Uber Plays Stupid in Tampa Bay

Uber Plays Stupid in Tampa court hearing. "we don't use taxi meters, we just use "stupid" phones, which computes distance, time and price somewhere on servers in California and that's how drivers get paid and customers get charged" ..................IS THIS FOR REAL?  ..........DO UBER THINK, THAT PEOPLE IN FLORIDA ARE STUPID?

picture by techcrunch.com

Uber-and-Ptc-square-off-before-hearing-officer-over-tickets

"...............Much of Monday's hearing centered around determining if a smartphone app can be considered a meter. If so, regulators argued Uber's drivers are operating in the same fashion as cab drivers, and thus subject to the same rules. But Uber representative Matthew Gore, general manager in Florida, said the rate is calculated by an algorithm on the their servers in California, not in the app.

"The vehicles are not taxicabs, and there is no meter installed," Gore said after Monday's hearing. "It's a new category of service that the regulators never wrote into their laws."............"

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Taxi Driving in Downtown St Petersburg, FL

picture by TampaBay.com

St Petersburg's thriving bar scene fuels cabbie wars

By Claire Wiseman,  Tampa Bay Times

It's a warm Friday night, a few minutes after 8, and Douglas Osterman-Burgess is maneuvering his cab around Red Mesa Cantina. He pulls up out front, on Third Street N, where a red and white sign says "Taxi Stand."

"Look at this," he exclaims. "I've been asking for this!"

The spot looks unremarkable but for him represents a victory. He says he has been "agitating" for this kind of change for three years. With extended bar hours and the ever-increasing lure of downtown, the city's entertainment district has turned into a taxicab battleground.

As patrons spill out at closing time, those who need a ride home might have to wait 45 minutes for a cab. Despite the demand, fights for fares often erupt.

"It gets very competitive," said St. Petersburg police Lt. Gary Dukeman, who oversees the downtown entertainment district at night.

Osterman-Burgess, 55, deals with it in part by reporting his fellow cabbies if they don't follow the rules.

From the driver's seat of his white and orange van, he sips from his 7-Eleven Big Gulp and points out the many ways cabbies break the rules. They don't bother to register. They steal fares. They park illegally.

"There are rules, people," he says. "If you don't like the rules, fight to get them changed.

The city extended bar hours until 3 a.m. in 2010, setting off an expansion of the downtown bar and club scene.

The city doesn't have taxi records back to that year, but in 2011, 573 taxicabs were registered to pick up and drop off within the city. So far this year, 549 have registered.

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Tampa Taxi Drivers real life

For Hillsborough taxi drivers, long hours — and a dream of independence


TAMPA — For hours under the sun in a lot near Tampa International Airport, a harsh course in economics plays out.

Dozens of taxicabs snake into a queue. Men shout and engines start. The line barely budges.

Rene Jeune is up front now, having waited two hours for one customer. Farther back, Jean Bourdeau watches birds fight. He has just $25 in his pocket for five hours of work.....................