Apparently, if you have your UberCab driver pahk the cah at Hahvahd Yahd, the tip you pay for that service doesn’t all go to the Uber taxi driver. Deets below.
Is that kind of a setup illegal? I don’t know but we’ll find out soon enough.
Oh Uber Taxi, will you ever win?
Now when Uber drivers aren’t Ubering, they’re illegally picking up people off the street like the drivers of all these vehicles were trying to do on Sacramento last year:
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Uber Cab/
Uber Cab/
It IS your fault
All the deets:
“High-tech car service Uber faces more accusations
Lawsuit alleges labor law violations
BOSTON, Feb. 7, 2013 – A class-action lawsuit filed in US District Court last week alleges car service Uber Technologies Inc. is violating state law prohibiting employers from keeping tips earned by employees.
The suit, filed by a driver for Uber, is another strike against the upstart high-tech car service that has prompted legal and regulatory crackdowns in other cities.
“Uber’s practice of keeping a large portion of the drivers’ tips is both deceptive to the customers, who expect that the drivers get to keep the gratuities that they have given them, and blatantly in violation of Massachusetts law,” said Hillary Schwab of Lichten & Liss-Riordan, P.C., one of the lawyers for the plaintiffs.
The suit comes on the heels of similar action taken by drivers in Chicago and regulations for smartphone applications in the car service industry recently proposed by the International Association of Transportation Regulators. Those proposals, released in November, would curtail the use of GPS devices as a substitute for a taxi meter, prohibit drivers without proper licensing from offering rides for pay, and bar car services from charging extra during hours of peak demand. IATR said its intention was to “bring rogue applications into compliance.” The proposals would have to be adopted by local state and city regulators. New York City, meanwhile, has drafted even more stringent regulations.
Boston fleet owners have said that if smart phone applications in the car service industry are to become standard there still must be uniform rules regarding their use.
In the most recent case, a driver for Uber, David Lavitman, of Milton, alleges Uber kept his tips. He said customers are regularly assessed a 20 percent gratuity but that the company retains as much as half that amount. Lavitman’s suit is seeking class action status and says more than 40 drivers in Massachusetts who served customers beginning Dec. 10, 2012 could join the class. Damages could exceed $5 million, according to statements by the company.
All right, babe, try to pose like Abraham Lincoln – that’s it, sober, sober, c’mon give me a lot more sober, that’s it, hold it, hold it, CLICK:
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Oh what’s that, Gentle Reader? You’ve been to City Hall and you know for a fact that the wood inside the big chambers up on the second floor doesn’t actually glow IRL.? All right, well let’s tone that down, thusly:
How about a Lincoln hat? Here you go:
Now we’re going to lose the hat but go full desaturated. I think we’ve reached endgame:
A bit mottled – that’s the way they are sometimes – click to expand
Now let’s hear from Redd Rivett, who recorded some of these critters just the other day:
“These bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) were on the East side of the Golden Gate Bridge, next to Fort Point, in the cove. We get to see them in the summer and fall, when they come in to Ft Point cove for a while maybe twice a week or so. They live mostly along the outer coast to the south of us, all the way to Monterey Bay. Thanks Bill Keener of Golden Gate Cetacean Research for the info.”
Just as politics is the reason why the feds are about to spend a billion dollars on the oh-my-God-wouldn’t-we-be-better-off-without-it Central Subway, politics is the reason why it’s hard to get a taxi cab in San Francisco.
I mean, what kind of world do you want to live in – one where we have a lower number of higher-paid drivers or a larger number lower-paid drivers? (That’s a political question, of course.)
For whatever reason, it’s relatively easy to catch a cab at certain times and relatively hard at others. That’s the system we’ve had, that’s what’s been chosen.
And that means it’s awfully tempting for illegal cab drivers to hit the streets during the busier times.
As here, at the foot of California Street, right near the foot of Market, right in the Financial District in front of the Hyatt Regency Embarcadero. See? A quick price quote/negotiation convo and then she hopped in:
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Do you think this woman would have preferred to take her taxi ride in a taxi? Probably as it would have been much cheaper, but she didn’t really have all that much of a choice.
Do you think the SFPD generally knows what’s going on here. Sure, but they don’t really want to deal with this sitch.
Now, how about making money instead of spending it this coming New Years Eve? Simply rent a car and then drive it around all night taking people where they want to go. You’ll see thousands of people waving their arms around all over the City, so you’ll have no problem finding customers. Be sure to quote an outrageous amount when they ask you, “How much?”
As long as you don’t get in an accident, and don’t get pulled over by the police, and don’t run into a few other hazards I can think of, you should be good to go. (But if the cops figure out what you’re doing and they’re motivated to throw the book at you for not having permits and stickers on the outside of your car and whole bunch of other stuff, then you’ll be in trouble with a capital “T.” That’s just one reason why I don’t recommend you to do anything like this.)
See? A MINI Cooper car, the choice of zigzagging reckless drivers the world over, struck this southbound facing Lincoln Continental the other day.
So yes, the MINI did manage to push the Lincoln up onto the sidewalk, but it was rendered completely undrivable. Or at least that was the way it appeared based upon the number of halfshafts and whatnot you could see all swept up into a neat little pile near the crosswalk:
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OTOH, the Lincoln looked like it could be driven home. Hurray!
Hey, did the SFMTA know what it was doing when it allowed cars to park, I think it started last year, on southbound Masonic at Fell?
Now, if you want to completely ignore flight crew that’s your choice, but it might be tough to fly. And when the Captain asks you to leave, it’s time to leave. Otherwise you’re going to get arrested for trespassing. And if you injure the cops taking you off your flight, well, you’re just making things worse for yourself.
Don’t be “reverent” and “respectful” – it’s not necessary. Just make the effort to pretend to listen flight crew and you’ll be fine. (And, oh yes, if you want to say “sir,” say it once at the beginning of the exchange. Don’t use it as a crutch word, just saying.)
Honest.
Anyway, if you want to call this thing “pilot error,” well then be my guest but you’re wrong.
“Deshon Marman, 20, a defensive player for the University of New Mexico and graduate of Lincoln High in San Francisco, was arrested and removed from US Airways flight 488 Wednesday after police said he ignored an airline employee’s request to pull up sweatpants that exposed his underwear below the buttocks.”
“Deshon Marman, 20, a defensive player for the University of New Mexico and graduate of Lincoln High in San Francisco, was arrested and removed from US Airways flight 488 Wednesday after police said he ignored an airline employee’s request to pull up sweatpants that exposed his underwear below the buttocks.”
