this post was submitted on 17 Mar 2024
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60
Uber to pay Australian taxi operators $272 million in class action settlement (www.abc.net.au)
submitted 6 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 17 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Fuck off.

Uber sucks but the Taxi industry were far worse. They lobbied for limited numbers of licenses that cost ridiculous amounts of money, so they kept supply low while offering the worst services possible. You'd be lucky to get one unless it was the most expensive rip-off of a trip they could get out of you, forget going a 'short' distance.

Those arseholes deserved to lose every bit of business that they did as soon as an alternative rocked up, disgusting to see them profit off their decades of horrible public opinion.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago

To this day, I won't see foot in a taxi. I went to Niagara falls recently and they were like vultures, circling me as soon as I left the train station. And they wanted to charge me double what Uber would, to get me to the same place. Not to mention the cabs are run down, smell, and the cabbies are shady as shit

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Once got into a cab at a rank with my mate. Didn't even close the door before getting a message that we're meeting somewhere else, so got out but the driver started moving while I was half out of the cab. Then stops, hits the meter and demands $20 because he "drove" us. Guy almost crushed my foot. He then wouldn't let my friend leave until he got payment. We said we're complaining, got the details, and left. Lodged a complaint and heard nothing.

A fairly common experience in Australian taxis. I have a lot of stories like this. Lots involving crashes or being passenger to someone speeding. Or rip-offs that were insane.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 months ago (1 children)

What is this? They have to pay their competition?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Yeah uber are cunts but....what is this shit. I don't wanna go all 'free market' but...how the fuck do you owe someone money because your service did better then theirs.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Bc corruption, one presumes, getting the government to get involved with people's rights to choose. Yeah it's weird for me too:-P.

Total deregulation=anarchy, but not all regulations are good either. This is the kind of stuff that made people choose capitalism in the first place, to try to get away from it (not that it worked, obviously).

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

yeah I honestly feel dirty as fuck with my....capitalistic...feelings towards this but this is just weird.

This is like when Desantis had me siding with fucking Disney in a battle against the government lol. I feel dirty.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Australians of Lemmy, what’s how has Uber impacted your taxi industry.

All I know is that, as an American, my experience with your cab industry felt very very different than my experience in the states. Your cabs felt much cleaner, safer, and more reliable than what was available in major US metros.

Also, last time I was there I still noticed a LOT of cabs still driving around. That’s not the case in many American cities these days.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (2 children)

Cabs here fucking suck, Uber forced them to up their game a bit but they're still the worse option.

My memory of cabs is ridiculously expensive, cancelling trips or never showing up, driving dangerously, racially discriminating, sexual assaults, refusing rides if not far enough, talking on the phone or radio while driving, reeking of cigarettes, etc.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

Interesting. How much of the nation’s cabs are like 13 Cabs? I was surprised that those things were decently clean, had security cameras, and had app hailing with GPS tracking.

American cabs are still often old school. You call to request one that might or might not come, there is often no app to see where / when the cab will arrive, there are no cameras or security features for passengers, and some cabbies might aggressively ask for cash. And I’m talking about getting a cab in the San Francisco / Silicon Valley area… Uber’s home turf. So these cabs feel like time traveling to the 90’s.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

You just described most of my experiences with Uber

[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

Dunno, I just catch public transport or walk everywhere. I know this option isn't as accessible or available for everyone. I also don't want to have an app for every single thing so that's why I've never used uber or the like (including food delivery) and just waited by the roadside to hail a cab on the very rare occasions I needed one. Again, something I know not everyone has immediate or close access to.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

Yeah, I’m kind of jealous of that too. Public transport in major Australian cities is often much better than it’s American counterparts.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

Uber is worth 127 billion, btw. 🙂

[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 months ago (2 children)

8'000, 272 Million... So 34'000 AUD for each of them. For the losses over at the very least 5 years. So at most 6'800 per year. Sounds like nothing really. How much is Uber making in the same period?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I guess the question is, what were the average damages to Australian cabbies?

Australia’s cab industry is not like the cab industry in Uber’s home country.

Last time I was in Australia, I still saw a shit load of cabs. In many American cities there are only a few dozen cabs around. Uber easily squashed the cab industry in the states because the alternative passenger experience wasn’t even close.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Cabs had lobbied a highly profitable monopoly here, so any competition was a loss from their self assumed god given right to everyone's wallet.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

Don't forget the ambulance chasing lawyers cut.

These guys advertise hard so I expect half of the award will go to them minimum.