Uber STL

dredger · PostAug 07, 2015#2012015-08-07T04:51+00:00

MarkH, confused by your statement that taxi cab drivers of the traditional sense need a little more start up capital. As I understand, most drivers lease back the taxi's from the taxi company and pay into a host of fees to have that taxi. That how it was explained by a co-worker who was a taxi cab drive.

I take the start up capital as more of the fact that it is the buy in. No different then a lot of the union crews I work with. When we do bring in someone new it is by reference from other union employees, new crew members have to join a specific union for a specific position as my employer is signatory to a couple of different unions depending location and equipment type, once they join a cut is taking from the check (on top of the union due) until their sign up dues are paid off. Its a buy in

Uber can put in place the same background checks any of these other taxi companies do, they can insure just as any other companies can do, and the can go through a wait period and submit info to a regulatory body like any other business has to do. It is a matter of commission setting the standards and let the market compete for the riders. The reality is that we have corporate protectionism by legislation whether it be on the national level like the Jones Act which means a foreign dredge can't compete against my employer for work in the US waters or whether it be local like a taxi commission.

I just don't buy this one is good and the other is bad. The end game is the same for the taxi company and Uber, make money. The drivers are just trying to make a living. From what I can tell from this whole mess is that this is just one more reason why economic development is slow in a slow growth region.

MarkHaversham · PostAug 07, 2015#2022015-08-07T14:38+00:00

dredger wrote: Uber can put in place the same background checks any of these other taxi companies do, they can insure just as any other companies can do, and the can go through a wait period and submit info to a regulatory body like any other business has to do.

Of course they can, but they don't seem to want to, which is the problem.

pat · PostSep 18, 2015#2032015-09-18T15:37+00:00

Welp, here we go. Uber sues the MTC...

http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/ ... 03075.html

I'm looking forward to using some Uber this weekend.

DogtownBnR · PostSep 18, 2015#2042015-09-18T16:41+00:00

Does the MTC have any way to stop Uber right now, legally? Can drivers be fined or arrested for operating or can they operate while the lawsuit is pending?

Chances of Uber prevailing in federal court?

roger wyoming II · PostSep 18, 2015#2052015-09-18T17:31+00:00

^ STL police and taxi commission agents ticketed Lyft drivers when they did the same thing. But it appears the City is going to let Uber operate. Not sure about County. I have no idea on the FTC case merits.

St. Billiken · PostSep 18, 2015#2062015-09-18T17:39+00:00

I've taken it twice today already - thank goodness it's finally here. Welcome to the world, STL.

pat · PostSep 18, 2015#2072015-09-18T18:24+00:00

^ STL police and taxi commission agents ticketed Lyft drivers when they did the same thing. But it appears the City is going to let Uber operate. Not sure about County. I have no idea on the FTC case merits.

I would hope the city wouldn't waste its time trying to arrest or ticket Uber drivers. With the amount of crime this year, we don't need them worrying about taking down pseudo-cabbies trying to make some money.

True_dope · PostSep 18, 2015#2082015-09-18T18:44+00:00

http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/ ... 03075.html
STL city and county police will not interfere

imperialmog · PostSep 18, 2015#2092015-09-18T19:10+00:00

It seems like there is a very good chance that Uber would win their case in court. There does seem to be some level of antitrust concerns and issues with the structure of the MTC. Also I have questions that the state law that specifically refers to St. Louis City and County is legal.

I wouldn't be surprised if the MTC ends up folding in the end as a result.

mjbais1489 · PostSep 18, 2015#2102015-09-18T19:20+00:00

I think the difference between Uber X and Lyft is cops could easily identify Lyft vehicles with the mustache. Is there anyway to ID an UberX Vehicle for the outside?

pat · PostSep 18, 2015#2112015-09-18T19:21+00:00

They sometimes put that "U" on a windshield. But its not needed since you ge a photo of the car on your phone.

So St. Louis County police WILL arrest/cite Uber drivers...

http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/ ... 03075.html

Thanks St. Louis County for making the City that much more appealing.

arch city · PostSep 18, 2015#2122015-09-18T19:39+00:00

This kind of crap does not bode well for St. Louis - a region seeking to become a respected tech hub.

Uber is HQ'd in Silicon Valley. Imagine the conversations taking place between nerds out there about this political f*ckery.

Also, imagine if Imo's attempted to stop all of the new national pizza chains - which are planning to expand in St. Louis - from coming to town.

It's a disgrace. In the meantime, Google Fiber is headed to Louisville, Kentucky.

St. Louis must change in so many ways.

onecity · PostSep 18, 2015#2132015-09-18T20:02+00:00

There are way too many rednecks - white and black - in this city, metro, and state. And that is all.

imperialmog · PostSep 18, 2015#2142015-09-18T20:04+00:00

Its basically a bunch of people on both the right and left of the political spectrum here that seems to think its still 1952. The local and state powers that be seem to think its a good idea to be more like Mississippi.

onecity · PostSep 18, 2015#2152015-09-18T20:14+00:00

We are saying the same thing then.

imperialmog · PostSep 18, 2015#2162015-09-18T20:33+00:00

^ Yes. I do wonder how much of this is related to the whole parochialism thing and the view of a lot of people in the area in being suspicious of outsiders? Since I've heard and seen a certain tone of that being increased in the past year where some are being more parochial in nature. I've seen a lot more local advertising in the past year that had parochialist tones involved in it.

stlgasm · PostSep 18, 2015#2172015-09-18T20:38+00:00

It's pretty obvious that Stenger is behind the County's decision to cite the drivers. Terrible move, and a futile one at that. Not to mention a ridiculous waste of money and resources. If city leaders felt pressure before to allow Uber to operate, just wait till the people of St. Louis have been using it for a couple of weeks and begun to adopt it as part of their daily lives. With all the huge events happening around the city this weekend, I'm sure thousands of people are going to try it out, and there's no turning back.

pat · PostSep 18, 2015#2182015-09-18T20:58+00:00

Maybe its a political ploy. Say they are going to cite drivers but not actually do so because how can you actually tell someone is being picked up by Uber? It just looks like a regular car. He can appease the anti-uber folks but still let it happen.

matguy70 · PostSep 18, 2015#2192015-09-18T22:45+00:00

This crap needs to stop in STL. This is the same mind boggling backwards crap that is holding this city back.

Last Friday, I had a St. Louis County/Yellow cab WILL CALL number (set up 2 weeks prior to will call date) for two cabs to pick-up clients in SOCO and take them to their homes. When I called to "activate" the will-call (mind you that the cab company will NOT just be there waiting for you even though a will-call number and time was assigned two weeks prior and in writing through email) UNTIL you are ready and at the location for your pick-up. So called at 3:00p.m. (Will call for same time) and waited for one hour (no cabs yet) - called dispatch and they said no one (cabbies) had picked up the order yet (dispatched on their computer screen in cab vehicles). You see, the cabbies have a right to refuse a pick-up (mostly because it doesn't "pay" for them to just do a small ride of 10 miles or less. So waited another hour for pick-up --- it has now been TWO (2) hours and no cabs on a WILL-CALL dispatched 2 cab call. So, call again - and still no cabbies have "accepted" the ride call. GAVE UP and cancelled the cads. So I called STL County and Yellow and put in for two cabs to the same pic-up location (NEW dispatch) and put in that my 2 clients were going to go to ST. CHARLES. I then received two cabs within 20 minutes - when they arrived I told them that they were going to their homes in SOCO as well not St. Charles. They were pissed and I told them that their dispatch must have been wrong. LOL - idiots I tell you!

SO UBER COMING IN is going to "hurt" their biz. Damn it - these companies don't do business for STL or the citizens of STL - they do it for themselves and pick and choose the destinations and routes. This is not the only time that this has happened to me - this happens EVERYTIME I need service from a cab company in this city. If you are not downtown or in the central cooridor for service (or hailing a cab) - you might as well forget it!

I have absolutely NO SYMPATHY for the cab companies in this city that hold good paying citizens needing transportation hostage!

UBER!

roger wyoming II · PostSep 19, 2015#2202015-09-19T02:17+00:00

matguy70 wrote:They were pissed and I told them that their dispatch must have been wrong. LOL - idiots I tell you!

urban_dilettante · PostSep 19, 2015#2212015-09-19T03:01+00:00

matguy, you need to be a witness in Uber's lawsuit against the MTC.

MarkHaversham · PostSep 19, 2015#2222015-09-19T15:05+00:00

I'm not opposed to Uber, per se, but I am offended by the idea that StL is backwards for not unanimously embracing the push for everyone working as benefit-less independent contractors. I'm not an MTC fan, but without some kind of regulation Uber is another sign of the techno-dystopia waiting to happen.

Locations like NYC and California are pushing back against Uber's business practices to protect their residents' interests. Allowing corporations to do whatever they want is the kind of backwards thinking St. Louis should be moving past.

Edit: "police would have to stop them on probable cause for a separate reason, a police spokesman said."

eee123 · PostSep 19, 2015#2232015-09-19T17:48+00:00

Took Uber in Montreal last month, where they're having legal issues as well. My driver, who asked me to sit in the front seat, said authorities would look for people hopping into backseats, maybe in bar areas, and they would separate and question driver and passenger(s) to figure out if it's an Uber.

Driver even showed me a photo of an Uber car being towed off. Hope it doesn't come to that here.

framer · PostSep 19, 2015#2242015-09-19T18:32+00:00

All over the world, taxi drivers are shutting down traffic and protesting Uber. The more people learn about their business model, the more backlash they're likely to face.

urban_dilettante · PostSep 19, 2015#2252015-09-19T20:40+00:00

MarkHaversham wrote:I'm not opposed to Uber, per se, but I am offended by the idea that StL is backwards for not unanimously embracing the push for everyone working as benefit-less independent contractors. I'm not an MTC fan, but without some kind of regulation Uber is another sign of the techno-dystopia waiting to happen.

sure, but Taxi companies don't exactly treat their drivers well either, and Uber is a more efficient model for public transportation. if the argument is that taxi regulations can be reformed to make the service more efficient, then i would argue that P2P regulations can be reformed as well to provide better benefits. is it even true that taxi companies necessarily provide benefits for their drivers?

Uber STL

Choose Display Mode