Subject : Java Glossary

A taxi company that uses unlicensed part time drivers and ordinary cars, owned by the drivers, without meters. They try to pretend they are a ride-sharing service, but it works almost identically to a normal taxi company, nothing at all like a ride-sharing service. You call a car using a smartphone app. The fare is precalculated by computer based on the start and end points of the trip. You know the price of the trip before you start. However, that price can vary by time of day, availability of drivers etc. Drivers do not carry cash. You are billed later.

Uber flouts local taxi laws, e.g. those requiring training, licencing, police checks, cameras, insurance, safety checks… Uber just pays the fines and carries on. It does not deal with disabled people. If you have a complaint with Uber, it has no phone number you can call, however, you can rate your driver on your smart phone with a star count. I heard on the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) that Uber does not collect HST (Harmonised Sales Tax) and that Uber cars are effectively uninsured because drivers fail to buy commercial insurance. Uber closes its eyes to the problem. Uber denies this. When you order a car, you get to see a picture of the driver and his customer rating. You can then refuse the driver based on racial prejudices etc. Like any criminal organisation, it offers cheaper prices. This makes it popular.

They are a multi-billion dollar company. Google and Goldman-Sachs invest in them. They currently operate in about 200 cities.

Uber claims to be a ride sharing service, but is not. Ride sharing is a about multiple people going to the same general location traveling in the same vehicle. With Uber, there is the driver and a single passenger, same as a conventional taxi company. The driver has no need to visit the destination. He drives there only because his passenger wants to go there. I have heard several Uber spokesmen. They all lie and con.

Uber lied many times, trying to give the idea they had invented something incredibly novel, so none of the taxi regulations apply to them. What utter BS!

In short, Uber is a pirate taxi service that scoffs at local taxi laws and regulations. It does not take cash. It is cheaper than traditional taxis. I think it should be shut down as a criminal organisation and all the investors, including Google, punished for funding a criminal enterprise. Google has invested more in Uber than any other outside project. They are deluding themselves that investing in a criminal enterprise is not evil How quickly Google forgot its formal corporate motto Don’t be evil.