"Progressive Regulation"
Posted on 01/18/2015 1:42:56 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Uber chief Travis Kalanick said he wants to expand operations in Europe and, in the process, create 50,000 jobs and take 400,000 personal vehicles off the road.
Kalanick said the ride-sharing service isn’t opposed to regulation, but wants “progressive regulation” that promotes safe and affordable rides and generates tax revenue without limiting competition. Cities around the globe have been going after Uber and other services, using a mix of existing regulations and new laws.
“We want to make 2015 the year where we establish a new partnership with (European Union) cities,” Kalanick said, speaking Sunday at the DLD Conference in Munich.
Uber is coming under increased scrutiny from lawmakers and regulators around the globe. The company was hit with a cease and desist in Madrid, Spain; a shutdown order in Bangkok, Thailand; a ban on unlicensed taxi drivers in Beijing, China; and a ban in Delhi, India, where an Uber driver was arrested and charged with rape, kidnapping and intimidation of a 25-year-old passenger. Just last week South Carolina issued a cease and desist order, ordering the company to halt operations.
Antiquated laws around the globe are preventing safe, affordable rides, Kalanick said, highlighting a few particularly egregious statutes, such as one in South Korea that allows foreigners only to take a chauffeured car.
“If you are a Korean, it is illegal for you to have a nice ride that you paid a fair price for.”
Instead, Kalanick argued in favor of more modern regulations that still promote safety, competition and tax revenue.
Kalanick shared some new stats, noting that 1.6 million people have taken an Uber in its four and a half years of operation, creating the equivalent of 7,500 full-time jobs. In New York, the company has served 1.9 million riders in three years and created the equivalent of 13,750 jobs. In London, there have been more than 900,000 riders and the creation of the equivalent of 7,800 jobs.
Kalanick said that the company can now meet with cities and promise to create the equivalent of 10,000 jobs in four years.
“We’re starting to hit that inflection point,” he said.
Kalanick began his talk, sharing the story of how Uber was born. The idea for the service, he said, came after he and Uber’s other co-founder had trouble getting a taxi in Paris. When they got back to San Francisco they realized they had the same problem and built Uber as a side project for the two of them and a hundred of their friends.
“It wasn’t meant to be a big business,” he said. “It just turned out that everybody in our city wanted it.”
Kalanick said Uber would eventually prove to be cheaper than owning and driving a car, once the service can can achieve more efficiency with features such as with UberPool, which lets riders share when going the same direction. At the same time, he said, drivers can continue to earn $25 or more per hour.
“This car replacement story is not just a vision or a dream,” Kalanick said. its something that is actually taking place today.”
The only way that creates new jobs is if the alternative was walking or staying home, or driving yourself. Otherwise it is just taking revenue and jobs from current cab drivers.
As long as their fantasy doesn’t cost me anything, I couldn’t care less. (especially in europe)
"Progressive Regulation"
As I’ve said before, this business model isn’t going to last very long. The regulatory challenges Uber faces is nothing compared to the damage that will be done for their whole business model once the market matures and all of the players involved in the business transactions (drivers, passengers and Uber) see the true costs of the business. Up until now they’ve been able to make a go of it because it’s such a new concept that a lot of these costs haven’t caught up to them.
So Uber is a service company that you use instead of your personal vehicle as a type of ride share ?
I can see this working in a major city where the cost of owning a car is far more than a car payment and fuel...
And if that doesn't work, there's always Hollywood. Watched an end of season show, and it ended with an escaped serial killer getting into an "Uber" car, with indications that the killer was going to at least take care of the driver, if not use it as a way to facilitate the cleaning up of loose ends.
I figured it was the liberal-progressive way to tarnish the concept.
They sure are pissing people off. With all the bad press they get, they can’t be all bad.
It is used in the medium size town I live in near Chicago as an unregulated alternative to taxis. The only advertising is apparently internet and they use their own vehicles. I wouldn’t get in a car with that type of arrangement but that is just me...
We need to stop using the phrase ‘creating jobs.’ A solid economy is build on creative destruction of jobs. Uber creates jobs getting cars off the road ... so auto jobs are lost. But those people are free to create other wealth, and transportation has been rendered more efficient.
Entrepreneurs don’t create jobs. They destroy jobs and create value, which becomes the capital for new companies. That is how things should work. This is how the human condition has always been improved in the physical world.
Please don’t talk about creating jobs. I especially hate it when Republicans and entrepreneuars talk it about it. It’s socialist. If your company doesn’t destroy more jobs than it creates, then it wasn’t creating any value in the first place.
A healthy economy is based entirely on the cycle of the destruction of jobs, which creates space for new growth. THAT in turn creates wealth and value for everyone. That’s true welfare - the rich and poor benefit alike. Not that the rich or the poor deserve to benefit, nor deserve to suffer. This just happens to be how God set up the game.
Please go out and destroy jobs!!!!!! Chauncy Gardner was not, in fact, a fool.
You do understand that I didn’t write this article, right?
I think they vet the drivers before they’re allowed to get into the system and pick up a passenger.
wants “progressive regulation”
Like Houston’s fascist mayor and her lapdog liberal city council implemented?
In Houston, ride sharing drivers must complete a physical, three background checks (driving records, warrant check, FBI fingerprint check), two vehicle inspections, and obtain a placard, a fire extinguisher and a driving permit, in order to drive people for money in their own personal vehicle. Ballpark costs are $300 to the driving candidate. This scavenger hunt requires trips to six different places at least once each. From what I’ve been told, most require long waits of sometimes hours. Of course, no actual safety training is required though.
The regulations are more rigorous than most professions, and definitely more than needed to be a mayor or a city council member. But at least they haven’t demanded a copy of drivers’ emails and online forum postings yet, like they have from Houston area pastors.
Yeah - hey I didn't mean for it to be addressed to you or even the article - should have been clear about that.
It disturbs me deeply that even people on the right - republicans - sometimes conservatives - and entrepreneurs (often arrogantly) - talk about creating jobs.
So - I just saw the title of the article and immediately started PMS'ing about it. If the Right gets in a contest with the left to 'create jobs' .... then ... they ARE the left. If Americans think 'creating jobs' is a good thing, then we're screwed.
SO! SORRY - not meant for you, or even the article. It addressed anyone who gets any sort of positive feeling about that phrase. It's a Trojan Horse idea, and ideas are the most important thing in this war. Gun not pointed at you.
It’s never good enough to just provide desirable public transportation, they want to confiscate private automobiles to force people to use what ever they supply as public transportation regardless of cost, comfort or utility.
How is a private company on the Internet going to “confiscate” anyone’s vehicle?
Obama wants to eliminate 400,000 cars for good and put another 50,000 illegals on welfare this MONTH!
My grand daughter and friends (19/20 years old) use Uber frequently.
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