

Multiple UberPop drivers in custody in France - conradk
http://www.europe1.fr/faits-divers/uberpop-deux-chauffeurs-en-garde-a-vue-a-paris-1361708

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t_fatus
This makes me sad : Taxi drivers in France are running private-hires most of
the time (through radio-taxi, ambulances in rural zones, and trips booked for
consulting / financial / lawyer firms over the phone...) They had abandonned
the "on the streets" taxi business, unless for tourists they could rip off,
and since Uber is making money and driving people back to transportation
services they want to steal Uber's success. And they try to make it happen the
worst way you could think of

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limaoscarjuliet
Paris taxis are pretty bad in my experience. Try getting one to drive you to
the airport at 4am or Sunday - you have to order one a day ahead. Fortunately
folks at the Paris office always had a friend taxi driver who would help, but
this contradicts Taxi contract to begin with - I want to go from where I am to
X now. That feat is difficult in Paris.

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dimino
I'm trying to understand the issue here -- UberPop drivers were picking up
folks via hail, and not the app? Is that the issue here/in general in France?

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conradk
UberPop is not allowed in France because the drivers don't have a license to
do taxi-like activities. In France, you need a license delivered by the state
or be a so called "VTC" (vehicle with chauffeur), which is somewhat like a
taxi except that VTCs cannot pick up clients without getting a reservation
from a customer.

The licenses taxis pay are, in some cases, extremely expensive (about 250k
euros in Paris), which is why taxis are opposed to all kinds of competition
(Uber and UberPop included).

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yaantc
To provide a bit more context: the number of licenses is very limited. When
sold by the state the license is cheap, but then it can be resold privately
and then the price will skyrocket as there is a too limited offer.

This creates lots of nastiness. Private taxis typically get their license on
the private market, it's a significant investment for them and they count on
being able to resell it when they retire. Big companies can lobby to get a
good share of the (very limited number of) new licenses, when any.

It's been clear that this limited number of licenses should go. But the
question is how to deal with it. The reasonable approach would have been a
planned and regular increase, leading to a gradual depreciation of the market
price of the license that all could have taken into account. But the taxis
always opposed this (with good lobbying from big taxi companies, who of course
enjoy the quasi monopoly situation and are good at lobbying politics and
playing their drivers). And the state has no money to pull the licenses out,
compensate for loss and get rid of the scheme quickly. So the taxi system
hasn't changed much so far.

Now we're in the state where new entrants are coming, reducing the taxi
monopoly bit by bit with taxis screaming all the way through. That will
(hopefully) force changes.

