the barred-up tube entrances in
the rain, moaning privately to themselves about the lack of transportation,
until one clever sod whips out his smartphone and announces, "Uber will give
us 50% off if we split!"

Dozens of commuters will scramble to share a cab with him as they excitedly
scroll through the options for different drivers. "This one's only got four
stars!" says one Uber virgin, shocked that anybody would consider less than
five.

"Don't worry," says one of our Uber-savvy commuters, "they regularly prune the
list of people who're getting poor reviews. I read it in an article on Hacker
News."

"You read it on _what_ news?" says another.

As the commuters split evenly into fairly sensible groups based on their
desired destinations, the cars begin to arrive and they all pile in, leaving
the pavement empty but for a busker and a Big Issue salesman.

As the final satisfying slam of an UberX car vibrates throughout the street,
our new, friendly passengers get to know each other.

"This is rather nice, isn't it?"

"Pfft, who needs the underground?" says one, as they sit in gridlocked traffic
on City Road, merely two hours from their destination, one-and-a-half miles
away.

~~~
untog
"Wait, what's surge pricing?" says one Uber virgin to the Uber-savvy commuter
that packed them into the car.

"Oh, it means Uber can charge you whatever they want during peak times."

"But you said we were getting 50% off?"

"Oh but we _are_! 50% off the surge price."

"So if they put the surge price to 2x then we'd be paying the exact same
amount we would anyway, and this promotion would be for nothing?"

"Well, yes. But I'm sure Uber would never do that. Uber is my best free-market
friend!"

~~~
fennecfoxen
Of course they'd do that. But at the same time, realize that (a) all fixed-
price transportation options will suffer from a shortage of some sort under
the strike, be it bus or taxi or space-on-the-roads-in-general, (b) a lot of
the higher prices go to pay the drivers, so that more drivers make an effort
to work longer and harder to make extra money, (c) Uber's probably taking a
loss on each discounted ride, and just hope to make it up with new customers
and publicity.

This is, in fact, the free market at its best, and it's not the market's fault
or Uber's fault if it's ugly out there. You always have the option not to use
it and hail a taxi regularly. Good luck. You'll need it.

------
anu_gupta
I don't really understand why people would use Uber in London when services
like Hailo exist. A black cab is going to get you around London much faster
than a car that can't use bus lanes, there are many more cabs available than
Uber cars, and I would guess (without knowing) that a cab is going to be
cheaper.

So, apart from Uber maybe having some nicer cars available, what's the deal?

~~~
fomb
Black cabs generally require cash. Whilst they may advertise they take card,
most drivers don't like it due to the lead time on getting the money through.

~~~
untog
Hailo (and competitors) let you use cards, and the drivers seem pretty happy
about it.

~~~
fomb
I'm referring to using Cabs direct. I realise Hailo is via card.

------
danso
This does not seem like a well-planned marketing campaign. Uber and its
competitors would've done well enough on pure demand alone without having to
say anything. But now they've decided to (inadvertently or not) jump into
labor politics, which will almost certainly be interpreted as an effort to sap
the strike of its power...and this effort will be associated particularly with
the affluent who are wealthy enough to use Uber. I'm not saying the labor
strike is right or wrong, I'm just saying that there is no way to stay out of
the politics with this kind of marketing campaign, no matter its actual
intentions. So I hope the contingency for blowback was planned out, and that
this was not just the marketing department's way of riffing off of current
events.

~~~
michaelt
Uber seems to like getting into politics.

I suspect they see the resulting press coverage as free advertising.

~~~
dreamfactory2
I hadn't realised they operated in London until this. However I'm now
completely put off ever using them by the greedy opportunism here and
recognise their name as some kind of creepy übermenschian far-right
libertarian cultural import.

------
Nursie
Erm.... keep London moving by putting even more cars on the road?

Because that's the problem, not enough affordable cars. That'll definitely
work.

~~~
fennecfoxen
Keep London moving by providing a discount to _put multiple people in each
car_. Far better.

------
johanneskanybal
SF startups disrupting working class demonstrations, that will go down well,
you are fired pete.

~~~
Yossarian_Lives
I don't know if you're a Londoner, but for what it's worth, I think Uber's
promotion (poorly conceived and worded as it is) won't be read that way in
London. The tube workers are split between a number of unions, the TSSA, ASLEF
and the RMT, of which only the RMT is participating in this latest strike
(previous strikes this year have been cross-union). Also important to note is
that the RMT had been led by Bob Crow for the past 12 years until he died
suddenly in March. Under his leadership, the RMT was very aggressive with its
strike action in comparison to the other unions, but that policy successfully
boosted its tube driver members to an average salary of £52,000/pa
($87,400/pa). And even though he was a hate figure for much of the right-wing
press during his lifetime, on his passing there was a consensus of sorts that
he had been exceptionally good at his job and was actually well-regarded by
his opposite numbers at Transport for London (who run the tube) as tough but a
pragmatist.

This latest strike takes place in the shadow of the battle to succeed Bob Crow
at the RMT. Tactically, it could undermine the union, as TfL will be able to
keep a significant part of the network operational. However, none of the
candidates for the leadership of the Union can oppose it for fear of being
tarred as a management stooge by their rivals. Of course, that's not to say
that both the TfL and even the other unions won't benefit if this strike
proceeds and ends up being a damp squib.

All of which is to say, as working class demonstrations go, this one's
something of an edge case. I'm pro organised labour but I think this
particular strike is going to damage the cause more than it helps -- if the
RMT is painted as reckless users of their strike power, the (right-of-centre)
government will have an easier time either making it harder to strike (in
terms of forcing minimum participation thresholds) or even the nuclear option
of making the Tube an essential service, which would put its workers in the
same position as the Police, Army and prison officers, who are legally barred
from striking.

------
Mvandenbergh
TfL has indicated that due to additional traffic, car journeys may take twice
as long as usual (which is long enough) during the strike. I hope you like the
people you're sharing with because if you do this during rush hour you will be
spending a lot of time sitting next to them.

~~~
dasil003
That's a pretty optimistic estimate. I cycle to work every day up the A24/A3
corridor and on the first day of the last strike it was the most ridiculous
gridlock I've ever seen. I passed an ambulance that was locked in and no way
to move even with vehicles trying to drive up on the pavement to let it
through. The second day was better as people realized driving was not a
solution, but my advice is to either cycle or stay home.

------
valdiorn
As someone who tried to drive to work during the last strike; you can
literally walk faster than the traffic.

------
buro9
Overland trains, cycle, or walk.

There's no point driving, or being in any motor vehicle, tomorrow.

------
reuwsaat
"We’re all in this together, so grab a friend and SPLIT!" Unless you're
striking. In that case, Uber will not be with you. Uber will in fact be
against you. What about when the strike is over. Well, Uber isn't really with
you then either. Please see terms and conditions. We're all in this together
"throughout the entire 48-hour strike until 6am on Thursday morning". Then,
when unions have been busted and public infrastructure de-funded, you're on
your own again.

------
nmeofthestate
The title needs fixed - it should be "#KEEPLONDONMOVING! 50% OFF ALL RIDES
DURING THE TUBE STRIKE WHEN YOU FARE SPLIT"

(unless of course we are now allowing editorialising in HN post titles)

------
awda
Uber, playing the valuable role of transit scabs.

------
genofon
Dear Uber, do you know how I will take advantage of the protest? I'll walk
home, you can stay in as many traffic jam as you like

cheers

------
fmdud
I am a huge fan of how easy it is to tell British writers on HN just by how
dripping in irony everything is.

~~~
stuaxo
I'm really enjoying the posts on this article ... startup wankery meets the
real life British commuter.

------
joosters
But... Uber insists that it needs surge pricing, otherwise drivers won't
bother to give lifts. So a 50% off promotion must mean there won't be any
drivers turning up to work, right?

~~~
awda
Presumably Uber is paying the drivers the difference.

~~~
masklinn
Presumably Uber will have a 4x surge during the strike.

~~~
awda
They'd still have to pay the extra to drivers, and it would be larger than at
1x surge... unless their overhead is more than 50%?

------
antr
Whenever I was stuck due to a tube strike there was nothing the bus or Addison
Lee couldn't solve. I struggle to see Uber's "disruptive technology" work in
London.

------
flurdy
50% off the ride if you share the ride with another person, who pays the other
50%?....

------
iOSGuy
If you haven't heard yet, Uber has recently raised it's fees on UberX drivers
from 5% to 15%. At first, I was completely behind them, but they're turning
into a pretty cut throat company.

------
gbrhaz
As great as I'm sure this is, I think I will stick to my original plan:
working from home.

------
kungfooguru
SCABS

------
trollian
Scabs.

