Around 2pm on Thursday the 28th of August I got about 3 missed calls from an unknown number, on the fourth call I picked up and it was someone calling from Uber London apparently using their personal mobile to inform me of an announcement that will be made later on this evening that will affect UberX drivers. They requested for me not to share anything we spoke about before the announcement is made and the call was to make me understand the logic behind the decision.

I don’t really know why they called, but assumed that all drivers had been called. Immediately after the call I checked with a few friends if they had received a call but nothing. This made me doubt if the call was genuine or not, but I posted a tweet to see if anyone else had got a call and then patiently waited for the announcement to be made.

By now everyone knows what the announcement was and there’s been a mixed responses from UberX drivers and other Uber Drivers, although mainly negative. Just as predicted by @UberDriverClub on twitter few weeks ago. Uber just as they did in other countries has decided to drop their prices.

On my telephone conversation with the Uber representative I was assured that their new prices for UberX would increase demand, fill in the gaps between jobs and increase work on quiet weekdays. Also the other positive they tried to spin is that the they will stop rounding down fairs which will mean each trip would now get calculated to the exact pence instead of the lowest pound. For example before if a trip cost £6.99, then the customer would pay only £6, but now it will be the full £6.99. He also tried to justify the price drop by saying that it’s been effective in the US and Paris, to which I told him “this is the UK and we won’t fall for it as easy.”

Uber Drivers on Twitter and I made a lot of points through our tweets, I’ve tried to go through them and work out pro’s and con’s of this price decrease.

Only UberX Drivers face 15% price drop.

Uber X drivers make up the majority on the Uber London platform. They not only play a part in making Uber what they are today but also accept the lowest minicab fairs in London. Yes I agree they may not all be great and rely on sat navs but nonetheless the majoriity get the job done without any complaints. So, why oh why Uber London would you thank the drivers that made you by forcing them to take a pay cut?

Is it because you have so many drivers now you can afford to lose the odd few who will leave due to the price drop? Many drivers have made the commitment on hiring, financing and leasing cars which they can’t just stop paying, so they’re in too deep to leave.

I agree with @UberDriversClub that we as UberX drivers have helped build a beast that we cannot control. I don’t believe the crap Uber_LDN are trying to feed us about the rise in demand due to price drop and the rest of the smoke mirrors.

The negatives of the price drop for me supersede the positives.

P+: It will fill in gaps between jobs; helping UberX drivers get more jobs and less gaps.

N-: This to me means more miles on my car, more petrol, more unpaid waiting time, more unpaid cancellations, higher risk of accidents and possibly risk of more PCN’s (especially as Uber Riders don’t think before they drop that pin on a pick up address where a driver cannot stop)

Also the Uber Exec drivers who believe this idea will work and justify it by saying they already accept less then the competitors. Well, the Uber X driver also already accept less than the competition and I doubt Uber Exec would feel the same way if their prices were dropped. I feel it will happen to them as well very soon.

P+: It worked in the US and Paris, the demand went up.

N-: Firstly I haven’t seen the stats, nor were they offered to UberX drivers before the decision and on top of all this is the UK, we are not the US and we certainly don’t agree with all things Europe.

P+: We won’t round down the fares any more.

N-: Gee thanks for the extra few pennies when you’ve cut down pounds on the fairs as a whole. It reminds me of working in retail and getting extra 3p per hour pay rise, I ripped that letter threw it on my managers face and told him keep the 3p as charity for himself.

P+: More work on weekdays?

N-: Many drivers take weekdays off and it almost feels as though we are being told you must work weekdays too now to make enough money.

P+: You overall after costs will remain the same

N-: I found this reason a little insulting; they don’t know what the cost is for each driver. Cars cost all different prices and insurances vary. My cost overall cost is affected and the only way to balance it out is by doing more hours, so no it won’t be the same.

How it will affect Uber Drivers as a whole

Loyalty from Uber X drivers will certainly drop. This will result in careless drivers who won’t feel privileged to be a part of a modern company, which at first showed promising signs of improvements to the PH industry.

We have come to the realisation that with all the negatives of a regular PH operator reduced by the so-called positives of a human less dispatch system makes no difference when the reality is that the greed takes over.

Any sane, reasonable and quality drivers who are on UberX will in time fade away, leaving Uber London with the desperate and low quality drivers. Even your rating system won’t matter as you can’t start kicking out all your drivers, especially when the number of drivers will decrease.

For Uber Exec drivers, I think the demand will drop although it is true that when Uber X surges many riders opt for the Uber Exec service, so it may balance out. But how long until the Uber Exec prices are also dropped?

How will the price drop effect passenger / riders?

As an Uber London Passenger/Rider the price drop may seem like a good thing. Yes it may cost you less, but when Uber X drivers start to leave and the demand goes up; you will face more surge prices. If you’re someone who already complains about the quality of Uber X drivers, then be prepared to have more and more low quality drivers as the good drivers leave.

On the long run once they’ve got you signed up and hooked, Uber could easily increase their prices as they wipe out the competition.

Why not take share the price drop by reducing driver commission?

This is one of the fairest points made by Uber X drivers, if as a business Uber London was keen to make a difference for their customers by doing a price drop then why didn’t they drop their driver commission to make it a balanced deal. Drivers are the biggest losers here and they are the ones who are in direct contact with the passengers and drivers love to talk and will make passengers aware of the unfair deal and its effects.

To drivers Uber London has made it clear that it’s more about the money then both driver or passengers.

Unfair meeting to discuss price drop

I laughed at the guy who called me from Uber when he told me that I could attend their meeting to discuss the price drop on Friday at 3pm. I told him it was very sneaky of them to have set a meeting on a Friday at 3pm when drivers will be hungrier to go out and work then attend their meeting. He chuckled back and claimed that apparently 3pm was the quietest time on a Friday. Which is BS, considering they didn’t ask their so-called “partners” (Uber Drivers) to attend a meeting before any decision was made. An insult to injury more like, offering a 1 hour window to discuss the matter after the decisions been made and gone in to play.

Strategic promises of rising demands

Once again the promises of demand for Uber X to go up from the price drop is another trick, as we all know that the statistics will show a rise in demand as generally demand for minicabs goes up after the quiet summer holiday period. So their promises of proving their decisions of dropping the price will be justified by next months statistics is another bunch of lies.

How it will affect other PH Operators and Black Cabs?

In our panic and distress through the news of this price drop decision, we as Uber X drivers may feel that other operators, drivers and black cab drivers are gloating at our loss. But the reality is many are pointing out what they have already predicted.

Simple truth is they do have a point, even the bitter black cab drivers who I feel do have a point to be bitter but should also embrace technology and accept that PH will always be here and the Black Cab trade will always be here, both are needed in London. One will never take over the other, or so I hope not.

The effects of this price drop will be bad for both PH and Black Taxi trade as it’s an attempt to take away business from everyone else. Uber is trying to become a monopoly in this trade but I really think we as Londoner’s can smack them back to reality and show them that we will not let them.

I am all for technology and improvements to the industry. I also feel that the PH trade and Black Taxi trade as a whole should have taken steps to make sure they keep up with the times; this would have made it harder for Uber to muscle in so easily.

What do we do from here?

No matter how deep we are in, I think we should definitely make a fuss. Uber London will continue to pretend to listen, but if we all show unity and make complaints to the right places then they won’t be able to force us in to unfair working conditions. Start by having your say by emailing transportcommittee@london.gov.uk. (More information on the “How can Taxi and Private Hire services better meet the needs of London passengers?” – https://www.london.gov.uk/mayor-assembly/london-assembly/investigations/taxi-and-private-hire-services-in-london)

We can boycott, but I don’t think enough of us will as we need to earn a living and finding another job or joining a different operator isn’t as easy as said.

I also like the idea of starting a PH Union, but I don’t think many PH drivers will commit, or actually understand the power of having a Union. Most cannot see the larger picture.

Personally I will continue working through to next week to see what difference the price drop makes. I will post my earning for this weekend compared to the previous.

If anyone can think of other ways to combat this issue, please leave a comment below.

Uber you are guilty of disloyalty to your “partners”

It’s clear that this is all about money and making sure your investors get the best returns possible. If I was Uber I would have increased the prices by 10-15% but instead of just giving this extra amount to your drivers, you could have put it aside and offered a compulsory route learning class of some sort which would have improved the quality of all your drivers. This would have made your drivers better than the competition, maybe no way near as good as Black Taxi and the Knowledge of London but it would show Uber as being a forward thinking company looking at fair ways to level up and beat the competition. Right now Uber is trying to kill its competition off in an aggressive way, which will in the long run bite back. Up to now your promo code bribes have worked, but once you’re left with all the rubbish drivers and customers get more and more annoyed, they won’t hesitate to spend the extra amount to use a different operator or black cab. I sure don’t want to be the Tesco Value of the PH industry, so I suggest Uber rethinks their business model in London.