Re: No, you ignorant arse, not money…
"The problem is taxis live in a pampered world of regulated profit."
Oh, yes? You should try making your living as a taxi driver in Germany. On my last regular taxi ride, in Schweinfurt, the journey of ~5km usually took 10 minutes, for which I paid a mere 11 Euros (including tip). Given that it's going to have taken another 10 minutes for the taxi to get back to the town centre, that works out at around 30 Euros per hour in the best case, when the driver gets another passenger immediately.
From that <30 Euros per hour, the driver's got to buy and maintain his vehicle, pay for fuel and insurance and if he's lucky, there'll be a bit left over to pay his food and rent. No wonder they all work long, long days (and frequently nights). The service they provided was superb.
If these ratbags Uber get their way, it will be a race to the bottom. The already marginal livelihood of taxi drivers will be crushed out of existence by illegal competition from those who hold laws and social order in total contempt. I'm behind the German courts and taxi drivers all the way.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
