Uber has claimed a victory for #Tech enterprises this week. Proposals had been put forward following complaints from Licensed Taxi Drivers Association which included:
A prohibition on apps being able to show the locations of their nearby vehicles;
An obligation for private-hire companies to allow customers the ability to pre-book vehicles up to seven in advance of travel;
A minimum five-minute delay between confirmations of booking and the time of collection of passenger by the driver; and
Drivers being limited to registration to a single operator at any one time.
TfL will not be adopting the above following the thousands of responses that it had received to its public consultation, launched back in September 2015; however there were several proposals which may still be adopted:
The Mayor of London has requested that TfL review whether the exemption from congestion charges that private-hire cars currently benefit from, should be removed;
Obligatory provision of a fare estimate in advance (rather than only where requested);
Ensuring that passengers are able to speak to a real person in the event of a journey-related complaint; and
A minimum competency of spoken English for drivers.
Whilst proposals ii – iv, above, are unlikely to provide significantly more than an administrative inconvenience to enterprises like Uber, proposal i, if adopted, is likely to cause Uber, as well as other apps and minicab firms, quite a headache.
Uber has praised TfL for listening to the views of customers and private-hire drivers within its consultation.
TfL's notice on its plans for modernising and enhancing London’s private-hire industry can be found here.