Comedian Russel Brand takes on Uber is a recent video tirade (Image: YouTube)
In London, taxi drivers are not rioting and burning Uber cars like we’ve recently seen in Paris.
Instead, they are enlisting the likes comedian Russell Brand who sides with London’s black cabs in an 8-minute video that’s making the rounds in social media this week. If you are time pressed, the tirade begins in the video above at about 1:50.
So far, a shorter (2 min) video has clocked over 1.5 million views on Brand’s Facebook page.
In the video, Brand says thing like: “Uber is a multi-billion dollar corporation, part-owned by Goldman Sachs, part-owned by Google, that skims off all its profit and puts it into foreign bank accounts.”
He also claims that using Uber means that, “more money is being siphoned out of our country. If you get a black cab that money stays in our country, stays in our economy. That’s one clear advantage.”
Brand is riding on a wave of discontent with Uber since its surge pricing model tripled fares last week during London’s tube strike.
Deal: Get $20 off your first Uber ride
Nonetheless, Uber continues to make big gains in the UK– here’s a list of fares between Heathrow and London:
Uber’s flat rates between Heathrow and London
London black cab rates run higher- here’s what the Transport for London page says:
I most often use the fast and easy Heathrow Express between London and Heathrow (about $33 each way), but end up having to jump in a cab and suffer through London traffic on the way to my hotel or appointment.
What about you? Have you or would you use Uber in London?
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Sometimes it isn’t (entirely) about cost! At present Uber offers two significant advantages over conventional taxis – in the U.S., at the very least:
1) No-hassle transaction. Several times this year I’ve had tight trips to the airport where the time saved not waiting to complete a transaction with the driver (whether cash or credit) made the difference between making the boarding deadline or not. Here too, credit card transactions with taxi drivers are still often an exercise in patience and/or frustration.
2) Clean, comfortable vehicle. Whether this remains an advantage for Uber is to be seen, but for now most U.S. cabs are rolling dumpsters/prison cells compared to Uber vehicles. While we’re at it, Uber vehicles haven’t (yet) been besieged by TV monitors blaring advertisements either.
The Uber business model gives me pause, but until the taxi industry can rise to the challenge and improve its basic product and processes Uber will likely get my business whenever there is a choice.
Everyone should be held to the same regulations and rates.
Maybe I’m just a transit nerd, but seriously, £35 return fare on the Heathrow Express, and then a few pounds more on the Tube totally gets you where you need to go… That’s hard to beat.
The Tube is what it is, but the HE is *fast* if your destination is reasonably near Paddington.
Uber employees are paid to order and cancel thousands of Lyft rides and will ultimately put them out of business. Once Uber kills the taxi industry in my city (SF) , they will price gouge forever as they did in Sydney when people were fleeing for their lives from the crazy gunman.
RUSSELL BRAND he is a rich liberal fruit loop nut case and probably hides his $$$ from taxes in UK and US DAAAA
“[M]ore money is being siphoned out of our country. If you get a black cab
that money stays in our country, stays in our economy. That’s one clear
advantage.”
But by that argument, I should just stay home and not travel as a tourist to the United Kingdom. Shouldn’t I keep my money in the U.S. so it stays in the U.S. economy?
Uber is doing to cab companies what the Internet did to travel agents. If another company comes along and fairly offers a cheaper product (with fairness being a key requirement), then all I can say to you is “tough toenails.” This is exactly how the free market works and how wealth is generated. If Uber is doing something illegal or unfair, then that’s wrong. But if not, I think the cab drivers should start thinking about becoming Uber drivers.
Anyway, I avoid both cabs and the Tube in London. I use two handy things at the end of my ankles.