Uber blocked in Germany

[Dave A]

Company could face €250,000 fine per ride after Taxi Deutschland sues app-makers for violating transport laws.

The online car-sharing service Uber has vowed to continue operating across Germany after its mobile app was banned by a Frankfurt regional court.

The ruling that the app violates the country's Passenger Transportation Act applies nationwide, according to legal experts. The temporary ban remains in place until a full hearing takes place, and Uber could face a €250,000 (£198,000) fine per ride.
full story here

A sobering reminder that as interesting and disruptive as the internet is, it still has to function in a real world, with all the real world challenges that poses.

[BusFact]

Its quite possibly a one point of view article, but they do seem to have a point. If you're providing a taxi service which is real world, you have to follow local real world regulations, especially when it comes to safety.

Perhaps their argument is they don't provide the actual taxi, only put you in contact with the nearest one. In which case it seems logical to me that the individual drivers would then be responsible for this real world requirement.

Will be interesting to see what comes of it.

[Houses4Rent]

I did not read the article, but I know that not just anybody with the right license can drive a taxi in Germany. They have to do a lot of tests to know the town by heart and be able to select the direct and quickest route. Imagine to be that a 2 Mio town like Hamburg.... That was still in the days when there were no GPS. I always have to laugh when a hear in RSA that a taxi driver got lost or asked for directions how to get to pick up a client etc. Unheard of in Germany, at least when I left 20 years ago. I get pretty annoyed when I expect a delivery and someone calls to ask for directions. Really, any simple cell has a GPS... And a courier company which doe snot equip its vehicles with a GPS is plain stupid in my mind as the lost time while cruising in circles to find an address/getting lost will pay for a GPS in no time.