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Comment by elliekelly | Hacker News Reader

When I was in Colombia every time I took an Uber the driver asked me to sit in the front seat. I thought it was a bit odd but figured it was a local thing. It wasn’t until my way to the airport that my last Uber driver told me the app was illegal in the country so they ask passengers to sit up front to look like they’re just driving a friend.

It really ticked me off that Uber let me open the app and order a car, knowing full well I would be breaking the law, and gave me no warning or indication of the risk I would be taking whatsoever. As a young woman with only the most basic of Spanish skills traveling alone, breaking Colombian law isn’t a risk I would have been willing to take.

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Hmm; not sure about legality aspect, but in many places where Uber is perfectly legal and common, the drivers have nevertheless asked me to sit in front due to fear of violent reaction by Taxi drivers.

In the city I'm currently in, Taxi drivers and unions have used various means to create political pressure - from peaceful protests; to aggressive protests; to attacking Uber drivers; to attacking their offices (they also apply the same tactics between each other when a different taxi company wins an airport license, etc.

(Oh, the city is Ottawa, the capital of Canada).

Note as well, Uber was "illegal", in the sense that there's no framework or license under which it operates, pretty much everywhere it started, and in many popular places still is. It entrenches, and then fights to become legal. You probably used Uber "illegally" (as in, operating outside of framework of existing law and regulation framework) before, without being so explicitly told or aware.

(and while this is not a message likely to be received well, and I genuinely mean it with best of intents - if you are a person with limited local language skills or awareness traveling alone, and if you are not willing to take risks, this is a good lesson to do research before landing. Much of the world is NOT equally tourist friendly, and nowhere is Ignorance of Law a permissible defense :( )

Same thing in Chile. Some drivers even make sure all the passengers agree on a story to tell the cops if they stop you.

Unlike Colombia, it's not dangerous for passengers -- at least the law-breaking aspect isn't. What's dangerous is how everyone drives. Also, it's a gamble whether you'll get a normal, sane driver, or someone weird or downright crazy. But that's not limited to Uber, you can get crazy cabbies too.

I think the worst experience I had there -- before Uber, this was a taxi driver -- was a guy who: 1) was speeding so much, regardless of potholes, I thought my teeth would fall out; 2) stopped to take a piss in the middle of the ride, without pausing the meter; 3) ended up confessing he wasn't sure where my address was, so I asked him to let me off a few blocks from my place.

Is there a moral to this story? Not really, I just thought I would share something funny ;)

I don't believe there are laws against taking it in Colombia. The law seems to be against driving one and the consequence for the driver is getting the car confiscated and having to pay a fine and losing their license if caught multiple times. Uber is liable for providing the platform for this unauthorized service.

Uber isn't the only black market ride-hailing app that's been competing at scale in Colombia either. There's also Didi Chuxing and some others. However, I don't understand how the legal department in a company like Uber permits such a brazen disregard of local laws. Yes, this is a case of regulatory capture and there is hardly any subtlety in the way the Transportation Minister has worked to maintain a monopoly on legal taxi services for Taxis Libres, but I don't understand how you just ignore the fact that your service in entire countries is illegal when you are a large multinational publicly traded company.

US tech firms are often happy to ignore local laws because they kinda have the backing of the US government, and they also have the option of just withdrawing from the country.

For example, most US firms abroad give their receptionists a button to press when a police raid is happening. Pressing the button triggers all computers to lock and credentials of all local employees to be disabled, and someone from the US is needed to unlock them. The whole thing is to prevent local police raids getting anything except whatever legal decides they can have.

Similar experience here. It wasn't as much as a problem in Bogotá as it was in the more touristy Cartagena or Medellín.

Cartagena was the worst with Ubers. I hailed an Uber in a touristy area, and immediately my driver messaged me (in Spanish of course) to get in the front seat, and if anyone asked, he's my friend. Once the Uber arrived, a taxista saw me get in the Uber and started yelling "es un Uber!" and my driver looked over at me and yelled at me to hurry up, before speeding away.

That seems like a pretty clear violation of local laws. I'm not saying I'm in support of the law (quite the opposite, actually, let the competition rise, even if it's something I dislike e.g. Uber) but it's kind of scummy to just let users take the heat. It should be easy enough for them to block the app via geolocation or at least issue warnings when you open it in Colombia.

You aren't breaking any law by sitting in an Uber, since it isn't your responsibility to make sure that they are following regulations. At worst the company will get fined or the driver will get their license suspended.

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