City taxis buyout Mercury taxis in uber scare

[Dozer]

As I said, I don't fear Uber themselves affecting my trade in Sheffield - they offer something different with their pricing structure, and I don't think it will work here.

 

Ash, you've thought about this deep and hard, and I've only just started. Nice to hear someone informed.

 

I think I missed one key thing though in your aside above. Why do you think Uber's pricing structure won't work in Sheffield? Is it that most of us won't tolerate the surge pricing?

[kris99]

Business - Get peoples' confidence, low prices, good service and we've already seen how they run theirs in surging. What next, permanent high prices? Can't resist it, taking us for a ride. I personally wouldn't be happy in giving them my bank details.

[In Uppers]

From a customers point of view:

I do like Uber - they've never let me down, always on time, courteous, polite drivers etc etc etc.

 

My usual journeys are relatively short i.e the last Uber I had cost £3.37 - the same journey I used to pay Mercury £5 for. (By choice. The actual fare was £4.30).

 

If I get an Uber from say the local pub, I get charged £3.00. If I call a City, I get charged £3.80.

 

Try that 4/5 times on a weekend and I'm seriously up by using Uber.

 

However, when a surge comes in the price can be £4.85.

 

I do think that their computer systems should flag up regular users (say over 5 times a week) and drop the surge charge.

 

This will never happen however because whilst ever they know they'll get someone to pay the extra, sod the regulars. It's the same in any business I suppose.

 

You get no-where for being loyal these days

[sgtkate]

The city app also does this, only difference is city don't have surge pricing.

 

---------- Post added 28-10-2015 at 18:49 ----------

 

 

Get ready for it then, as the rotherham drivers join the sheffield Uber drivers will slowly leave,

 

Why exactly?

 

---------- Post added 29-10-2015 at 10:25 ----------

 

Great

 

Let's hope others don't feel the same, though I suspect that they will also not care less. Let me tell you why other people should care more (outside of your own personal choice, which is fine mogwai, I accept that)

 

It's not just Rotherham, it eventually be from anywhere with drivers and cars that weren't checked as strictly as Sheffield Council licensing do. Since the Deregulation Act 2015 came into force a few weeks ago (taxi wise), Sheffield is already being swarmed with out of town taxis*, you might not care, but as people always ask in here ''do YOU have children?" - well I'll use it this time... have you got kids? Would you want your 18 yo on his/her own, getting in a Sheffield Taxi or any old taxi, with a driver checked by 'goodness knows who'.

 

 

*(just for clarity btw before someone thinks that a bit of competition is good, and also 'why would people come from Newcastle/Swansea/Chester/Nottingham/Leeds/Kirklees?'

 

- well currently most of these aren't people from these towns, they are from here and they can't get a licence in Sheffield - but this is now completely open to anyone).

 

-

 

Would you prefer your CHILD!! () to use a local company where if anything goes wrong, you can phone them and speak to people IN Sheffield, and if there is a serious problem you can ring Sheffield Council and speak to taxi licensing to people IN Sheffield, or press a button on an app; get any old car and/or driver without any checks that you can easily look up, and without having to email a robot and hope for a human response?

 

-

 

As for the competition, City has made loads of changes to match anything that Uber can do.

 

I think Uber won't work in Sheffield, and I've always said that, but by altering and a slight change to the licensing laws, has opened the doors for other companies to compile a huge number of cars from out of town. It's already happened. Uber have just used their power to manipulate the law to allow them to operate (personally I think this all started in the UK after that ECHR case from one bloke who said his human rights were broken because his work area was restricted).

 

 

The main point being that the first time that one of these out of town drivers causes a serious problem, then my livelihood as all other Sheffield drivers is at risk. People naturally group taxis/ drivers together, so if some out of towner assaults a student or something, then the whole of Sheffield suffers, not just us drivers, but pubs, cafes, clubs, food places, etc. the staff in all these places, the reputation of Sheffield itself, and its safety record which encourages students and people wanting to live here... it's a no brainer.

 

What a superb bit of scaremongering. Nice try.

[vincentb]

Get ready for it then, as the rotherham drivers join the sheffield Uber drivers will slowly leave,

 

Why's that - do you think the Sheffield drivers will leave Uber as it gets flooded with many more drivers?

[Blue Day]

So what you're saying I as a consumer have choice of two different services with both pros and cons and when booking taxis I can make the decision from information available on my phone. Sounds pretty good to me, I don't understand why anyone would blindly support either firm when the information to decide which firm to use there and then is right at their fingertips.

 

Absolutely spot on.

 

I've used Uber and City recently - trying to get an Uber to town at 7pm from Hillsborough area is nigh on impossible so i'd use City.

 

Getting an Uber home is far easier because they are always around town.

[*_ash_*]

Ash, you've thought about this deep and hard, and I've only just started. Nice to hear someone informed.

 

I think I missed one key thing though in your aside above. Why do you think Uber's pricing structure won't work in Sheffield? Is it that most of us won't tolerate the surge pricing?

 

I think it will have a small place in the market because there are people who will pay high prices when it's busy. I don't agree with that. If I'm picking up people who use us regularly, then how is it fair to charge them 3x as much on a busy Saturday?

 

It will just alter people's habits and they just won't go out on Saturday (or whatever day it may be) anymore, and I want people going out any night of the week and knowing how much it will cost.

 

From a customers point of view:

I do like Uber - they've never let me down, always on time, courteous, polite drivers etc etc etc.

 

My usual journeys are relatively short i.e the last Uber I had cost £3.37 - the same journey I used to pay Mercury £5 for. (By choice. The actual fare was £4.30).

 

If I get an Uber from say the local pub, I get charged £3.00. If I call a City, I get charged £3.80.

 

Try that 4/5 times on a weekend and I'm seriously up by using Uber.

 

However, when a surge comes in the price can be £4.85.

 

At normal prices it's hard to make ends meet, so charging £3.37 etc. (and much less btw, I've seen a few drivers accounts) the good cars/drivers won't last, AND AREN'T! they're coming back every day. Now Rotherham has started (well on Friday) you'll get whatever there is. I saw a P-Reg Carina yesterday! How can we compete against no vehicle rules? What will and is happening is all the old crap cars that Rotherham have will pick up Sheffield trade.

 

I do think that their computer systems should flag up regular users (say over 5 times a week) and drop the surge charge.

 

This will never happen however because whilst ever they know they'll get someone to pay the extra, sod the regulars. It's the same in any business I suppose.

 

You get no-where for being loyal these days

 

I agree there isn't. If I could get hold of Uber's records I'd put the people who try them first at the back of the queue when they phone a Sheffield company, I'd rather pick up people first who ring us first.

 

Why exactly?

 

I've answered that above re: Rotherham.

 

What a superb bit of scaremongering. Nice try.

 

Scaremongering? Did you see the sarcastic because I was using other people's methods of writing?

 

btw, if you pay Sheffield council tax, enjoy paying for all these out of towners in your CTAX.

Edited October 29, 2015 by *_ash_*

[FuriousGeorg]

It seems unlikely for so many reasons, that Uber would come into the marketplace, push all competitors out with low prices, and then put prices up so far that people actually stop going out, thus presumably putting themselves out of business, but that's a nice dystopian future fantasy world you've created to justify your point of view.

 

Uber do have vehicle rules, if you bothered to do any research. I posted a car list many pages back from another city before they started here. I don't know about City but they certainly have significantly higher standards than most/any of the black cab owners in this city, both in terms of vehicle and service. And UberExec is a higher standard than almost all of city's cars, for very slightly more cost.

 

I don't understand your xenophobia of anything outside of Sheffield, does nobody in Rotherham take taxis, is there no market for them there? What makes you think everyone in Rotherham is desperate to operate in Sheffield? And who actually cares?

[cookingfat50]

city cars have over 2,00 cars and driver plus do a lot of contract work for the NHS, schools, plus airport runs. they are the main taxi firm in Sheffield, and other self employed drivers are going over to city cars. so what does it matter wh the main taxi firm is x

[smiggs]

I agree there isn't. If I could get hold of Uber's records I'd put the people who try them first at the back of the queue when they phone a Sheffield company, I'd rather pick up people first who ring us first.

 

With that kind of attitude I hope you go out of business soon, of course your customers are going to compare different firms before making a choice. And when taxi firms will offer an estimated fare and availability at the push of a button, we'd be pretty daft not to, loyalty only buys us an over priced bill or a long wait.

 

Uber to me isn't a big deal, it's a taxi firm without a phone and with variable pricing. There had been a lot of hype but they are losing money hand over fist (that's Uber not the drivers) so fares will go up, I'm sure City and Mercury have survived upstart firms with low prices in the past.