Uber’s Controversial Performance

This blog is a response to Howard Hsu’s blog post on Uber being banned in London.

Last month, Transport for London (TfL) refused Uber a new private hirelicense, reason being “lack of corporate responsibility”. TfL listed some main concerns about Uber’s operation. However, Uber disputed those complaints, saying they had their own way to deal with those issues.

Howard’s blog is good in general. He did a good job in relating the news with class contents. In his blog post, he mentioned Business Model firstly and then introduced a fundament

al of an organization, which is “to be able to establish a relationship with its customers”. He also explained three reasons why Uber is banned in London, which are use of software called “Greyball”, lack of background checks on their drivers and sexual assaults.

However, there are a few things he could improve. He did not analyze data well to substantiate his opinions. For example, he mentioned that the number of reported sexual assaults in London’s public transport system was 1,449 last year. This was caused not only by Uber drivers, but also by other taxi drivers and any other public transportation drivers. Therefore, this cannot successfully indicate that Uber drivers are threatening. Despite Uber drivers, some taxi drivers may sexual assault passengers, too. Human nature cannot be tested!

Moreover, Howard suggests conducting thorough background checks on Uber drivers. In fact, even though the background of drivers had been checked, it is possible that sexual assaults may happen. Drivers who have no criminal records may do terrible things under some circumstances. A driver’s background cannot 100% prevent those things. As a result, lack of background check cannot be a suitable reason for banning Uber.

Let’s consider about Londoners aspect. There are 3.5 million passengers using the Uber app in London. Since London cabs are extremely expensive, some customers will “have no choice but to either take public transport or walk”. Londoners have to spend more time and invest more money. When London Mayor trying to protect local taxis, citizens’ rights are eliminating at the same time.

In my opinion, Uber has more advantages than its shortages. There must be some reasons why this company successfully operates in more than 20 British cities and has a presence in 633 cities worldwide. For instance, In China, there is large amount of population; you may spend more than ten minutes there waiting for a taxi, even more than an hour in the midnight. Uber solved the issue and it offers us a more convenient life than before. Frankly speaking, despite the prices of Uber are usually cheaper and affordable than normal taxis; Uber Company provides more opportunities and jobs for the unemployed people.

Word count: 445

Reference：

Article：

https://blogs.ubc.ca/howardhsu/

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-41606965

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/police-slam-uber-over-sex-attack-drivers-6hnsf5xp8

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4786270/Uber-fails-report-48-sex-attacks-according-police.html

Photos:

https://cn.depositphotos.com/20402957/stock-illustration-london-cab.html

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/cool-uber-jana-kuner