BAFFLING
At a recent Trade meeting we were told by a colleague who works on one of the local circuits that he got a job to pick up a few miles out of central Brighton to come back into town. This is a job which would be around £12.
His customers told him that they were a bit peeved the night before because they got an Uber from central Brighton to get home and it cost them £30 (which must have meant that Surge Pricing was in force). They also told him that when they tried to get an Uber just now there were none available which is why he got the job.
My colleague of course had to ask the inevitable question that as they were peeved from being charged £30 the night before, why did they then try to get another Uber again the following day?
I actually can’t remember what the reply was on this but here we have Joe Public using Uber and paying over double the local council controlled metered rate, being annoyed about it, and yet still using Uber.
The logic of this is baffling?
In Brighton & Hove we have three main companies. Streamline 202020 (a member Association of which I am a member), Radio Cabs 204060 and City Cabs 205205. All three of these companies have a mix of hackneys and PHVs that have council controlled meters and use the council prescribed tariffs.
For all the forty years I have been in the trade here the public have always known what their cab rides are going to be from either the street/rank or by phone call. The importance of the use of the controlled fares by the main three companies is that we have a very well established ‘fare formula’ which takes into account many of the factors of running costs as well as what the average earnings are in the South East. This is to ensure that the drivers here have a chance to earn a reasonable wage for reasonable hours.
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Additionally all three have excellent cab apps which are just as good as the Uber one, if not better.
Also, unlike Uber, which uses a huge amount of out of town cars here, you are guaranteed to get a cab with council controlled CCTV for your protection. Fred Jones of Uber stated at a Trade Forum meeting that “Uber was against CCTV in Uber cars”..... again baffling?
Importantly Uber is literally only a fraction cheaper than that of the Brighton & Hove normal rate and usually within pennies.... and yet Surge Pricing seems to be far more frequent then it ever was.
So again it is baffling as to why people use Uber? The only reason must be the brainwashing of people thinking they are being hip and trendy. They must also have big wallets as well.
However what I will say - and I am very pleased to say it - it does seem that some people are now beginning to realise that Uber is mainly there to take advantage of the public. This is because I know that some Uber users are now starting to trickle back to the local companies from what I have experienced myself and also what my colleagues are telling me.
For example we recently had the Brighton & Hove Marathon of which Uber took advantage and surged priced for much of the day. Not only that, but I have had many comments about which way the out of town Uber cars go and of course this is because
OCTOBER 2021
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