Angry taxi drivers vented their frustration on a London office of e-hailing app Hailo, part of a wave of discontent surrounding apps such as Uber.
Taxi app Hailo’s cabbies-turned-co-founders Terry Runham, Gary Jackson and Russell Hall.Hailo
Angry cab drivers vandalised a taxi app office in London yesterday, part of a growing wave of discontent among the world’s cabbies over “e-hailing” apps such as Hailo and Uber.
In response to planned changes in the service offered by Hailo, disgruntled taxi drivers headed to the app’s dispatch office near Waterloo in South London, with police attending the scene and graffiti sprayed on the building reading “Judas” and “Scabs.”
Graffiti on the side of Hailo’s South London dispatch office.Rich Trenholm/CNET
Hailo, a start-up co-founded by three London cabbies, enables you to order a taxicab — that’s a car driven by an individually-licensed driver — from their smartphone. But members of the service were up in arms when it was revealed that Hailo has applied for a Private Hire operator’s licence in London, which will add minicabs and executive cars — drivers that don’t hold individual licenses — to the service.
Taxi vs private hire
The difference between a taxi and a private hire vehicle isn’t clear in the minds of many passengers, but you’ll probably know them when you see them. Whether it’s a yellow cab in New York or a black Hackney carriage in London, a taxi is driven by a driver who holds a special license. In London, to qualify for that license you must complete the fabled training known as “The Knowledge“.
One of London’s famous black taxicabs.Rich Trenholm/CNET
Because of the limitations in licensing, the FT describes licensed taxis in many cities as “cartels”, closed off to new entrants and resistant to change. But with individual drivers having invested substantial amounts in their taxi — the FT points to Paris and Florence where licenses and permits cost upwards of €200,000 — it’s no wonder their feelings run high.
Meanwhile a minicab, town car, executive car, limo or other vehicle is a private hire vehicle, which you book through a central booking office rather than hailing. Certainly in the UK, minicabs are traditionally seen as cheaper than taxis, but there is less regulation on private hire vehicles.
Hailo motor
In London there are 25,000 black taxis and 65,000 minicabs. Hailo boasts 14,000 black cabs on its books.
By allowing you to find a nearby black cab on a map on your phone, Hailo allows taxi drivers to enjoy the same advantage that private hire companies enjoy: finding potential passengers without having to rely on the chance of driving past at the right time. This level playing field is threatened by Hailo’s plans to also offer private hire vehicles, but the folks at Hailo believe it’s a necessary step.
The Hailo iPhone app.Hailo
“A taxi-only app will get isolated and customers will take their money to services without any cabs on offer. It is already happening,” warns Hailo co-founder Ron Zeghibe in an open letter to London taxi drivers. “Passengers want a choice and if we don’t give them what they want, they will take their money to car apps that don’t offer taxis at all. We need to compete and make sure passengers can choose a taxi when they want one.”
“There is no point burying our heads in the sand,” says Zeghibe. “People want a choice and taxis need to be in the mix.”
‘Stabbed in the back’
Hailo already allows passengers in selected US cities to order limousines and private hire cars as well as yellow taxis. But the black cab drivers of London who have joined and promoted Hailo — sporting stickers and even painting their cabs in bright yellow Hailo livery — feel betrayed. “Hailo was built on the respectability and professionalism of the licensed taxi trade,” says Grant Davis of the 1,600-strong trade organisation the London Cab Drivers’ Club. “It feels like they’ve stabbed us in the back. We just feel really let down.”
Hailo for Android.Hailo
Davis is keen to point out that the problem isn’t new technology. “People say black cab drivers are like the mafia or we’re dinosaurs who can’t move with the times… but with Hailo we embraced technology. I loved Hailo, because all of a sudden as I came into work I was getting jobs in Peckham, Forest Hill, places that used to just be the domain of the local minicab office. That’s the old (taxis) and the new (apps) coming together for London.”
“Hailo was great for drivers,” Davis told me. “It opened up London for us.”
Davis believes that the industry has been shaken up by the arrival of Uber. “Hailo has given black cabs a job, it’s promoted the cab trade. But when TFL allowed Uber to come in with their model, it looks like Hailo lost a lot of work to Uber and so investors are saying that if Uber is getting away with it that’s the way we’ve got to go.”
The disruption of Uber
Uber is possibly the best-known and most controversial e-hailing app. Although local authorities in various cities initially opposed Uber’s private hire service, it has now been widely accepted: for example, after initially clamping down on the service when it launched as start-up in San Francisco five years ago, California authorities changed their minds and created a new category of transport companies for services like Uber, Lyft and Rideshare.
It hasn’t been a smooth ride everywhere for Uber: the service has come under fire for its controversial ‘surge pricing’ model of jacking up prices at different times, while the city of Brussels in Belgium recently banned Uber drivers from picking up private passengers.
But Uber is now live in 36 countries around the world and is valued at more than $3 billion.
Where to?
Davis is now recommending GetTaxi to his members as an alternative to Hailo. GetTaxi, founded in 2010, is now live in 24 cities around the world and has tempted a large number of drivers away from Hailo in the past day or two by vowing to stick to just taxis. “We only partner with licensed black taxi drivers,” says UK CEO, Remo Gerber. “We hugely value the commitment they show to their passengers, through the safety checks and qualifications they undertake to become a world-famous black taxi driver.”
“At GetTaxi we have no plans to use Private Hire vehicles — full stop.”
“We believe black cab drivers are the best in the world,” GetTaxi’s chief marketing officer Rich Pleeth told me today. “They have The Knowledge — jump in a black cab and the driver will know where you need to go and they’ll know what roads are closed, so they’ll go the best way to get you where you need to be. Meanwhile a minicab will rely on a sat-nav.”
“We respect Hailo and its founders,” Pleeth insists. “Hailo says it wants to offer business a better proposition, and they believe they need private hire to do that. We don’t. If businesspeople want an executive car we upgrade them to a (Mercedes-Benz) Vito, which has a privacy screen, it can drive in bus lanes, and it’s driven by someone who has done The Knowledge.”
“We want to get businesspeople where they’re going on time. If they were relying on a minicab they’d have missed their multimillion pound deal.”
Although GetTaxi wouldn’t confirm the knock-on effect of Hailo’s plans, CNET understands that around 600 drivers have jumped ship since the announcement.
Fair’s fare
Following demonstrations against Uber by taxi drivers in France, the UK’s Licensed Taxi Drivers’ Association is planning a demonstration on 11 June. London cabbies recently demonstrated their ability to bring parts of the city to a standstill with a protest against taxi arrangements near the Shard skyscraper, blockading streets around London Bridge during the middle of the day.
Grant Davis is keen to stress that he is not against e-hailing apps themselves: the LCDC’s ire is directed against travel authority Transport for London. “The cab trade hasn’t got a problem with Uber; we’ve got a problem with TFL for licensing Uber,” he says. “We’ve had taxis in London for 300 years and minicabs since the ’60s, and they’re covered by laws in place to protect Londoners. But the way Uber works, they call it ‘disruptive licensing’: they turn up in a new area and says ‘Bang, this is how we’re doing it.’ And TFL has just bowed down to them.”
“For the first time ever, taxis and the private hire trade have both gone to TFL to say that there are laws in place and all we ask is that whoever comes into the market adheres to the law. TFL has let both sides down.”
Davis believes the Uber effect could have dire consequences. “If they decimate the cab trade and minicab trade in London and just have one tier of ‘taxi’ — which is actually just a car — and that’s the Uber tier, then what the public will get is price surges. When it’s raining, the cab you used to get home from the club will have doubled in price, but you have to pay what you have to pay because no-one’s left standing. Uber’s cleared the decks.”
But Hailo’s Ron Zeghibe argues that cabbies must embrace changes in the world of taxis. “The worst thing the taxi industry could do now is deny that things are changing and hold onto the past. Complaining is not a strategy.”
DEDICATION: Melissa Ede from Hull is down to the last 700 in the world fighting for a place on the Mars One project. Picture: Kate Woolhouse
A TRANSGENDER taxi driver is among the final 23 people in the UK who could realise their dream of joining a space mission to Mars.
The Mars One project has proved to create the most desirable job vacancy in the world, with about 200,000 applicants from more than 140 countries.
The aim is to establish a permanent human settlement on Mars in 2023.
Among those in the running for the one-way, seven-month flight to the red planet for the ambitious reality TV show is east Hull’s Melissa Ede.
Having already been one of 1,058 to have made the cut at the start of the year, Melissa, who is transgender, has now passed a vigorous medical and is one of just 23 left in the UK.
The 52-year-old’s application on the Mars One website has been viewed by thousands of people.
She now has a 50 per cent chance of featuring in a reality TV programme, which will chart the rigorous tests and simulations needed to go up into space.
Miss Ede said: “I am one of just 700 left across the world and 23 in the UK.
“I have just had my medical and there were no problems whatsoever.
“It was more in-depth than I thought it was going to be.
“I was told it is the same medical they give to those just before they start astronaut training. But it shows how seriously they are taking this.”
The next stage will be interviews, which will take place in a few months’ time.
Miss Ede said: “We will be interviewed by the Mars One team, which could actually be the beginning of the reality television show.
“The numbers will be whittled down further, but with there only being 23 of us and most reality shows have ten or 15 people, then I should be in with a good chance of making it through the show.”
The chance to head to Mars would be a chance to fulfil a number of dreams for Miss Ede.
She said: “My life consists of promoting diversity and I have always dreamed of making history.
“Being picked would allow me to do both of these.
“I feel really excited by it all. You just don’t know what is going to happen next.
“This has never been done before so everything is unknown.”
The wannabe astronauts face a two- year selection process.
The successful astronauts will be put through eight years of training.
Miss Ede admits there have been times when she wondered whether she was being taken in.
She said: “There was a feeling early on that perhaps this was a scam.
“But the project has grown and grown, with big organisations giving their backing.”
Such is Miss Ede’s commitment to the project she has a lasting reminder.
She said: “I have had a tattoo done that says Mars One.
“I am also asking my Twitter followers what hashtag I should use if I get through to the television show.”
London’s black cab drivers want to bring the city to gridlock in protest at the California company’s activities
‘The cabbies’ beef is simple. They claim that Uber is a taxi company.’ Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA
Every digital entrepreneur dreams of inventing a disruptive technology. But perhaps in the case of Uber, a California company that now operates in 110 cities around the world, including London and Manchester, things may have gone too far. If Transport for London (TfL) doesn’t do something about it soon, says the Licensed Taxi Drivers Association (LTDA), a mass protest from London’s cabbies will bring gridlock to the city centre next month.
The idea behind Uber, and its rivals, is simple. When you need a taxi you look at its app, which shows you all the cars nearby and how quickly one could reach you. You press a button, a car comes, and the payment is taken from your card automatically. Rates are about the same as normal taxis (or more expensive, if you choose a luxury car). The advantage is that you don’t have to wave forlornly on the street, or queue at a rank, and the whole thing feels cool as hell.
The cabbies’ beef is also simple. They claim that Uber is a taxi company. What’s that? You thought it was a taxi company too? Oh dear me no. As uber.com explains, its business is “connecting riders to drivers”. The cars come in several standard types, but Uber don’t own them. The drivers are approved by Uber, and supplied with equipment by Uber, but they are self-employed. In order to apply to drive for it – sorry, partner with it – the first thing you have to do is say you understand that Uber is “not a transportation carrier”. It’s like eBay, or Silk Road for that matter: a shop that doesn’t sell anything.
This distinction is important because it helps to keep Uber away from laws that license taxis. In the case of London, cars with taxi meters are considered taxis, but TfL says that Uber’s time-and-distance-measuring machines aren’t taxi meters, because they are not physically connected to the cars. The cabbies, for their part, call this bunkum, and claim that TfL are just frightened of Uber’s fancy lawyers. And the cabbies are not alone. Uber is also facing, or has faced, bans, restrictions, court cases or protests of some kind in Brussels, Paris, Berlin, Houston, Portland, New Orleans, Seattle, Miami, New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Washington DC, Vancouver and Toronto. In Paris, naturally, an Uber car was even physically attacked.
“I anticipate that the demonstration … will attract many, many thousands of cabs and cause severe chaos, congestion and confusion across the metropolis,” says the LTDA’s general secretary Steve McNamara. It is tempting to ask how anyone will tell.
Uber app customer Steve Jensen catches a ride in Brisbane. Picture: Jack TranSource: News Limited
QUEENSLAND taxi companies have slammed the idea of a ride-sharing app entering the Brisbane transport market.
The Uber app quietly started operations about three weeks ago, generously offering free rides to anyone who signed up to the platform.
But the controversial tech start-up has been causing waves around the world and was recently banned from operating as a passenger transport service in NSW.
One of the main points of contention is that anyone over 24 years can sign up to be a driver and the car must be no older than nine years.
Taxi companies are concerned about passenger safety.
Black and White Cabs and Yellow Cabs agreed that their firms had worked for years to build checks and balances to assure the safety of drivers and customers. Both were sceptical that Uber could deliver the same level of protection.
“The problem the community will have is Uber doesn’t want to take responsibility for the service delivery and who delivers it,” Yellow Cab’s general manager Bill Parker said.
“Taxi operators are competing on an uneven playing field.”
The passengers Queenland taxi drivers avoid
Department of Transport and Main Roads Minister Scott Emerson said that based on the limited information available, he had directed his department to contact the company and investigate whether it complied with the public passenger transport legislation.
TAXI SHAKE-UP1:13
Uber, however, is confident that its own vetting processes are sufficient to put to rest any public fears.
“Every ride-sharing partner must meet our rigorous safety standards, including driver history checks, criminal background checks, requisite insurance and vehicle inspections,” Uber Brisbane manager Mike Abbott said.
“Uber’s technology also includes a feedback system which adds a layer of accountability, requiring drivers and passengers to rate each other after every trip.”
Despite it being offered for free, it’s still rare to find many people in Brisbane who’ve heard of the start-up. Steve Jensen is one customer taking advantage of the deal.
The Bank of Queensland employee has been using the app about once a day since they started operating in the city.
– See more at: http://www.supercabby.co.uk/uncategorized/taxi-companies-want-the-ride-sharing-uber-app-banned-in-queensland/#sthash.QzjlIR55.dpuf
Uber launched its car-hire service in London in June 2012
London black-cab drivers are planning to cause gridlock in the city to protest against car service Uber.
The Licensed Taxi Drivers Association complains that Uber’s drivers are using a smartphone app to calculate fares despite it being illegal for private vehicles to be fitted with taximeters.
Transport for London has declined to intervene, because it disagrees that there has been a breach of the law.
LTDA now plans to force the issue by holding the action in early June.
“Transport for London not enforcing the Private Hire Vehicles Act is dangerous for Londoners,” Steve McNamara, LTDA’s general secretary, told the BBC.
“I anticipate that the demonstration against TfL’s handling of Uber will attract many many thousands of cabs and cause severe chaos, congestion and confusion across the metropolis.”
TfL told the association last month that it believed Uber’s vehicles were not strictly “equipped” with taximeters since there was not “some sort of connection between the device and the vehicle”.
Rather, the app was merely making use of data about the distance travelled and time taken, which was not illegal in itself.
The LTDA says it expects many thousand black cab drivers to take part in the protest
LTDA rejects this distinction and is now threatening to seek a judicial review.
“We have seen no evidence to suggest that Uber London Ltd are not fit and proper to hold a London private hire vehicle operator’s licence, but no final decisions have been made whilst Uber’s operating model is still under investigation,” TfL told the BBC.
The dispute marks the latest in a series of clashes between Uber and the established taxi trade.
The firm is also facing restrictions on its operations in Paris, Brussels, Berlin, Sydney and a number of US cities.
Disruptive drive
San Francisco-based Uber describes itself as a “pick-up” service that connects those needing a ride with a background-checked private driver, and takes a cut – typically 20% – of the fee.
It now operates in more than 100 cities across 30 countries, including Manchester where it launched this week.
The firm markets its service as offering “cutting-edge safety measures”:
allowing customers to see the name and photo of the driver before they arrive
letting approved friends follow the journey on a live map
providing an email of the route the car used, so that a client can ask for a charge to be reviewed if they believe the driver took a roundabout journey
The Uber app allows customers to see how many available drivers are nearby
Fees are based upon data gathered by the driver’s app and whether “surge pricing” is in effect because of heavy demand.
The five-year-old firm acknowledges that it can prove a disruptive force.
“Competition in my view is always good for the customer because it makes all of us up our game in terms of quality and service,” Uber’s general manager in London, Jo Bertram, said.
“On the driver side, we offer a much more flexible model that is very different from the old-school private hire industry, that allows them to work as independent business operators however and whenever they choose.”
The LTDA said while the taximeter was the focus of its complaint, it had wider objections to the firm.
“Uber, funded by Google, Goldman Sachs and others, has a stated aim of challenging legislation that is not compatible with its business model,” said Mr McNamara.
“This is not some philanthropic friendly society, it’s an American monster that has no qualms about breaching any and all laws in the pursuit of profit, most of which will never see a penny of tax paid in the UK.”
A spokeswoman for Uber said it rejected this characterisation of its business,
European battles
Other traditional taxi associations are also taking a stand against the firm in Europe:
In Brussels a complaint resulted in a court setting a 10,000 euro ($13,920; £8,205) fine as the penalty for Uber drivers who continued to pick up customers without the necessary licences
Berlin’s taxi association has won a temporary injunction against the firm, but has chosen not to enforce the action to avoid the risk of having to cover lost fees if the ruling is later overturned
French operators have convinced their government to propose banning the use of GPS-enabled apps by private car services including Uber. The government had previously made such companies wait 15 minutes before picking up a booking, but the country’s Supreme Court ruled the move anti-competitive
French taxi drivers have opposed Uber’s service in Paris
Uber does, however, have support from the European Commission.
Vice-president Neelie Kroes has said her staff used the service to “stay safe and save taxpayers money”, adding that European authorities should help the firm comply with standards rather than trying to ban it.
The LTDA says it expects many thousand black cab drivers to take part in the protest
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