[Certhas]

You can speak for Europe in general?

In my European bubble people are generally aware that Uber is a morally questionable company (without necessary knowing about the details, just a reputation) and some have heard of Lyft, even though it's not available.

[John_KZ]

This guy doesn't know what he's talking about. Uber is banned in Greece, Italy, Finland and a host of other countries. It's also legally banned in London afaik and heavily regulated in a lot of other places.

Actually in Greece 4 drivers have been criminally charged for violating the law by driving for Uber and falsifying documents (as per company instructions).

In the countries of South Europe (Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal) in which I have personal experience, although there are some Uber drivers operating illegally or in gray zones, penetration is minimal. You can only get rides in capitals and major cities, and they're not much cheaper.

The main reasons are 2: people hate Uber because they know they're exploiting workers, and taxi drivers have strong unions. Uber IMHO is the only entity that managed to become more hated than taxi drivers.

The reason Uber is banned everywhere can be summed up by the European Court of Justice: Uber needs to stop pretending to be just an app. It's a transport company, and it's using the app as an excuse to operate illegally, bypassing regulations, responsibility and avoiding tax.

[luka-birsa]

I can second this. Uber did have a positive effect on local taxis, forcing them to upgrade. We now have taxi companies that are reinventing themselves - apps are good, you can pay with CC in the app and the drivers need to adhere to some standard of professional ethics.

Imagine that - they are able to do that without the "Uber" model of ignoring regulation and doing the fuck they want regardless.

[zaarn]

Atleast where I live, southern germany, Apps for Taxi have been a thing for a while, to my knowledge predating Uber and the standards for them have been extremely high for decades at this point.

[yardie]

In my experience, previous to Uber, apps for taxis were just a mobile webview of their website. You could request a driver, they would give you an estimate in blocks of 5-10€, and feedback was nonexistent. Uber, you knew who your driver is and what they were driving, estimates are accurate to the cent, feedback is annoyingly encouraged, and payments are done in app and automatically. None of this, “the CC machine is broken, you have cash?” garbage.

[zaarn]

I never once had a "CC broken, cash?" question, granted, in germany it is also more common to pay in cash anyway.

The apps involved weren't bad either. You entered your location (or had it located via GPS), told the destination and it would give you the exact price that you could either pay directly at the taxi (before you drive) or via Paypal/CC/etc.

It was quite pleasant though apparently not very popular since a lot of people simply prefer public transport or their own car here.

[stevekemp]

For what it is worth the situation in Finland is changing, and Uber will be back in some form:

https://metropolitan.fi/entry/uber-returns-to-finland-in-jul...