Uber?

well, that company has been banned from working in several places in Europe and elsewhere on safety issues.

Their drivers are not employees and there have been questions about their knowledge and insurance. They are a very well funded corporation which tends to sail very close or over the legal/illegal line.

Just because they are big doesn't mean that they are legal. Something like airbnb which is also illegal in Paris, but still big.

In major cities like London , Paris , or New York there exist regulatory procedures and driver licensing requirements that are in place to protect the consumer . They may not always be perfect , but they do work to a great degree . Under the guise of " freedom " or " sharing " , operations like Uber are essentially wild west operations where any thing is permissible , usually claiming that they are reliable by " self - regulating " . Everyone makes their own choices as to with what they are comfortable , but unregulated operations like Uber and others are , in my opinion , corrosive to the fabric of a civil society . I wouldn't engage Uber's services on both a practical ( as stated above ) and a principled issue .

Taxi's in Paris, at least, work very well. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

LWS,

I wouldn't use Uber at any time as I don't agree with the concept.

As Nigel mentioned, Uber has been getting a "rough ride" from authorities in several jurisdictions. They've made some noise about starting operations here in B.C. but the government has said that's absolutely NOT going to happen. Some of the reasons include the fact that drivers may not hold the proper license for transporting passengers, they're not licensed or insured for that function by the Motor Carrier commission, etc. They've been told that if they try to set up shop, undercover police will be booking rides and Uber drivers will be fined and could lose their driver's license. If an Uber vehicle is involved in an accident, the passenger may not be covered by insurance.

Paris has an excellent transit system and as someone else mentioned there are lots of "proper" Taxi's available.

This from today's NYT: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/02/22/uber-drivers-face-fines-in-paris/

The article is interesting reading. Here is my takeaway, which tells us why taxi's in Paris seem to work pretty well:

"..an 80-person police unit that patrols Paris looking for illegal taxi operators"

With support like that encouraging clean operations, they are way ahead of Uber, and relative customer loyalty, if only to the concept, will be high for the taxi's.

Well, in SF one can find Uber doing their business. I discriminate, I never use Uber and would never make such a suggestion to anyone in SF. I am glad they are banned in Germany. It should be likewise in SF.

With very good public transport (www.ratp.fr) all over Paris, and for day trips outside the city, I rarely have needed a taxi, but when I do, I choose a licensed, marked taxi from a taxi stand.