Uber Brighton

GOM · Nov 29, 2016

Lord Bracknell said:
What legal powers does Leeds City Council have to prevent out of city private hire vehicles coming into the city to provide services? Exactly the same as in Brighton, I guess - ie none.

Legally none, but practically private hire has to be pre-booked. If they are from out of town they will have to be booked with the car's office out of town, then travel to leeds. Not many people in Leeds book a car from e.g.Huddersfield for a local journey, and not many cars from Huddersfield would want to !

spring hall convert · Dec 9, 2016

Saw this on The Guardian today - https://www.theguardian.com/technol...r-trying-to-support-family-not-earning-enough

A far more persuasive argument to not use Uber than the weaponsing of rape.

Chinman3000 · Dec 9, 2016

taz said:
Actual uber surge prices for Saturday night on 26th Nov,, city centre to amex £21-£28,, West Street to Brighton marina £15-£20,,city centre to Gatwick south terminal £107-142,, city centre to Heathrow terminal 3, £236-£315, , all prices for four passenger vehicles,,,

I'm sorry but that sounds like bullshit.

I got an Uber from Brighton centre to Lancing at 1am and it cost me £25 (£10 after my £15 first ride free credit).

A rip-off Brighton cab would have cost me over £50. Looking at your other posts - this is probably you

Herr Tubthumper · Dec 9, 2016

Chinman3000 said:
I'm sorry but that sounds like bullshit.

I got an Uber from Brighton centre to Lancing at 1am and it cost me £25 (£10 after my £15 first ride free credit).

A rip-off Brighton cab would have cost me over £50. Looking at your other posts - this is probably you

Rip off Brighton cab? You mean one where you pay a proper price which doesn't require government subsidy like uber?

If you want to be ripped off in Brighton catch a bus.

Chinman3000 · Dec 9, 2016

Herr Tubthumper said:
Rip off Brighton cab? You mean one where you pay a proper price which doesn't require government subsidy like uber?

If you want to be ripped off in Brighton catch a bus.

'proper price' :wozza:

Herr Tubthumper · Dec 9, 2016

Chinman3000 said:
'proper price'

If the government is having to top-up uber driver's salaries then your £25 from Brighton to Lancing doesn't seem like a market rate.

taz · Dec 9, 2016

Silly uber price when everyone wants a cab,, Brighton station to amex Fri night Leeds game hour before ko £24-£32 quote four seat, car and driver from Portsmouth, took nearly an hour to get there,.as we went towards dyke and then by- pass,, actual price £32 minus my mates £10 voucher which he was desperate to spend, free ride for me I wanted to bus hop !!

mickybha · Dec 10, 2016

Gwylan · Dec 22, 2016

Interesting piece on the company's financials, set to lose $3 bn this year after losing $2 bn last year. It's a bit of a race now: the plan is to undercut the competition thus driving them out of business and then massively increase the prices but will they run out of money before doing that? It's a risky game to play

Herr Tubthumper · Dec 22, 2016

Gwylan said:
Interesting piece on the company's financials, set to lose $3 bn this year after losing $2 bn last year. It's a bit of a race now: the plan is to undercut the competition thus driving them out of business and then massively increase the prices but will they run out of money before doing that? It's a risky game to play

How do you know that's that's the plan?

Coincidentally I had a discussion about uber with my London chums tonight....they're very much anti uber for the reasons I have given.

Albion my Albion · Dec 22, 2016

Travis is massively underwritten by his friends in the Bay Area of SF/Oakland (Google and other start-up employees) to fight where ever necessary in the courts to make it legal for ride share companies to operate in every city in the world.

Chicken Run · Dec 22, 2016

Not sure what to make of Uber yet but there doesn't seem to be many drivers/cars, on a side note, got one from Hearn Hill back to Hove last week at 1am Sunday morn, cost exactly £100, not bad I thought?

Rowdey · Dec 22, 2016

clippedgull said:
Other companies run same business models as Uber, so if the scenario you paint happens then those companies will likely take up the slack and competition will still exist.

Gwylan said:
Interesting piece on the company's financials, set to lose $3 bn this year after losing $2 bn last year. It's a bit of a race now: the plan is to undercut the competition thus driving them out of business and then massively increase the prices but will they run out of money before doing that? It's a risky game to play

This is the point isn't it, Goldman Sachs and other investor's can keep financing Uber until it dominates market share (even new players) then Bam, watch the prices rocket.

The wired web page is interesting, in that 'driverless cars' will be a big thing in future for Uber. Is it cynical of me to think 'Scoop up the market then drown it out, with no labour costs..?'

Gwylan · Dec 22, 2016

Herr Tubthumper said:
How do you know that's that's the plan?

It doesn't take much of a brain to work it out. If every ride is charged about 40% about its actual cost it will only start making money when prices triple or quadruple. At the moment they're about 20 to 40% cheaper than cabs, who's going to use Uber if they're twice as expensive? So, they're only going to be able to charge that money when they have a monopoly. There is no other explanation

bhachris · Dec 22, 2016

I use Uber whenever possible but last Saturday they had surge pricing at x1.9 which turned a £15 cab from Brighton to Portslade via a drop off in Hangleton into a £30 cab. I will be more careful when ordering in future.

beorhthelm · Dec 22, 2016

Gwylan said:
It doesn't take much of a brain to work it out. If every ride is charged about 40% about its actual cost it will only start making money when prices triple or quadruple. At the moment they're about 20 to 40% cheaper than cabs, who's going to use Uber if they're twice as expensive? So, they're only going to be able to charge that money when they have a monopoly. There is no other explanation

you're right about that, however who's going to pay twice as much as current cabs? they'll undercut Uber, as will other app based operations, there's no barriers to market so its a fairly bonkers business strategy. you can gain market dominance in this market. the end has to be driverless cabs, where the cost come tumbling down, and ultimatly replace priavet transportation with a fleet of cars available to hire. here they'll be up againt Google (already far advnaced with thier autonomus cars) and the major car manufacutres who'll be in a position to subsidise fleets.

or, there's another theory, thats is was a good idea that they just got carried away with and went off expanding, over-inflating the scale of the market then getting caught up in its own hype, driving another round of funding, over-inflation, etc. it wouldnt be the first time a business model from silicon valley done this.

kingcole · Dec 22, 2016

Gwylan said:
It doesn't take much of a brain to work it out. If every ride is charged about 40% about its actual cost it will only start making money when prices triple or quadruple. At the moment they're about 20 to 40% cheaper than cabs, who's going to use Uber if they're twice as expensive? So, they're only going to be able to charge that money when they have a monopoly. There is no other explanation

I disagree. Taxis in the UK are one of the most expensive in the world. And Taxis in our part of the world are some of the most expensive in the UK.

Taxi prices have risen year on year. I've never known a year when they have not increased. Even when the price of fuel, the cost of vehicles and the cost of finance have been falling.

Couple this with the fact that the Uber model should mean less unproductive time and 'dead' mileage, I suggest an Uber Driver today could be more profitable that a cab/taxi driver was in the past, even with the lower pricing.

The surge pricing is clearly advertised and serves to get more drivers out. In the past a cab company may have said it's an hours wait. You now have the choice to spend a bit more and get home when you want. What's not to like?

I'm still a new Uber user but the complainants will always be those who don't want change and are not prepared to adapt to changing times. The established cab companies had the chance to develop this software yet they decided to stick with the principal that someone would take the trouble to find their number, call them, have it ring and them speak to a person who will tell you when you are getting your cab!

I experienced Uber in Birmingham at the weekend. I didn't know a cab number and having got a bit lost leaving New St station I simply got my phone out and a car was with me in 3 mins. 10 mins later and only £4.40 lighter (charged to my card) I was at St Andrews.

After the game I walked to the other side of the roundabout, whipped out my phone, was told there was 20% surge pricing and had my car (A brand new E Class Merc with a suited driver) was with in in 3 minutes. Traffic was heavy and it cost me £6.80 to get back to New St.

beorhthelm · Dec 22, 2016

kingcole said:
I disagree. Taxis in the UK are one of the most expensive in the world. And Taxis in our part of the world are some of the most expensive in the UK.

actually, all your objections are due to regulation. prices are regulated by local authority, driver licencing regulated (rightly so) and rules around calling a cab company are national laws. all Uber is doing is providing tools to create loopholes in some regulations. the cost model for drivers (cost of car, insurance, petrol) is exactly the same for Uber, private hire cabs or taxis, so there's no real way Uber can be more profitable for drivers, except if Uber charges less for access to the service than private hire charge for "the radio".

kingcole · Dec 22, 2016

beorhthelm said:
actually, all your objections are due to regulation. prices are regulated by local authority, driver licencing regulated (rightly so) and rules around calling a cab company are national laws. all Uber is doing is providing tools to create loopholes in some regulations. the cost model for drivers (cost of car, insurance, petrol) is exactly the same for Uber, private hire cabs or taxis, so there's no real way Uber can be more profitable for drivers, except if Uber charges less for access to the service than private hire charge for "the radio".

Taxi prices are set by the local authority. Cab companies (private hire, 595959, 204060 etc) can charge whatever they like, but they choose to mirror the high cab prices. Brighton and Adur are the exception to the rule of doing this. Even Worthing Private Hire cabs are quite a bit cheaper than a Hackney (Taxi)

The Uber model ideally has less dead time and dead mileage (in other words you should pick up closer to the drop off) so this would lower costs.

Also, where a Private Hire company typically charges weekly 'dues' ( It was £90pw when I was a cabbie 10 years ago, sos suspect £120+ now but no idea) with Ubder the driver just needs to log on for 1 hour a month. The fees are 25% so much much less for part time workers

beorhthelm · Dec 22, 2016

kingcole said:
Taxi prices are set by the local authority. Cab companies (private hire, 595959, 204060 etc) can charge whatever they like, but they choose to mirror the high cab prices.

good point, always looks like its fixed price.

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