Why yes, yes I do. I used to drive a cab and got really pissed-off when the city I was working in decided to issue hundreds of new taxi licenses to "improve service to underserved areas", effectively killing the livelihood of the people already doing the job. That would have been me, had I not found another occupation about that time.
As for the legalese, I'm not a lawyer but my dad was the judge who tossed out the taxi union's suit against the city that tried to stop them from issuing the new licenses. He sympathized with the working stiffs but what the city was doing was perfectly legal and within their rights. I sympathize with working stiffs myself but the people driving Ubers have as much right to make a living as the taxi companies, IMO.
I could have phrased my last post better, it was merely a reaction to some of the previous ones about unvetted ghost-people driving Ubers. That's a bunch of BS. They're vetted and lose the job quickly if they do anything against policy or just generally do not please the clientele. I've used an Uber and I have friends that use the app constantly, it works really well. And it's definitely cheaper than a taxi, plus the cars and drivers are a lot nicer in general. As for insurance, the minute they pick up a passenger, Uber's coverage is in effect. Not the driver's insurance. That's the way it was explained to me, anyways.
There are changes coming and taxi companies are fighting the ride-sharing apps with varying success in some cities. A friend was in Vegas last weekend and told me that they have succeeded in keeping Uber out so far. It's ubiquitous on Los Angeles, San Francisco and other big cities and has been for at least a couple years. So now when I hear someone say,
"what is this new-fangled Uber thing? It sounds dangerous!", It reminds me of my old man marveling at what young whippersnappers can do with a smart phone like it just came about last month. That's all.
