Violent treatment at a roadblock outside Paris makes an Eventbrite executive a bigger fan of the very Uber car service taxi drivers were trying to protest. January 13, 2014 6:28 AM PST This photo from Uber passenger and Eventbrite CTO Renaud Visage shows the tire that was slashed in his Uber car on January 13 during a taxi protest outside Paris. (Credit: Renaud Visage) PARIS -- Taxi drivers protesting new competition from companies like Uber and a new tax undermined their own cause with a Monday attack on an Uber car outside Paris, according to Renaud Visage, one of the passengers. "Attacking cars blindly is not smart. It's not a good PR move," said Visage, who is the chief technology officer of Eventbrite, in an interview with CNET a few hours after the attack. And the next time he's returning from the Paris airport to his home, he'll take an Uber car, not a taxi, he said. "It was pretty intense," Visage said of the attack. Things could have been worse, though, he said: some passengers in other cars were forced out of their cars onto the side of the road. Eventbrite CTO Renaud Visage (Credit: Eventbrite) The attackers broke a window and slashed a tire of the Uber car, he and fellow traveler Kat Borlongan said. The glass from the window cut both their hands, he said. The attack came during a taxi driver protest new taxes and against car services such as Uber, LeCab, SnapCar, and AlloCab, that let people flag cars promptly with smartphone apps. The taxi lobby won a major victory in December, though, with a rule that rule starting January 1 that requires a minimum 15-minute wait before an Uber-like service can actually pick up a passenger. Visage said about seven people attacked the Uber car at a roadblock taxi drivers had set up near Charles de Gaulle airport on the entrance to the highway to Paris, he said, squeezing four lanes of traffic down to one. "I think they'd done that to filter the traffic and target particular vehicles," he said. A January 13 attack on this Uber car shattered a rear window. Passengers Renaud Visage and Kat Borlongan said they their hands on the resulting shards of glass. (Credit: Renaud Visage) Related stories Taxi dispute gets physical in France with attack on Uber car UberX cuts fares by more than 15 percent in top US cities Uber bans driver suspected of vehicular manslaughter Uber warns users of New Year's Eve surge pricing Get ready for Uber to hit overdrive with delivery biz "When everything happened, our driver stayed calm. He managed to go through everything without breaking down. It must have been even more stressful for him than us," Visage said. "He managed to drive through it. He had to pull over to change the tire." The pair had taken Uber because they couldn't get an ordinary taxi during the strike, he said. The driver offered "very good service" even before the attack, tracking them down by phone and in the terminal. And after the attack, Uber's general manager sent a text message offering an apology for what happened. That favorable opinion stands in stark contrast to the appearance the Parisian taxi drivers showed Monday. "I know there are issues about how much it costs to become a taxi driver, and they want to protect themselves, but this is not the way to go," Visage said. Paris is a major tourist destination, and "it gives a very bad image for Paris and france and for Paris."
Violent treatment at a roadblock outside Paris makes an Eventbrite executive a bigger fan of the very Uber car service taxi drivers were trying to protest.
This photo from Uber passenger and Eventbrite CTO Renaud Visage shows the tire that was slashed in his Uber car on January 13 during a taxi protest outside Paris.
(Credit: Renaud Visage)
PARIS -- Taxi drivers protesting new competition from companies like Uber and a new tax undermined their own cause with a Monday attack on an Uber car outside Paris, according to Renaud Visage, one of the passengers.
"Attacking cars blindly is not smart. It's not a good PR move," said Visage, who is the chief technology officer of Eventbrite, in an interview with CNET a few hours after the attack. And the next time he's returning from the Paris airport to his home, he'll take an Uber car, not a taxi, he said.
"It was pretty intense," Visage said of the attack. Things could have been worse, though, he said: some passengers in other cars were forced out of their cars onto the side of the road.
Eventbrite CTO Renaud Visage
(Credit: Eventbrite)
The attackers broke a window and slashed a tire of the Uber car, he and fellow traveler Kat Borlongan said. The glass from the window cut both their hands, he said.
The attack came during a taxi driver protest new taxes and against car services such as Uber, LeCab, SnapCar, and AlloCab, that let people flag cars promptly with smartphone apps. The taxi lobby won a major victory in December, though, with a rule that rule starting January 1 that requires a minimum 15-minute wait before an Uber-like service can actually pick up a passenger.
Visage said about seven people attacked the Uber car at a roadblock taxi drivers had set up near Charles de Gaulle airport on the entrance to the highway to Paris, he said, squeezing four lanes of traffic down to one. "I think they'd done that to filter the traffic and target particular vehicles," he said.
A January 13 attack on this Uber car shattered a rear window. Passengers Renaud Visage and Kat Borlongan said they their hands on the resulting shards of glass.
(Credit: Renaud Visage)
Related stories
- Taxi dispute gets physical in France with attack on Uber car
- UberX cuts fares by more than 15 percent in top US cities
- Uber bans driver suspected of vehicular manslaughter
- Uber warns users of New Year's Eve surge pricing
- Get ready for Uber to hit overdrive with delivery biz
"When everything happened, our driver stayed calm. He managed to go through everything without breaking down. It must have been even more stressful for him than us," Visage said. "He managed to drive through it. He had to pull over to change the tire."
The pair had taken Uber because they couldn't get an ordinary taxi during the strike, he said. The driver offered "very good service" even before the attack, tracking them down by phone and in the terminal. And after the attack, Uber's general manager sent a text message offering an apology for what happened.
That favorable opinion stands in stark contrast to the appearance the Parisian taxi drivers showed Monday.
"I know there are issues about how much it costs to become a taxi driver, and they want to protect themselves, but this is not the way to go," Visage said. Paris is a major tourist destination, and "it gives a very bad image for Paris and france and for Paris."
