by News Desk | Oct 31, 2014 | World News
After seeing the failure of his North America investment in Hailo and still wanting to be involved in the people transportation business, Sir Richard Branson, has invested a small fortune in a San Francisco based ride-sharing service “Sidecar”.
Sidecar has announced the $15m funding injection will help them roll-out of the service nationwide. The ride share service allegedly allows users of a smartphone application to share car journeys.
Technology website ZDNet has reported Branson as saying:
“Technology has turned transportation on its head, it’s fundamentally changing the way we get around. We don’t need to own cars; services like Sidecar can get us around town. Sidecar is developing an everyday travel solution that sits side-by-side with public transit.”
While Branson has been seen to be a massive anti-piracy campaigner in the music business, most people in the Taxi industry would consider sidecar to be no more than a pirate car service.
by News Desk | Oct 31, 2014 | UK News
Anthony Clarke helping disabled passenger Julie Carnelley in to his taxi in Upper Parliament Street.
THE city council has apologised after a cabbie was given a parking ticket while he helped a woman in a wheelchair into his taxi.
Julie Carnelley said she was “gobsmacked” when the attendant pounced as the driver was helping her into his cab outside Jobcentre Plus in Upper Parliament Street, where she works as a clerical officer.
The 46-year-old mother has multiple sclerosis and uses a taxi to take her to and from work every day. She has been picked up from the same spot for the past two years and while it does require the driver to wait on double yellow lines, she says it is the first time a ticket has been issued.
After being contacted by the Post, the city council agreed to scrap the fine for taxi firm NG11 Cars and apologised.
Ms Carnelley, of Brinkhill Crescent, Clifton said: “As the driver was coming to fetch me, there was the traffic warden writing the ticket – even though he could see me being escorted to the car.
“Traffic wardens have enquired before and the drivers tell them they are waiting to pick up a disabled passenger. It was wrong so I’m really glad the Post stepped in.”
Drivers are not permitted to park on double yellow lines without a blue badge.
However, vehicles are permitted to stop for five minutes to pick up or drop off a passenger, and commercial vehicles
can load and unload.
The cab arrived at 2.57pm on Tuesday to pick up Ms Carnelley outside the front doors of her office. When Ms Carnelley left the building at 3pm, taxi driver Anthony Clarke got out of his car to prepare the disabled ramp at the back of the vehicle.
And at 3.04pm – as she was being lifted into the car – the traffic warden issued the ticket.
Ms Carnelley added: “It was unbelievable; I came out of work to see a traffic warden waiting. I was gobsmacked.”
Mr Clarke, 57, of Holbrook Court, Clifton, added: “He could see I had a disabled person in my car. I took the ticket off and said ‘this is ridiculous’ but he had walked off by then.”
Rob Foster, co-owner of NG11 Cars in Clifton, said: “I can understand if it had been there for half-an-hour. If they’re doing this, then who else are they giving tickets to?”
Pete Mitchell, head of licensing, permits and regulations at the city council, said: “We’re sorry this ticket was issued and cancelled it as soon as it was brought to our attention.
“The traffic warden should have used discretion when it became apparent the driver was helping a disabled passenger into his taxi, and given him more than the five minutes we normally allow.
“We’d like to apologise to NG11 Cars and Ms Carnelley. Steps will be taken to make sure this is not repeated.”
Source: Nottingham Post
by News Desk | Oct 29, 2014 | World News
Uber will stop at nothing to win. Even, apparently, manipulating the press.
With a valuation approaching $20 billion and more than $1.5 billion of VC to deliver a return on, Uber’s got a lot to prove. And there’s no shortage of obstacles, coming in the form of well-funded startup competitors nipping at its heels, global regulators and taxi and limousine commissions looking to shut it down at every turn, and the nasty habit of its driver “partners” spending as nearly much time protesting the company’s wages and assaulting passengers as they do actually delivering futuristic transportation.
So it’s little surprise that Uber badly wants to spread good news wherever possible. But the company crossed a major ethical line earlier this week, according to an article published this morning by LA Weekly, which claims that an Uber PR representative attempted to trick the publication into publishing what amounted to an advertorial or press release, carefully masked as a citizen-submitted op-ed.
According to the LA Weekly’s Sarah Fenske, the day after her publication ran “a first-person essay critical of Uber” it received a follow-up article, submitted by a stranger, with the headline “Confessions of a Former L.A. Taxi Driver.” Not surprisingly, the piece heavily praised Uber. One excerpt reads:
I’ve driven a lot of things for a lot of different people throughout my career: taxis, limos, and even 18-wheel trucks. But now, I drive for myself, with Uber. I get to be my own boss. I make my own hours. My car is my small business, and I am free to run it as I see fit.
The article was supposedly bylined by a former taxi driver named Cabdi Xuseen, but as Fenske explains, the email to LA Weekly came from another individual, “someone with the improbable name of Tawny Valentine.” The email read, “This piece is exclusive to the L.A. Weekly and we hope that you would consider placing it.”
Skeptical of the article’s origins, LA Weekly replied to Valentine, asking her relationship to Xuseen, the supposed former driver. Rather than answering directly, Valentine simply explained that Xuseen had seen the original story critical of Uber and “wanted to author a response,” offering his cell phone as confirmation.
Apparently they forgot to rehearse the next part.
When LA Weekly’s editorial assistant reached Xuseen by phone, he revealed that he’d never actually read the article submitted under his name.
Fishy.
It turns out that the content of the submission was, in fact, Xuseen’s life story. But it was a highly stylized one written by Uber’s PR team in an effort at damage control.
It was only after being confronted a second time by LA Weekly that Valentine revealed her actual employer: “We work with Uber,” she wrote. No, “sorry we tried to scam you.” No, “we’d like to offer an official comment refuting the claims of your earlier article.” Valentine was utterly unapologetic that her communication up until that point amounted to, effectively, “Hi, you don’t know me, but I’m just a guy who drives for Uber. I like it a lot. Please share my story.”
So to reiterate, the first email offering the op-ed for publishing made no mention of any relationship with Uber. Valentine then failed to clarify her relationship to the company, or in turn to Xuseen, during the initial email exchange. It was only after Xuseen revealed that he didn’t personally write the article that she came clean.
As Fenske puts it:
Uber saw our first-person essay from a disgruntled driver, which was published at 7 a.m. on Monday. By 12:47 p.m. Tuesday, Uber’s PR team had already tracked down a top-rated driver, interviewed him and turned his life story in a neatly phrased 520 word essay, offered exclusively to this newspaper.
Damn they’re good!
Uber is an impressive company. The massive global operation that it’s built in a relatively short time is nothing short of unprecedented. And if the company were run with a shred of humility and integrity, it could be one of the greatest companies that Silicon Valley has ever produced. Sadly, as elite as Uber’s valuation may be, its behavior continues to be equally abhorrent.
Recall this is the same company that declined responsibility for the death of a 6-year-old girl at the hands of one of its drivers, showing no empathy or remorse in the process. It’s the same company whose CEO casually refers to it a Boob-er for the impact is has on his sex life. It’s the same company that recently saw a regional office publish a promotion likening female drivers to call girls.
Next to these offenses, trying to hoodwink the LA Weekly is a minor infraction. But the arrogance and ethical indifference in this case maps directly to each of the above far graver incidents.
Perhaps the saddest part of this latest addition to Uber’s bad behavior file is that despite its billions in resources, Uber’s attempts at treachery are so amateur hour. And it’s not as if the original LA Weekly article was that scathing or that detrimental to the company’s future prospects. You’d think that the company would dedicate its resources to fighting the big fights, or at least do a better job flexing its muscles and win the small ones when it does decide they’re worth fighting.
Lately, however, it seems like Uber can’t fight its way out of a wet paper bag.
by News Desk | Oct 28, 2014 | London News
Drivers are now starting to receive the new style Licences and IDs.
Included in the pack are new style ID pouches with an indent, to make removal easier. The IDs have a slight pigment on the reverse, but once inside the pouch, the new pigment is almost unnoticeable.
the new drivers licence has a broken foil strip down the right hand side which unlike the one found embedded on bank notes looks like it has been printed on. The licence now carries the bar code which should match the ones found on the ID cards.
The driver’s photo is slightly smaller than on the old licence and the word Taxi has been removed from the TfL roundel.
Unlike the previous new issue licence, you are reminded that it is an offence to refuse to carry a guide dog unless you have a specific medical exemption. The accompanying letter also states that the IDs are not to be tampered with, laminated or altered in anyway. Clear instruction is given as to where the IDs should be displayed.
From the 17th of November 2014, it will be mandatory to display the new identifiers and we are informed that any driver displaying old identifiers will be subject to compliance action.
I have never had a problem with displaying an ID to let the public know I am licensed for the area I’m actually working. But I feel uncomfortable displaying my badge number so prominently.
Why does our badge number need to be so large?
by News Desk | Oct 28, 2014 | London News
Transport for London launches public consultation on Mayor’s plans for ‘world first’ Ultra low emission zone in capital from 2020
An 11-week public consultation on proposals for the “world’s first” ultra low emission zone (ULEZ) in the centre of the UK capital from 2020 has today (October 27) been launched by the London Mayor and Transport for London (TfL).
According to TfL, the proposed ULEZ would halve emissions of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and particulate matter PM10 from vehicle exhausts in central London.
Cars, motorcycles, vans, minibuses, heavy goods vehicles and coaches would have to meet new emission standards or pay a daily charge to drive in the zone, which will have the same boundaries as the existing congestion charge zone.
Taxis, private hire vehicles and buses would also be affected by the ULEZ, which is set to come into force on September 7 2020 and will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
TfL claims the zone will “significantly improve air quality and in turn the health of Londoners” by reducing the number of people living in areas of where NO2 levels currently exceed legal limits by 74% in central London, 51% in inner London and 43% in outer London.
There have been calls from some politicians and air quality and health campaigners for the ULEZ to be introduced sooner than 2020 (see airqualitynews.com story), but the Mayor stated his intention to give motorists “adequate time” to switch to greener vehicles that will not incur a charge under the proposals.
Furthermore, according to TfL, many vehicles would already meet the proposed standards in 2020, but it states that introducing the Zone will “accelerate the take up of low emission vehicles and stimulate the low emission vehicle market”.
Criticism has also been levelled at the proposals for not encompassing a wider area (see airqualitynews.com story), but TfL states that the ULEZ will not lead to a reduction in air quality or increased congestion outside the zone.
According to TfL: “The majority of traffic entering the ULEZ will be from outside the zone – so the benefits of cleaner, greener vehicles in the form of reduced emissions will be delivered right across London so benefitting Londoners’ health.”
Mayor
Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, said: “Introducing the world’s first ultra low emission zone is an essential measure to improve London’s air quality and reduce NO2. Safeguarding Londoners’ health and well-being is a top priority for my administration. I understand that people need adequate time to switch to greener vehicles and help is at hand for those who will be hardest hit, but let’s be clear, we need to make these important changes ASAP to continue to improve Londoners’ quality of life and give everyone who lives in or visits the city the cleanest possible air to breathe.”
Launched today, the consultation closes on Friday January 9 2015 and is available to access on the TfL website, before the Mayor confirms the final proposals in spring 2015, giving a five-year notice period prior to the ULEZ coming into operation in 2020.www.tfl.gov.uk/ultra-low-emission-zone
Following the consultation, TfL will analyse the results and make recommendations to the Mayor, who will then make a decision on whether to confirm the plans, with or without modifications. TfL, as the licensing authority for London’s taxi and private hire vehicles, will decide whether to make changes to the licensing requirements for these vehicles.
Proposals
The ULEZ proposals would require vehicles travelling in central London to meet the following emissions standards, or pay a daily charge:
- Cars and small vans – Euro 6 for diesel engines (registered from 1 September 2015 so 5 years old or less in 2020) and Euro 4 for petrol engines (registered from 1 January 2006 so 14 years old or less in 2020). Non-compliant vehicles could still drive in the zone but they would be required to pay a daily charge of £12.50;
- Large vans and minibuses – Euro 6 for diesel engines (registered from 1 September 2016 so 4 years old or less in 2020) and Euro 4 for petrol engines (registered from 1 January 2007 so 13 years old or less in 2020). Non-compliant vehicles would be required to pay a daily charge of £12.50;
- Heavy goods vehicles, buses and coaches – Euro VI (registered from 1 January 2014 so 6 years old or less in 2020). Non- compliant vehicles would be required to pay a daily charge of £100;
- Motorcycles and similar vehicles – Euro 3 (registered from 1 July 2007 so 13 years old or less in 2020). Non-compliant vehicles would be required to pay a daily charge of £12.50.
Michèle Dix, managing director of planning at TfL, said: “Improving London’s air quality is of paramount importance as it affects the health and well-being of every Londoner. That’s why we are doing everything in our power to address emissions from road transport, with the introduction of an ultra low emission zone at the core of our work to improve the capital’s air. We would urge everyone who lives, works or travels in London to give us their views on the ULEZ proposal.”
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