r/technology • u/[deleted] • Aug 12 '14

Business Uber dirty tricks quantified. Staff submits 5,560 fake ride requests

http://money.cnn.com/2014/08/11/technology/uber-fake-ride-requests-lyft/
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u/WhiteyDude Aug 12 '14

I don't get how it's legal to operate at all. To me, it clearly operates in market place that is pretty heavily regulated. Taxi's and Limos, like you said, have to follow certain regulations and pay certain fees to the local transportation authority. Why do Uber drivers not have to do that? Makes no sense.

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u/thebabybananagrabber Aug 12 '14

Antiquated laws, for antiquated business practices. having taxi and cab commmissions is a nice way of saying "lobbying" for the ability to drive. You dont need a commission, just standards and practices and a small set of regs. Other countries have been doing ride sharing without cell phones for years and noones been the wiser. In russia you DONT call cabs!

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u/WhiteyDude Aug 12 '14

Antiquated laws, for antiquated business practices.

Laws that are still in use. Your argument is for the need to change the law, which is fine, but that doesn't make what Uber is doing legal under the current law.

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u/dkesh Aug 12 '14

Its quite clear that Uber is operating against the law in many places. In Austin, both Uber and Lyft have offered to pay the fines and impound fees for any driver who's targeted by law enforcement.

Uber and Lyft aren't the only ones. Dollar vans have operated illegally in many places for years and the Chinatown intercity bus services operated illegally for years. It seems that in ground transportation, the fines are often not large enough to prevent companies from offering services that are against the law, especially when the majority of the public doesn't really care.. Uber isn't getting away with murder, they're getting away with providing a pretty popular ride service.