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Comment by rikf | Hacker News Reader

As a London native for almost 10 years I cant tell you how many times I have been ripped off by black cab drivers taking longer routes then they could have. I also cant tell you how difficult it can be at certain times to find a taxi to take you home so people inevitably end up using unlicensed "mini cabs" to get home. This all because the licensing regulations are stuck in the stone age. Hopefully Uber will drag London kicking and screaming into the 21st century.

As a side note I also dont think there is anything stopping a London black cab driver from signing up for Uber.

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No, I don't think so either. But that doesn't mean they should. Firstly, they might like driving their black cab a lot more than Uber's cars. I'm a big, big fan of the hackney carriage for the way it's designed specifically for carrying 5 passengers in this context.

Perhaps it would be nice to see Uber using hackney carriages, I dunno. At any rate, I agree that Uber should be a force for good here in improving the licensing regulations.

Personally I've always had good experiences with black cab drivers, and many times they've given me a discount. But I've also found the same thing with Uber drivers.

Minicabs are usually licenses, look for the logo on the car. Can get them pretty much any high street. They are banned from picking up passengers on the street but a loophole is they hang outside of major clubs and you can ask the club for a taxi which they can then pick you up.

Or do you actually mean the unlicensed ones of people going around saying "oi, need a cab?"

> As a side note I also dont think there is anything stopping a London black cab driver from signing up for Uber.

Uber just today announced black cabs as an option in London. I'm not really sure what I feel about this, there is very little differentiation between Hailo and Uber now.

i've used addison lee whenever i struggle to find a cab (or know i'm going to have trouble find a cab). except for a couple of occasion where the mini cab driver has been a bit late, i've never felt i've had cab issues in london.

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