A clash is about to take place on the capital's streets that sees the old pitted against the new. The livelihoods of London's iconic cabbies are at stake. But could they be stifling opportunities for a new breed of driver - that could even include you? London's black-cab drivers are preparing to cause gridlock in the capital on Wednesday, in protest at Transport for London's stance towards a mobile phone app that allows users to book private vehicles, using GPS technology to set the fare. It's the hottest topic of conversation amongst cab drivers since Olympic traffic lanes. What should be done about Uber? Black-cab driver Lloyd Baldwin is in no doubt. "Our beef with Uber is that these drivers have come straight into London, and have been licensed straight away by Transport for London. We're regulated to within an inch of our lives. http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-27733971 Any of our resident Cockneys used this new App?
Out with the old, in with the new http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/CreativeDestruction.html "Herein lies the paradox of progress. A society cannot reap the rewards of creative destruction without accepting that some individuals might be worse off, not just in the short term, but perhaps forever. At the same time, attempts to soften the harsher aspects of creative destruction by trying to preserve jobs or protect industries will lead to stagnation and decline, short-circuiting the march of progress. Schumpeter’s enduring term reminds us that capitalism’s pain and gain are inextricably linked. The process of creating new industries does not go forward without sweeping away the preexisting order."
Meh. Taxis are for lazy ****s, just get a bus. Google cars will make the whole lot of them irrelevant anyways
This is what I thought most people in London did. Surely it's only tourists, spastics and tubsters who get taxis?
Uber have already admitted that their long term strategy is to do away with drivers and use Google cars http://techcrunch.com/2013/08/25/uberauto/ No quicker than the Uber drivers will displace the cabbies, Google will then **** them too. The world is moving fast.
Only posh bints and ****s that expense everything get taxis, they take longer than the tube/bus and cost a ****ing fortune if you're travelling more than a mile. I just walk if it's bout a mile away, or get public transport if it's raining/i'm too pissed/it's too far.
Or when you're so lashed up you just want to get home quick. I think the drivers have a point. They've had to train for yonks to pass the knowledge and now drivers can just come in and undercut them. It isn't altogether fair.
Aye my pal got a taxi from Charlton to London City Airport last year when the tubes were on strike and it cost him a ridiculous amount. He wasn't happy about it.
These industries deliberately make the tests for licenses extremely difficult in order to restrict supply and keep prices up. There was a famous case of this in 1930's America where the Medical License board started increasing the qualifications needed to be a doctor after all the fully qualified Jewish doctors fleeing Europe started pushing wages down.
What can I say, I find economics interesting. I find it helps to know a bit of that kinda stuff before coming out with loud opinions, like that there's conspiracies against the poor, etc.
I'm sure the Luddites felt the same way when they were displaced by cheaper and faster machinery. please log in to view this image Dan pictured on his way to work this morning.
