
Uber now has to wait 15 minutes before picking you up in France - bjenik
http://techcrunch.com/2013/12/28/uber-lecab-and-others-now-have-to-wait-15-minutes-before-picking-you-up-in-france/
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spindritf
Presumably, the taxi industry is "heavily regulated" for the benefit of the
customer, then shouldn't customers flock to this excellent, regulated service
on their own? Why are those artificial and arbitrary limits necessary?

~~~
southpawgirl
In some Italian cities the situation is no different: taxi licenses are issued
only on a fixed, limited number and are sometimes inherited from father to
child, often sold for mind-boggling amounts (comparable to the price of a
house). The service as a result is quite crap: long waits, high prices per km
and all the most contrived surcharges you can think of (5 additional Euros for
the airport and some tourist destinations, etc). Each time a deregulation is
proposed (and it does happen) there are immense backlashes from a small
category that would be not only stripped of a privilege, but actually,
properly ruined: some cabbies have to take 10 yrs mortgages to buy a license.
It's a legacy state of affairs that carries on only because it's difficult to
remove, not because it's of actual advantage to anyone.

~~~
gioele
> high prices per km

In Italy, and in other European countries, the taxi prices are set by the city
councils, not the taxi drivers.

~~~
officemonkey
And those councils are aggressively lobbied (and possibly bribed) by those
taxi drivers.

The most depressing thing about public corruption is how cheap it is.

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mehphp
"Back in October, the French government mentioned this piece of legislation as
these new services would hurt traditional cab drivers."

So? That's how the market and progress works. If a service can't stand up on
it's own, it doesn't need to exist.

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thenmar
What a meaningless platitude. The world isn't quite as simple as that.

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RBerenguel
Every time I see an Uber post related to Europe I wonder if in the US taxis
don't need to pay the outrageous license fees (in addition to a whole lot of
other things, like freelance income taxes.) It seems very beautiful on the
outside, but in the end it seems like the service offered is a way for people
to earn money without passing through the same hoops as others do. Seen from
afar it seems innovation, but think again. It's unskilled people being paid
for (what is usually) highly skilled work. Yes, I mean driving someone to a
place.

~~~
Crito
> _Every time I see an Uber post related to Europe I wonder if in the US taxis
> don 't need to pay the outrageous license fees (in addition to a whole lot
> of other things, like freelance income taxes.)_

A single NYC taxi medallion goes for _millions_ of dollars:
[http://www.nyc.gov/html/tlc/html/about/average_medallion_pri...](http://www.nyc.gov/html/tlc/html/about/average_medallion_price.shtml)

Most Taxi drivers have to rent one; which is not cheap. The medallion owners
get to sit on their asses in rake in the cash.

Your concern is misplaced.

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RBerenguel
I have read an article or two on NYC medallions, and obviously it's an
aberration of a system. In Spain (for instance) you "just" need a license
(either purchased second hand or new if there are new ones coming.) I think
renting them is prohibited by law.

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schiffern
The smart services will leverage this. "The quickest pickup allowed by law!"

Schedule pickups in exactly 15 minutes with one touch. Countdown timer on the
app, etc.

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w1ntermute
...and they wonder why their economy is shit.

~~~
ericraio
+1 to this.

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bosma
[http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/harrison.html](http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/harrison.html)

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kailuowang
I wonder when they will introduce a bill to force Google to wait 15 seconds to
serve search results.

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waps
Don't say that.

It scares me.

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bjenik
An idea to "fix" this:

In the beginning (after signing up) a bunch of orders are created and sent out
to the drivers. The orders technically exist, but the drivers are told to not
show up right now. Then, at least 15 minutes later, the user can tap a "show
up now" button which tells the driver to actually pick up the user. So in the
end you have to wait 15 minutes when using the service for the first time, but
after that it is a lot faster because the orders created in the beginning can
be "activated" immediately.

~~~
objclxt
You could argue that it's Uber's attempts to "fix" pesky regulations that have
got them into this mess in the first place. I doubt trying to circumvent this
in the way you describe would really make the regulators any more sympathetic
towards Uber.

There's an interesting business case study to be done between Uber and Hailo
(based in London, far more popular there than Uber, expanding overseas), the
latter of which was founded by cab drivers themselves and has taken a far more
'softly softly' approach to compliance (arguably at the expense of revenue,
but the benefit of not having to deal with this kind of thing).

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true_religion
Well the point of circumvention is not to _engender sympathy_. It's to find a
legal loophole wherein even if the regulators hate you, they can't pursue you.

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nationcrafting
France is one of the most frustrating countries a young entrepreneur could
ever work in. As soon as you find some way to bypass the rigidity of the
system to create something new, to make life easier for people and actually
create wealth, the octopus grows another arm to strangle you with. It just
sucks the energy right out of you...

The UK may have its problems, but it's a breath of fresh air by comparison.
It's no wonder 600,000 French people now live in London (and that's just the
ones who registered at the embassy).

~~~
elag
And no wonder that tens of thousands of Britons own second homes in France and
many more holiday there.

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nationcrafting
Exactly. When the system allows you to create wealth, and keep enough of it to
make it worth the effort, more people can afford to buy second homes in sunny
places.

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raverbashing
15 minutes? That's nothing

And you'll just order it 15min before your intended departure time

"In France, you have to pay a hefty price to get your taxi license"

How much does a taxi medallion cost in NYC again?

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southpawgirl
Last October, France passed a bill against heavy discounting on books. They
have this thing, to protect the existing market order against the disruption
caused by new channels.

My first reaction is always to think that it's ridiculous; but then again
maybe all those measures are only meant to minimize the casualties of
progress, more than just being an obstacle to progress.

~~~
icelancer
>but then again maybe all those measures are only meant to minimize the
casualties of progress, more than just being an obstacle to progress.

They are one in the same.

~~~
southpawgirl
True, and as I said, it does seem ridiculous to me. At the same time, I
understand that progress has often broader implications that might appear as a
price too high to pay for the society. So, I just abstain from casting stones
in that case; even if on the whole I am quite happy I am not in France
anymore.

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mentos
What are the penalties for ignoring this rule?

~~~
jamespo
Guillotine

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sgdesign
Maybe I'm not as smart as french lawmakers, but I can't really figure out how
they'd even enforce this?

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Crito
Either occasional stings to take make an example of people, or using it as a
possible additional charge to pile on in situations where there is already an
investigation. _Most_ laws do not have vigilant enforcement.

For example, _(barring illegal searches or likely illegal 'stop and frisk')_
how do you enforce possession laws?

~~~
sgdesign
As a french person, I would be pretty upset to think my taxes are going
towards paying people to order Ubers and make sure they take at least 15
minutes to arrive. It almost seems like something out of a Monty Python
sketch.

~~~
Crito
That would be absurd. I expect that in practice this law will not be enforced
by itself.

For example: If Uber drivers start illegally parking in common pickup areas
waiting for a call, then picking people up within seconds, then this law will
probably be the sort of thing that they use to slam the drivers harder.

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_red
Must each taxi driver also be named Harrison Bergeron?

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danielharan
I can't wait to see what creative solution all these officials will come up
with when people start sharing their self-driving cars.

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thisosound
The same that is happening in the States; they'll make it illegal.

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nraynaud
somehow I don't feel that we really need Uber, but simply more taxi plates.
Uber is just a radio taxi, it's trying to use technology where the problem is
legal.

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auggierose
So, can you get BOTH a taxi license and work for Uber ?

~~~
Signez
A taxi license cost over 240,000 euros in Paris.

