Any thoughts? I’m not allowed to air my opinion in public as I’m a TfL employee 
I can say that trying to get a black cab after midnight from the west end to the suburbs is near impossible and costs a night out on its own, whereas Uber is much quicker and costs (at most) half the price:
They will get their licence back in a few days so I don’t see what all the fuss is about.
They haven’t lost their license yet, it’s due to expire at the end of this month.
I love the convenience of it, but I’m all for other potential services like Lyft and Grabshare coming in to fill the gap. Black cabs are too extortionate. In Singapore too, the local cabs sometimes pick and choose customers “oh sorry, I don’t want to go there” 
Uber is usually cheaper, though they don’t know little shortcuts and things.
While I support the kind of technical innovation that powers uber, lift and grabshare, I’m personally happy that someone is standing up to Uber who are frankly a parasitic company.
I’d love lyft and grabshare to fill the gap tbh.
Perhaps if uber weren’t such twats e.g.
Treating their employees like crap, actively opposing basic employment rights such as sickness benefit: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/apr/19/uber-appeal-uk-employment-ruling-drivers-working-rights
Opposing tests on English language proficiency: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-40427983
Actively writing code to circumvent oversight by authorities such as TFL: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/mar/03/uber-secret-program-greyball-resignation-ed-baker
Failing to handle serious allegations including sexual assault: https://www.thesun.co.uk/archives/news/1205432/uber-drivers-accused-of-32-rapes-and-sex-attacks-on-london-passengers-in-last-year-alone/
Ultimately for me they have absolutely no regard for the law or even common sense if it costs them profit. Volkswagen for example faked or avoided emissions oversight using software but when Uber use software for avoiding scrutiny its ok apparently.
I welcome other challengers but not uber.
Also the petition thing, TFL interprets the law not public opinion so I don’t see why this should make a difference.
I believe they do need a slap on the wrists and should tackle all the issues clearly highlife to them (many mentioned above). And I assume that they will appeal the future loss of licence and win, possibly with some slight changes to their model, innevitabley slightly increasing fees.
However they have pulled out of locations before as they don’t like adhering or bending to local laws.
Blocking them in london would really hurt the city, I’m sure it’s increased efficiencies in companies reducing travel times, and of course providing a ‘safe’ trackable taxi service for all the late night drinkers who put themselves in harms way when picking up unlicensed cabs on the streets (definitely not me 
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I reckon Civic should increase their KYC functionality to cover criminal record checks and integrate with uber, get them on the blockchain 
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I personally feel indifferent on the the matter, as I’ve had varied uber experiences.
For example:
I think there needs to be an open and competitive market with any service, cab drivers in this example, and people’s safety should be paramount importance to any and all taxi service. Uber have been given too much room to play with and define their own rules and poor standards; this needs to change.
I think it’s a bit of a blow to be honest. People make the sickness comment a lot but many taxi drivers at other firms are self employed drivers, they pay a fee upfront each week/month for the radio and then they work as much or as little as they want.
I’ve had bad Uber experience but all of them I could easily report and get either a refund or some form of resolution, more than I can say for some of the awful Brighton Taxis!
I don’t know if it exists in London, but up North I use Gett. I stopped using Uber a while ago when they proved time and time again that while they have a good product they are a shitty company.
I also spoke to a lot of Uber drivers in Asia that said as soon as Uber had a big enough market share they started paying their drivers less.
Fingers crossed Lyft or Grab use this as an opportunity to get their foot in the door.
If anyone fancies it I’ll paste my Gett link below:
Up to £50 credit with my code GTUFZNO. http://r.gett.com/imuk?coupon=GTUFZNO
I have a pretty poor view of Uber. Liked the idea and might just be my local drivers, but Uber covers my local town and most drivers don’t want to do lifts within my town. They just want the 10-15 mile trips into Manchester. I’ve been telephoned repeatedly for my destination then stood up. Gave up in the end and went back to my local taxis.
I forgot to mention that even if they don’t get their license reinstated they’ll just find a work around, they are licenced in other cities throughout the country so what’s to stop them picking up in say Slough dropping off in London and then picking up a London fare?
Started using Taxify. Use it when I travel in Europe, now it’s in London. Was cheaper too.
If it does referral links do you want to share yours?
My friend works in London and uses Gett. She says it’s great (or at least better, ethically), but I’ve not tried it. I’ll check it out, thanks for the recommendation
Taxify lost their licence the other week?
I’ve used Gett in Coventry. Pretty awful experience, seemed to just be the local taxi drivers given the work. Fare was calculated using the meter, so had to pay a premium because there was traffic and the meter charged extra for time spent idling. Driver then wanted to deviate from Google Maps’ route (which took traffic into account) and go even further than was necessary. Gett didn’t even bother responding to my complaint.
Politicians taking backhanders to do the same in Belfast at the moment. Ridiculous
It’s ridiculous, I’ve never used Uber and I’m not really a fan, but I’m all for a free market - let people (like me) vote with their money; let people make their own decision on whether it’s safe enough, or if they’d rather pay more to feel safer.