The decision of the British transport authority to apply severe cab restrictions on private car hire services had given Uber London a reason to claim a major victory against the efforts of the competing black-cab operators to subject them to the same policies. They are not getting away totally scot-free, as the Transport for London (TfL) is studying how other laws can help Uber contribute to solving the traffic congestion that has been plaguing the Londoners for years.
In a report published by the Guardian, Jo Bertram, Uber's UK manager, expressed satisfaction that the TfL had listened to the feedback from passengers who had found a riding alternative in Uber, as well as from drivers who needed other sources of income. Bertram also called "bonkers" the restrictions that the black-cab drivers were insisting be applied to Uber; these included a five-minute booking window sent to the passenger even before the start of the trip, and a requirement allowing passengers to pre-book their cab rides seven days in advance.
BBC enumerates the other proposals that TfL had rejected: a total ban on apps that showed passengers the status of the vehicle they had requested to service them; and limiting a driver to work for only one cab operator at a time. The BBC also reports that Uber's 25,000-strong roster of drivers already matches the numbers of the black-cab operators. Perhaps that was one reason why the black-cab operators took issue with Uber, branding them as unfair competition.
Still, Uber is not yet totally out of the woods yet. The rising number of private vehicle owners joining them has compelled the TfL to chek if other measures can be applied to Uber in the effort to decrease traffic congestion. Reuters reports that one such policy is a tax payment of 11.5 pounds once Uber enters a busy business central district or the hub spot of financial institutions. Both black-cab operators and Uber members are currently exempt from that tax.
