We are living in a digital age. An era in which it has never been so easy to travel. Tubes, buses, planes or indeed taxis are now more accessible than ever. With competition in this marketplace becoming increasingly fierce – the key to maintaining a successful brand lies in promoting the benefit of one over the other.
We’re now no strangers to the power of the app based transport service. The digital transportation network Uber certainly divides opinion. But with the current value of the business itself sitting comfortably at around $40 billion, the business is the perfect example of how accessibility paired with technology can be a recipe for success.
As a result of disrupters and cleverly branded start-ups, my father’s beloved black cab trade, of which I am fiercely proud, has been made to look both exorbitant and dated. Once the undisputed ruler of the streets of London, trading on reputation, tradition and high quality service – many are now beginning to write the profession off completely.
Why?
There are a number of reasons for the growing concern over the future of the black cab. But one that I deem as playing a huge part is that the black cab brand has struggled with marketing itself and telling its brand story. Subsequently, it has been unsuccessful at placing its differentiating factors front and centre of the consumer’s mind. So, instead of cabbies staging stunts and protests, bringing London to a standstill – a brand new marketing strategy should be devised , to celebrate all of the fantastic things this historic trade still has to offer. You can get more information on this by Clicking Here
And now we come to the competition.
I, along with many others, believe that Uber trades unfairly. My principal issue (though not the only one by a long stretch) is the tax structure that Uber seems to operate on. With the app being, primarily, a Dutch entity that trades under the name of Uber B.V, it works by taking a booking along with the payment and then issues a receipt. Essentially this means the business is liable for corporation tax in the Netherlands but not in the UK. The structure is allowing these new market entries to weaken and undermine London operators. In addition TfL has allowed Uber to operate without the usual licence required under the Private Hire Vehicle Act (1998).
How is this fair?
I am a little tired of hearing that cabbies just don’t want competition. This is utter bull. Black cabbies have dealt with competition since the 1960s. All they really want is an equal playing field. When I see my 60 year old father come home from a night shift, looking utterly dejected – only then do I realise the damage being done to a brand with hundreds of years’ worth of tradition.
Our London Taxi is a global icon. For many, it is one of the most prominent features that they associate with one of the greatest cities in the world. Why are we allowing it to perish?
Whilst I am no advocate of services like Uber, members of the London Taxi trade have GOT to wise up and realise that to survive, they need to innovate. That means an easier payment system, (no picking and choosing when the card machine works – regardless of Verifone being a nusiance at times) accessibility from a digital perspective and a marketing strategy that will place them back on top where they belong!
Black cabbies have got advantages that Uber and other private hire businesses just cant compete with. Drivers with a highly intimate knowledge of London that no GPS could ever live up to, a long and interesting history, a high level of safety, comfort and no nasty surprises with extra charges.
Why then are these differentiators not being used effectively to save the trade?
If you think your minicab is safe then you might change you’re mind after watching this!
It is alleged that sharing of vehicles with drivers who are not licensed is common place among drivers on certain large app based private hire operators.
SuperCabby Interviews Russell Howarth from Arresting Uber 30
In this episode I interview Russell Howarth from Arresting Uber again in a follow up via Skype.
Russell returned to Australia after his visit to London and has been doing a lot of work with various Taxi Trades around the World to combat the rise of what he calls a Criminal Cartel, Uber.
Russell explains his plans for combating Uber in London and also shared a few ideas that are not in this podcast as he didn’t want Uber to know exactly what his ideas are.
Russell fully intends to return to the UK and he explains how this can happen during the interview, he also says that our trade really needs to come together and unite for a common cause in fighting these tech startups.
Russell is the guy, who in Australia has made citizens arrests on Uber X drivers for operating illegally without the correct licenses or insurance.
Russell states that he has managed, through his actions, to lose Uber over 60% of their business in Australia and he is being commended by both Taxi and Limo drivers across Australia.
Russell has travelled to the UK at his own expense and is here for nearly a month to talk to Taxi Trade Organisations and he also has a meeting scheduled towards the end of the month with Leon Daniels at TFL.
Russell has a lot of ideas as to the way in which the London Taxi trade can combat the phenomenal growth of Uber in London and to thwart their attempts at cornering the market in London and the UK as a whole.
Russell also said that any driver that is any doubts as to the effect that Uber could have on the London Taxi & Private Hire trades in London should speak to any driver in America where Uber operates, he said that Taxi drivers have found that they are now taking 75% less than they were before, so if you think you can sustain running a a London Taxi on a mere 25% or what you currently earn, pay the mortgage and put food on the table then please carry on burying your heads in the sand!
Russell has some good angles on how to combat Uber, he recognises that Uber are licensed in London and that the drivers are also licensed by TFL but he also says that there are a number of points on which Uber are breaking the law.
A judge issued an alarming warning to minicab passengers yesterday that they cannot expect to travel in safety.
Jailing an asylum seeker for eight years for raping a secretary, Recorder Michael Sayers, QC, said those hiring a private taxi simply had no way of knowing the driver’s background.
He called for compulsory licensing of all cab drivers after police checks on the firm where the rapist worked revealed that not one driver was being legally employed.
“It appears that nobody can travel in minicabs with any degree of assurance or safety, as demonstrated by the facts in this case,” said the judge.
“At the moment, when a member of the public takes a cab he has no assurance that the driver is who he claims to be or has got any insurance or driving licence. He has no way of knowing how the driver conducts his business.
“This is something that should be investigated. If minicab drivers are driving around with false identities, it is something that should be looked into and investigated properly. I find it quite a worrying state of affairs.”
The case has highlighted a growing problem in our cities, where a burgeoning nightclub culture and lack of public transport has led to a boom in the use of minicabs.
These are separate from licensed black cabs and are supposed to be booked in advance over the telephone or in person at a central office.
There are around 100,000 private hire drivers in the UK. Powers to license them have been on the statute book since 1998 but the law’s enforcement depends heavily on the policy of the local authority.
In London, men and women desperate to get home have resorted to hailing unlicensed “taxi touts” who ply for trade by driving through the city’s entertainment areas.
Police figures show that 214 women were sexually assaulted in the capital last year after getting into illegal minicabs and 54 raped.
Razaq Assadullah, 31, who worked for Speedline Cars in Stratford, East London, was an asylum seeker who came to Britain from Afghanistan in 2000.
He was convicted last December
of raping the 28-year-old secretary and was sentenced at the Old Bailey yesterday.
In a reference to the rapist’s background, the judge told him: “You were certainly aware of the gravity of the crime of rape as it would be met by a sentence of death by stoning.”
The woman got into the cab after a night out in a wine bar in Stratford last July.
After dropping off her best friend, Assadullah parked the car and turned off the engine before attacking the woman in the back seat. He stopped only when disturbed by two cyclists.
The Old Bailey heard that Assadullah, from Plaistow, East London, set himself up as a cab driver by buying a false driving licence for £200 and using a false name. Police checks revealed he was driving without insurance.
Further inquiries into the rapist’s firm revealed that each of its 32 drivers was working illegally in some way – either through their immigration status or by claiming benefit while working. In such situations, it is best to contact expert attorneys helping clients with immigration claims to give legal counseling and help you out.
The judge told Assadullah: “With a mixture of arrogance and cynical opportunism you abused your position of trust.
“She was placed in your cab by a friend who paid you to get her home safely.
“She was put through a terrifying ordeal and she faced the added trauma of not knowing whether you might be a murderer as well as a rapist.”
Assadullah, a father of three, was granted leave to remain last year after claiming he had been tortured by the Taliban. The judge recommended his deportation.
Richard Massett, of the London Taxi Drivers’ Association, said: “It’s been five years since regulation was approved in Parliament and nothing has happened.
“We advise women travelling home alone late at night to use a licensed black cab if possible or, if not, to book a minicab by phone and ensure that it comes from the place where they booked it.”
Detective Constable Malcolm Samuels, of the Metropolitan Police, said that because many minicab drivers work on a self-employed basis there is little incentive for the firm’s owner to check on them.
Taxi-hailing app Hailo has laid off 17 employees in London, out of its 150 employees worldwide, as part of a plan to “rebalance its engineering structure” and “shift focus towards accelerating our business growth and operational delivery off the back of this platform,” according to CEO Andrew Pinnington.
The company also said the last quarter was “the strongest sales quarter in the company’s history, with double-digit month-on-month growth.”
TechCrunch has reported that it is also looking to raise $20 million in a new funding round, although the company has not commented on this.
In October 2014, Hailo pulled out of the US after being unable to compete in a market in which rivals Uber and Lyft were engaged in a price war, and at the same time announced new products such as Pay with Hailo and Hailo for Business.
It now operates in five markets – UK, Ireland, Japan, Singapore and Spain.
In late 2013 and early 2014, Hailo received $50 million in funding from a group of Asian investors “to expedite growth in the more than 20 cities” in which it operates, and to date has raised just over $100 million.
Compared to this, Uber has raised $4.9 billion to date and Lyft has raised $862.5 million.
But Hailo differs from its competitors in that it helps people book and pay for black and yellow cabs via the app rather than running its own fleet.
The company also has an Apple Watch app on the way.
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