[vincie]

Uber and it's ilk are nice and disruptive and all and you get a cheap ride out of it, but we must not forget that they are disrupting people's livelihood and cultural and social traditions too. I do not condone the violence, but I kind of understand it. Do we really want every country to be Americanized like this, one disruptive app at a time? To some people, these "unions" appear to be protection rackets, but I saw them as part of the French society and culture. If you don't like it, don't force your own beliefs and practices down their throats. Go somewhere else.

[digitalengineer]

Oh yeah and the Mafia is just part of Italian culture right? Don't like it go somewhere else? As a person with Amsterdam Taxi experience (including getting pulled out of a taxi and forced to ride another taxi at the train station at midnight) I welcome competition. The problem with no competition is the way some taxi-drivers can treat their 'clients': We've had drivers refusing to accept clients, because they were female, or because the ride wasn't profitable enough or even because they were BLIND. The driver didn't want the dog in the car. We've even had drivers trying to rape clients. It's a bloody mess. UBER in Amsterdam has been a big success. I welcome them with arms open wide.

[vincie]

The mafia is illegal in Italy as far as I know, so that is not a valid comparison. Yes there are problems with all taxi drivers, and I do not see how Uber drivers are immune from these.

[digitalengineer]

THATS the disrupting part: You can rate your driver online. See https://www.uber.com/drivers You see the rating before you book a ride. This makes all the difference.

[thaumasiotes]

But aren't the ratings meaningless? I remember reading how Uber drivers were upset because a rating measurably below 5 out of 5 can get you fired. As long as that system prevails, a driver's rating won't tell you anything more than the fact that you found them on Uber did.

[digitalengineer]

I think if you had the identity of the driver (both before and after the ride) a lot of drivers would not behave like criminals. Instead of fighting UBER these companies would do better if they put the client on the center stage and perhaps start their own rating-identity service.

[brohee]

The taxi registration and the time of the ride are as good as an identity for the purpose of identifying an individual driver if you chose to report the driver to the regulating authority...

[userulluipeste]

"To some people, these «unions» appear to be protection rackets, but I saw them as part of the French society and culture."

This push of yours to shield the unions with culture is reprehensible. There are definitely elements that are part of culture/society (conferring it uniqueness), but those should be carefully kept apart from other things such as unions what are not. Don't let the economic players to corrupt your perceptions towards non-economical realm, especially when what is targeted is a part of your identity (and therefore affects your ability to judge things objectively).