Greater Manchester Brings Forward Proposals For Clean Air Plan

Greater Manchester is expected to bring forward its proposals for addressing air pollution in the city region in the coming weeks, elected members heard yesterday (16 August).

At a meeting of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s Planning, Housing & Environment Committee, officials were presented with an update on the Greater Manchester Clean Air plan, which is being overseen by Transport for Greater Manchester.

TfGM is leading the development of the plan on behalf of seven of the ten Greater Manchester authorities who were named within the government’s NO2 plan as being required to act to reduce nitrogen dioxide emissions. A finalised Clean Air Plans is due to be presented before the end of the year.

Papers released ahead of yesterday’s meeting indicate that options under consideration for the city region include the potential for a charging Clean Air Zone.

But, any potential charges would only to apply to private-hire vehicles, buses and HGVs, with the Greater Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham, having previously ruled out a charge for private car drivers (see airqualitynews.com story).

Options

Other measures included in a shortlist shown to members include the potential for a workplace parking levy to encourage commuters to use public transport, increased public transport capacity, retrofit of the existing public transport and local authority fleets and incentivising an increased uptake of electric vehicles in the region.

In the update to members yesterday, TfGM noted that initial data of NO2 exceedances across the local authority areas has been submitted to Defra, which will shortly report back with specific requirements for emissions reductions required across the region.

Once this ‘target determination’ has been completed – likely to be this month – the Greater Manchester air quality steering group, will assess which options are likely to bring about the required reduction in NO2 levels demanded by government.

The papers note: "As government has identified charge-based Clean Air Zones as the benchmark measure, the modelling process used to identify a preferred option to achieve compliance in the shortest possible time in GM is required to focus on this measure first. The Steering Group members will brief senior officers and elected members within their organisations on the options for achieving compliance."

Officers will model which of these measures is likely to bring about compliance within the shortest possible time, before submitting a business case to government later this year. The proposals will be subject to the ‘relevant GM-level governance’, the papers indicate.

Public awareness

Members also heard that a programme of public awareness around air quality issues affecting the region is also under development.

This is expected commence during early autumn 2018 to ‘build greater public awareness and understanding of the GM air quality issue and associated impacts’.

Under the identity of ‘Clean Air Greater Manchester’, "this would build on past public engagement activity – e.g. Clean Air Day – and aim to educate key audiences about air pollution, the health impacts, and what they can do to make a difference," members were told.

Source : Air Quality News 

from Taxi Leaks https://ift.tt/2vVfooe
via IFTTT

Halt final TfL payment to Garden Bridge Trust, says shadow minister Andy McDonald

Preparations to pay the charity behind the Garden Bridge project its final multi-million pound chunk of public money should be suspended, the shadow transport secretary has said

The Garden Bridge Trust recently wrote to its public sector sponsor Transport for London with a request for up to £9 million of public money earmarked in an underwriting agreement provided by the Department for Transport (DfT).

However, Labour politicians including shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald have now called on TfL to withhold the money in the wake of a new legal opinion by a QC recently revealed by the AJ, raising the prospect of limiting the aborted scheme’s cost to the taxpayer, currently estimated at £46 million.

Jason Coppel, an expert in public and procurement law, said it was ‘likely’ that the trustees breached their legal duties to act with reasonable skill and care, ‘in particular in relation to the conclusion of the construction contract with Bouygues’, although he added that a claim against the trustees would not be straightforward due to the difficulty of any potential claimant proving they had suffered loss.

While Coppel’s opinion is understood to be strongly denied by the trustees, Labour London Assembly member Tom Copley has now written to TfL commissioner Mike Brown, attaching Coppel’s legal opinion and calling on Brown to ‘halt any payment of further public money to the trust’ until TfL had obtained its own legal advice over whether trustees had indeed breached their legal duties.

Copley’s intervention was backed by McDonald, the second shadow cabinet member to raise serious questions over the actions of the Garden Bridge Trust in recent weeks after repeated calls for a new Parliamentary inquiry were made by shadow communities secretary Andrew Gwynne.

McDonald said: ‘It’s the right thing to do by taxpayers to attempt to recover every penny possible from Boris Johnson’s scandalous Garden Bridge vanity project.

‘The taxpayer’s interest must be the priority, and that means using whatever legal means are available in order to limit the cost to the public purse.’

In his letter to Brown, which was copied to London mayor Sadiq Khan and the Charity Commission and was dated August 7, Copley wrote: ‘It has come to my attention that the Garden Bridge Trust has yet to draw down the £9 million of public money provided by the DfT, but has recently made a request to do so which TfL is reviewing.

‘I’m sure you will have seen the opinion of Jason Coppel QC … in light of this opinion from an eminent QC, which I attach, I’m writing to ask you to halt any payment of further public money to the trust until you have sought legal advice as to whether TfL can withhold further payments on the grounds that the trustees may have breached their legal duties. If this is the case it should be the trustees that are liable, not the taxpayer.’

In its latest set of accounts, published recently by the Charity Commission after being submitted more than 150 days late, the trust estimated that it would request £5.5 million or less of the £9 million underwriting facility from TfL in order to meet its financial liabilities.

The DfT’s guarantee was controversially provided in 2016 by then transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin in the face of strong opposition from the department’s then permanent secretary Philip Rutnam.

Brown has yet to reply to Copley but a TfL spokesperson said: ‘The Garden Bridge Trust has written to TfL with a request for payment under the underwriting agreement. We are currently reviewing their request.’

The Garden Bridge Trust is currently in the process of winding up and trustees were unavailable for comment.

from Taxi Leaks https://ift.tt/2Bk9thJ
via IFTTT

Young Couple ‘Nearly Die’ As Uber Car Plunges Into Sea…But Still Charged The £18 Fare

AN Uber passenger was still charged his £18 fare — despite “nearly dying” when his cab plunged into the sea.

Businessman Nick Christoforou, 31, and colleague Sophia Toon, 23, had to swim for their lives after their taxi drove off the end of a jetty.

Nick said: “One minute I was in the back of an Uber heading home, and the next I was in the sea.”

He went on: “I managed to get the car door open and got to the surface to find the others.

"If I wasn’t in a fit and able state we would all be 100 per cent dead.”

The real estate worker from Cockfosters, north London, was on a work trip to the South of France when he booked a car via the popular Uber app.

Sophia were picked up at 1.30am in Cannes by a driver in a Citroen DS5.

Nick said: “All of a sudden I felt falling.

"Five seconds later and the car was filling up with water.

“Even now I am not certain what caused it.”

The route the car travelled and its landing point

The car sank into water 3m (10ft) deep at Port Pierre Canto, a marina for 500 yachts in the city, which hosts Cannes Film Festival each year.

Nick swam to the nearest boat and pulled the others to safety.

The driver was breathalysed and found to be sober.

Uber driver plays game on his phone as he speeds along busy London street

No arrests were made.

A police spokesman said: “Luckily the car sank slowly, allowing some time for the occupants to get out safely.”

Source : The Sun.

from Taxi Leaks https://ift.tt/2nOgTQo
via IFTTT

We Still Don’t Know Whether Uber Is a Real Business?

It has never had to live on the cash it generates

In March, Uber will turn 10 years old. On paper, it’s one of the world’s most highly valued companies. Uber has become a verb for rides on demand, changed the transportation habits of millions and pushed changes in city planning around the world.

But after a decade of operation and perhaps a year or so away from its initial public offering, an essential unanswered question remains: Is Uber viable?

Put aside questions about whether Uber is overvalued, evil or whatever other clouds exist. I’m talking about simple dollars and cents. Uber Technologies Inc. has burned through more than $1 billion in cash in the last year, by design, and continues to fund itself with the huge capital pools available for young superstar companies since about 2010. If all that cash from SoftBank, Saudi Arabian oil wealth, conventional tech investment funds -- or even cash from future public stockholders -- unexpectedly dries up, does Uber’s business model work? I don’t know, and almost no one else does either.

There are always questions about whether relatively young companies will have staying power, but because Uber has never had to finance itself solely with the cash generated by its businesses, questions about the company’s basic viability are even more urgent. 

It’s been said before that Uber has sensibly tailored its business strategy to the financial realities of the last eight or so years of financial markets. Never before has so much money been thrown at promising young technology companies, and for good reason. People with money are desperate to make more money, and private technology companies have been an appealing way to turn $1 into $10 or $100. 

If Uber had started just a few years earlier, it might have been confined to its original business of dispatching luxury cars. Instead, Uber has taken in more than $15 billion from stock sales and borrowings, and that cash has let Uber dream big. It offers semiprofessional drivers at the tap of a smartphone screen in dozens of global cities, has branched into transportation by bicycles and has visions of robot-driven cars and flying taxis. It’s investing in food delivery, matching supply and demand for freight and more.

Uber’s cash has let it become this ambitious, but it’s never been forced to live in a world where it has to operate solely with the cash it generates. The company’s free cash flow -- or cash generated by its operations minus costs for capital projects -- was negative $1.3 billion in the last 12 months, according to Bloomberg News and other media reports on the company’s self-reported, cherry-picked financial figures. For the sake of comparison to a recent but dramatically different era in technology, Facebook had positive free cash flow for three full years when it filed to go public in 2012. 

Don’t just listen to me about the importance of companies that can sustain themselves with their own cash flow. Listen to Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. "The most important factor for me," he said at a Fortune conference last month, is "cash flow generation."

 "I don't want to be dependent on private, public or any markets to fund the business expansion and the extraordinary expansion in front of us," he said.

Well said. Uber doesn’t need to be cash flow positive when it goes public. And maybe not for years. But eventually it does, and at this point it’s not clear how or when that might happen. 

Khosrowshahi and investors in both Uber and other on-demand ride companies have said the economics of the basic business are nicely profitable and improving in some established cities. They say finances for Uber and its rivals are distorted by intentional decisions to grab market share in many cities, global expansion into areas where rides aren’t immediately profitable and investments in promising but cash-draining businesses such as driverless cars.

Young tech companies often say they can pare spending or curtail growth investments if they need to fund themselves solely with cash their businesses generate. That sounds great, but it’s remarkable to think we don’t know what Uber’s business looks like -- or if it can even exist -- if the company had to live within its means.

If times change and Uber needs to become cash flow profitable earlier than it expects, what happens to Uber’s fares or the availability of rides? Does the cost for a ride double or triple? And if so, and demand for rides shrinks, how much more does it cost Uber to attract and retain drivers, which then depresses demand from riders? If Uber has to stop or pare back its investments in driverless cars or food delivery, what happens to the company’s future value or its cash flow?

And it’s not trivial to cross the chasm from a fast-growing technology company that needs constant fresh cash to a firm that can finance its own operations. In a recent analysis I did of tech companies that had gone public since 2010, I was surprised to see that some relatively seasoned companies had for years generated less cash than their businesses needed to operate. Companies such as Pandora Media and FireEye need continual supplies of fresh cash from stock sales or borrowings. 

To be clear, Uber had billions of dollars of cash on hand as of June 30. It’s not in danger of blowing up. But nothing about Uber is a sure thing. Not its eye-popping valuation, not its ability to withstand competition and regulatory challenges around the world, and certainly not its very viability as a business. .

Source : Bloomberg 

from Taxi Leaks https://ift.tt/2BnfJoW
via IFTTT

Lawless London Illegal Electric Rickshaws Driven By Drunken Drivers....Enough's, Enough

'Lawless' rickshaw drivers are accused of drinking and cycling on the streets of London by disgruntled taxi driver

This is the incredible moment a London black cab driver caught out two rickshaw hosts drinking on the job. 

Driver, Tom, noticed the the two rickshaw drivers sitting in their vehicles and drinking alcohol. 

The 41-year-old decided to pull into the taxi rank next to them on Wardour Street in London and watch the pair as they guzzled cans of lager.  

Pair of rickshaw drivers caught drinking alcohol on the job

Tom, who shared the video on Twitter, confronted the drivers who then accused him of being racist. 

He tweeted: 'There it is , you can see #London is lawless #rickshaw 'drivers' drinking alcohol outside m&m store waiting to pick up children and their parents and posting as #taxi @TheLTDA @LTDAForum @The_LCDC @MetCC @TfL @MayorofLondon how long before they gonna kill someone?' 

The pair then go on to criticise Tom's ability to speak English and said, 'When you come to Europe, you need to learn the language.'

Two rickshaw drivers were confronted for drinking lager on the job in Wardour Street, London

The pair, who shared a can, called a black cab driver a racist when he confronted them

Tom said: 'I have arrived on Wardour Street and saw two rickshaws and their drivers sitting in one of them. 

'There was a can of lager on the floor so I decided to keep an eye on them. I put myself on the taxi rank then I noticed that they are actually drinking that lager.'

'It was outside M&M store so clearly they were waiting for children and parents to take them on the ride around London.   

'Those rickshaws have electric engines which makes them illegal and drunk driving that's even more dangerous. 

See ATMs video n Twitter here:

https://twitter.com/tom_1_3_/status/1029359107424313344?s=21

Tom took to Twitter to tell others about what he witnessed and raise awareness of drink driving

'I've called met police but they were extremely busy as it was the same time as that incident outside parliament so it was clearly ignored. 

'I decided to record those drivers to raise awareness about this illegal activities around West End. I'm shocked that TFL and met police is powerless around them. 

'Just wondering what needs to happen for them to be taken off the roads?' 

Source  : Daily Mail.

from Taxi Leaks https://ift.tt/2L1Ssbp
via IFTTT

Private Hire driver Allowed To Keep Licence Despite Previously Being Jailed For Child Sex Abuse.

A Private Hire driver has been  allowed to keep his licence and job despite previously being jailed for child abuse.

Sandwell councillors allowed the minicab driver to continue driving despite guidelines saying people convicted of sex offences be barred

Jailed for sexually assaulting a child he’s been allowed to continue working by councillors at a meeting held behind closed doors.

Sandwell councillors allowed the unnamed man to continue driving despite guidelines recommending people convicted of sex offences be barred from holding a private hire licence.

Members of the licensing sub committee made the decision at its meeting in July from which the public and press were excluded.

Minutes of the meeting released this week only refer to the driver as 'Mr S G' and exclude any information which identifies him.

The secrecy surrounding the decision has been criticised by the Chairman of the West Midlands Private Hire Drivers Association, who called for committees to be open to the public.

The conviction for sexual assault was revealed when councillors reviewed Mr S G's license.

They were told that in November 1999, he was convicted of indecent assault on a female under 14 and was jailed for three months by Warley Magistrates .

Speaking at the committee, Mr S G said he was at a fun fair and had sat next to a young girl.

Denying he touched her, he said the child reported him to the police and he was charged.

After adjourning to take legal advice, councillors decided to allow him to keep his PH licence and: "Warn Mr S G in respect of his conduct and the effect any further problems may have on his licence."

The minutes also show the committee's decision to depart from guidelines on sexual offences, was: "Due to the length of time that had lapsed since the conviction, his good driving record and good character."

"Mr S G had held a licence for 12 years and had not received any further convictions."

But Raheel Shah, Chairman of the West Midlands Private Hire Drivers Association, has criticised the decision and the secrecy surrounding it.

"No one with a conviction for sexual assault should be given a Taxi or Private Hire licence, " he said.

"I think meetings of this kind should be open so the public can see what is going on."

In a statement to the LDRS, Sandwell council admitted it knew of Mr S.G's conviction when they originally issued him a licence in 2007.

Explaining it's July decision, a spokesman said: "Sandwell's private hire and hackney carriage licensing policy, introduced in October 2017,requires existing licence holders who committed a serious offence in the past who have been previously licensed by the Committee or officers or Court to appear before the Committee to consider whether or not their licence should be revoked.

"The Licensing Committee will consider each case on its merits and take into account the length of time that has elapsed since the conviction and the drivers conduct and the length of time the licence holder has held a licence."

"The public and press are excluded from the hearing of individual cases. This is to avoid the possible disclosure of exempt information under Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972, relating to an individual and or information relating to any action taken or to be taken in connection with the prevention, investigation or prosecution of crime."

TAXI LEAKS EXTRA BIT :

This is similar to the “killer on the Knowledge” case were TfL allowed Shamsul Haque, who murdered his wife and assaulted his daughter, to become a Private Hire Driver and also sign on to the Knowledge program to become a licensed Taxi driver. 

After two mass demonstrations outside Penton Street, the man was thrown off the Knowledge and had his PH licence revoked. 

It also heralded the exit from TfLTPH of many directors and managerial staff at that time, and rightly so. 

from Taxi Leaks https://ift.tt/2BiUFjl
via IFTTT

Uber reportedly lost $891 million in the second quarter of 2018 as growth slows

Exclusive : Colts Taxis Getts Rid, In Favour Of A Non-Profit TaxiApp Provided By Licensed Taxi Drivers...by Sean Paul Day.

GETT RID

It’s easy to be critical, in fact, it’s it’s easy to find fault in someone or something or even something some one is doing. Add to that a clash in personality and it’a wonder we manage to get any work done with the amount of criticism we have to wade through. 

Now, if you want to take criticism to the next level you need to be someone who earns a living out of the trade. It doesn’t matter who or what you do, or if you are good, bad, or ugly, you are going to get criticised. 

What the trade lacks is reciprocity, alliances or partners if you will. There was a time when the regulation that governs our industry prevailed, but now it seems, with everyone else partnering anyone they can find, the trade is becoming increasingly isolated in a world where a few alliances would do us a world of good 

TAXIAPP UK - London’s only Trade app that’s owned and run by drivers themselves is always looking for different ways to advertise their product, and one such place is on the side of taxis. However, TAXIAPP/ unlike the Corporate led apps- isn’t afforded the luxury of any outside investment and because a lot of the fleet owners look to maximising profits from renting cabs, the cost of advertising on cabs has always been out of the price range for TAXIAPP to consider 

Enter Michael Glassman from Colts Cabs. Responding to the strong feelings in the trade against ride hailing apps, particularly Gett, he has taken the stance to remove all of their liveries and replace them with TAXIAPP ones completely free of charge. In total Glassman has supplied a fleet of 80 cabs for TAXIAPP to advertise their brand. 

   

A spokesperson from TAXIAPP said they were thrilled at what is effectively an unprecedented act of goodwill and hopes that the exposure will generate more business for the app, and also shine a torch on the commitment Colts Cabs have shown towards the trade 

Of course it’s not entirely without cost as the app had to consider designing and producing the livery itself and of coarse there was the fitting to consider. "We did actually get a very good deal from Dvinylwraps," says Scott, who looks after the app’s finances "To do all 80 cabs in one go simply wasn’t feasible, but we had to find a way as it was far too good an offer to let go by the wayside"

What you’ll see is a dozen cabs (possibly more ) each month being filtered out on to the streets of the Capital emblazoned with the TAXIAPP logo.

As far as criticism goes? Well, very few people in this world do anything for zero pay off, but as far as this act of good will is concerned, Glassman didn’t have to do it, but he chose to, and should be commended for it. That’s criticism, partnerships and helping each other all in one. As the mantra goes, support those that support the trade.

I await criticism

from Taxi Leaks https://ift.tt/2nIEEcU
via IFTTT

Quebec Is Giving $250 Million In Taxpayer Money To Taxi Drivers Who Have Lost Business Because Of Uber

However, the money is not coming from Uber, the money will be paid to the drivers and Taxi companies direct from public funds.

Ride-sharing companies have quickly come to dominate the taxi market all over the world and have devastated the legitimate licensed taxi trades in many cities.  

Uber has made its services ubiquitous on Saturday nights flooding cities with cars, causing congestion, especially in Montreal, where a young population and booming nightlife have come to rely on ride-shares.

Montreal taxi drivers, have bemoaned this massive change in the industry. The taxi industry has tried repeatedly to get Uber banned from the city. Drivers have staged protests and pursued court cases but to no avail. Uber is her to stay.

For that reason the provincial government of Quebec has decided to offer compensation to taxi drivers whose business has suffered because of Uber.

A whopping total of $250 million in public funds is expected to go to drivers who have seen the value of their permits plummet from hundreds of thousands of dollars to just a few tens of thousands. 

More information is forthcoming from the government.

Many were quick to point out that, like it or not, this is just how capitalism works. New technologies, industries, and markets replace obsolete services. Workers in older industries have to adapt to changing times.

But instead of investing heavily in a transition to the new industry, the government is handing them cash to make up for the declining value of permits. Only $44 million will go toward improving taxi companies to help them compete in changing times.

Taxi drivers deserve secure livelihoods. But is this the best use of public funds? 

Lump sums will not help those drivers in the long term

Source : MTL blog.

from Taxi Leaks https://ift.tt/2vJgBik
via IFTTT

New Tarif Update : Changes Due To Come Into Effect Saturday 6 October 2018

Tariff Update today:

Tariff email from Darren Crowson (TFL) 

Dear All,

Changes to the taxi fares and tariffs have now been approved and the changes are due to come into effect on Saturday 6 October 2018.

The changes approved were:

 *   Increasing the minimum fare from £2.60 to £3.00

 *   Increasing Tariff 1 by 0.6 per cent

 *   Increasing Tariff 2 by 0.6 per cent

 *   Extending the fuel charge arrangements until the next taxi fares and tariffs update

 *   Increasing by 50 pence the fixed fares for shared taxis from Euston Station (with the exception of the Euston Station to Lords Cricket Ground fare)

 *   Increasing the soiling charge from £40.00 to £60.00

The following were also approved:

 *   Freezing Tariff 3

 *   Freezing the tariff rate for journeys over six miles (sometimes referred to as Tariff 4)

 *   Further work and research being conducted to look at fixed and capped fare schemes to and from Heathrow Airport

 *   Adding fares for six passengers sharing to the shared taxi conversion table

·        Requiring all card payment devices approved for use in taxis to accept American Express as well as Visa and MasterCard

Some items discussed when we met or which were included in the consultation document were not taken forward and I'll run through what changed, what wasn't approved or consulted on, and the details of the new tariffs when we meet on Thursday 30 August 2018.

Information for the taximeter companies is now being finalised and I'll send you a copy of this as soon as it is ready.

If you have any questions let me know and I'll either respond by email or collate these and then run through them when we meet.

Regards

Darren Crowson

Policy Manager

Transport for London - Taxi and Private Hire

3rd Floor (3G2), 230 Blackfriars Road

London

SE1 8NW

Tel: 020 3054 2945 (internal 82945)

from Taxi Leaks https://ift.tt/2PcpdGs
via IFTTT

Uber Driver Was Accused of Sexual Assault, But Not Fired. Then It Happened Again, Lawsuit Says.

Amber* and her friends spent a hot and humid July 2017 evening in Chattanooga, Tennessee, at The Pickle Barrel, a pub in a flatiron building with southern bites and a crowded roof deck.

As she had many nights before, Amber called an Uber for her and a friend to make the more than eight-mile trip home at about 1:30 a.m. But unlike those other nights, on July 22, 2017, Amber says she was sexually assaulted by her driver before she made it to her own front door.

Though Amber immediately reported her assault to both Uber and the authorities, another woman says she was victimized by that same driver just 15 days later.

Now, the women want answers.

Both unidentified plaintiffs filed a 65-page lawsuit against Uber last month in Hamilton County, Tennessee. The complaint was first covered by The Chattanoogan, and it claims the company was negligent in its retention of the alleged perpetrator, 26-year-old John Kyle Lane, after the first incident. The women are seeking at least $25,000 in damages to be determined at trial.

Lane began his ride with Amber by "offering details of his personal life that [she] found to be inappropriate," according to the complaint. After dropping off Amber’s friend, Lane arrived at her home, pulled into the driveway, and positioned his vehicle "such that he was between [her] and her house," the lawsuit claims.

Then, he allegedly locked the doors. Lane asked Amber how she felt about uncircumcised penises and then forced his genitals into her hand while groping her breast, according to both the lawsuit and police documents obtained by The Tennessean.

When Amber threatened to scream and jerked her hand away, Lane allegedly unlocked the door and let her out. As he sped away, Amber ran into her house and called the Red Bank Police Department and notified Uber, according to the lawsuit.

"This driver should be fired. I find him to be a danger to his passengers," Amber allegedly wrote at the end of her complaint to the company.

An Uber representative purportedly sent her an email shortly afterward, noting that the company had launched an internal investigation and that someone would be in touch with her as soon as possible. A phone call later that day from another representative confirmed the investigation, the lawsuit claims.

Uber refunded Amber’s money for the ride and placed a restriction on her profile so that she would never be paired with Lane again, according to the complaint.

Afterward, she was traumatized, had nightmares, and had difficulty sleeping, according to the lawsuit.

"The trauma of this event became embedded in her mind to the point where it often infiltrated her every thought, impeded her ability to carry out her daily activities and infected her relationship with her husband and young daughter," the complaint claims. She "suffered severe emotional distress and was forced to enter counseling and seek psychiatric treatment," the court papers say.

Meanwhile, Lane was still driving customers. On Aug. 6, 2017, he picked up Julia*.

She was trying to get home from downtown Chattanooga and, again, Lane struck up an "inappropriate" conversation and eventually asked if he could "come inside and ‘have a threesome’" with Julia and her boyfriend, court documents allege.

When she moved to get out of the car, Lane yelled and allegedly exposed his erect penis.

"You’re not going anywhere until you do something about this," he said, according to the complaint. She frantically left the vehicle and ran to the back of her house.

That evening, Julia reported the incident to the East Ridge Police Department and to Uber, which allegedly took six days to respond to her report, the complaint claims. The ride-hail giant said it would restrict Lane’s driver access and investigate the situation. A few days later, Julia allegedly received another message from the company, claiming that Lane’s account was put on hold until an investigation could be completed. She was also told that she would not be paired with Lane again.

After receiving another Aug. 14, 2017 email from Uber, Julia wrote: "I very much appreciate that I will not be paired with this Uber driver, but my concern is that another girl will end up with this individual and something worse will happen to her…. I have been a member of this community long before Uber came to our city and I feel a certain responsibility to the other women I live alongside."

Lane has been charged in Hamilton County with stalking, harassment, sexual battery and indecent exposure, according to The Tennessean. He is scheduled for a court hearing on Aug. 14 and 15, the newspaper reports.

Lane began driving for Uber in spring 2017, according to the lawsuit, which claims the company "failed to exercise reasonable care in retaining Lane and continuing to allow him to drive its customers."

In a statement sent to The Daily Beast on Monday night, an Uber spokeswoman said: "What’s been described is appalling and this driver remains permanently removed from the app."

Another suit against Uber, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, first alleged in November 2017 that the ride-hail giant operates a system that enables perpetrators to have access to thousands of victims all over the country.

One driver is even accused of masturbating in the presence of a customer, explaining: "I thought this is what you wanted." The nine plaintiffs have each claimed that they were sexually assaulted, harassed, or kidnapped by their Uber driver.

"Uber has done everything possible to continue using low-cost, woefully inadequate background checks on drivers and has failed to monitor drivers for any violent or inappropriate conduct after they are hired," that lawsuit, amended in March, says. "Uber has created a system for bad actors to gain access to vulnerable victims."

Attorney Jeanne Christensen, who represents those plaintiffs, told The Daily Beast in March that "Uber’s goal is to stop women from getting the justice they deserve through our court system."

An April investigation by CNN found 103 reports of sexual assault by Uber drivers within the past four years.

An Uber spokesperson told CNN then that safety is the company’s top priority this year, pointing out numerous recent protocol updates, including more background checks, in addition to a "safety center" on the app. Another Uber spokesperson said in March that the company takes all sexual-misconduct allegations against its drivers "very seriously."

*Pseudonyms were given to the unidentified victims in these lawsuits.

from Taxi Leaks https://ift.tt/2MLmJx3
via IFTTT

MyTaxi Sacks Driver For Pointing Out Controventions Of Regulations

Earlier this year, the flaws in the MyTaxi app passed before my inspection: 

it was possible for someone with multiple convictions to get on to their system, to the point of receiving a statement of earnings. 

But, it seems, MyTaxi is not for listening to those pointing out problems with this app. And one cabby found recently that his insistence on observing regulations meant being sacked from the platform altogether.

Chris Johnson pointed out that MyTaxi was offering app jobs to drivers outside the Greater London area - drivers could lose their licence if TfL concluded that the driver was plying for hire using the app. He asked if drivers were plying for hire on the app, or if an instant hire was a pre-booking (drivers can accept a pre-booking anywhere in England and Wales, but can only ply in their licensed area). He received no reply.

His TfL Taxi licence expired on the MyTaxi system, although he had renewed with TfL. But MyTaxi were sending him instant app jobs on an expired licence, so he complained that this was a public safety risk, as revoked drivers could still operate on MyTaxi on a potential expired TfL licence. No word from MyTaxi.

These are basic safety and regulation issues. And it gets worse.

MyTaxi tells the driver to charge a minimum fare of £10 at certain times of the day, but taxi drivers are not allowed to charge more than the metered fare - as it is an offence. Johnson explained to MyTaxi that MyTaxi could charge the customer more than the metered fare but that would mean that they are the principal in the contract, making him potentially a worker for them. Still no word from MyTaxi.

Read the full story on Zelo Street Blog...click this link:-

https://ift.tt/2nESjBM

from Taxi Leaks https://ift.tt/2P9rja3
via IFTTT

EXCLUSIVE : Fake News From The LTDA...Surely Not...by Jim Thomas

Under the Heading FAKE NEWS The Rumour Mill, the LTDA have put out an article claiming that certain ill-informed and gossip-based websites are putting out posts about e-Taxis that are complete nonsense. 

The article they are referring to (albeit unnamed) is more likely to be (as we haven't seen it anywhere else), the post which appeared in Taxi Leaks news blog that was headed:  

Exclusive....Another Done Deal For London Taxis, From The Same Mob That Bought You Rear Fitted Credit Card Readers?

https://taxileaks.blogspot.com/2018/07/exclusiveanother-done-deal-from-same.html

So far nothing fake or misleading here!

They say the so called article appeared first on some ill- informed and gossip-based websites before spreading to Twitter. This is not correct as the information appeared first on Twitter then, after we'd checked it out, appeared in Taxi Leaks!

As proof of the so called uninformed fake news gossip, the LTDA offer the explanation that the signage was authorised by the Department of Transport for Manchester City Council.

As evidence of the fakeness of the post they posted 3 images of which two they say, show signage that they claim were intended for Manchester Council. 

Our original article was based on receipt of a letter from the DfT which stated :

Letter reads:-

Thank you for your email to the Department of Transport of 22 July regarding electric Taxis. This passed to the traffic and technology division and I have been asked to reply.

I can confirm that signs have been approved for use by Transport for London.

See letter below. 

http://assets.dft.gov.uk/trafficauths/case-4593.pdf

Yours sincerely

Fiona O'Neal

In the images sent to us, you can clearly see the TfL Surface Transport logo in the bottom right hand corner. 

As can be clearly seen, these signs were authorised by the DfT specificly for Transport for London and carry TfL's logo and address in the bottom right hand corner of the illustrations

The logos clearly marked out on the DFT PDF, appear to have been omitted from the images which appear in Taxi !

No only does it carry the TfL logo, it also has their address on each sign, 197 Blackfriars Road. 

Now unless we are mistaken, that's definitely not the address of Manchester City Council.....over to you Steve???

TAXI LEAKS EXTRA BIT : 

Was this an attempt to blacken the good name and reputation of Taxi Leaks?

Or was this an attempt to cover up the news from a whistleblower that the LTDA were pushing for e-Taxis only at the Bank Junction and Tottenham Court Road?

More bad press on its way for the general secretary of the LTDA in the pipe line... This appeared earlier on the ITA Twitter feed:

One of the proposals in the Task & Finish Group is it asks the Government to review the case for restricting the number of hours Taxi and PH drivers may drive.

Steve McNamara is an advisor to this group.

Why is he keeping this information to himself?

We need to know! And we need to know now!

Good luck paying for your new overpriced e-Taxi, if that particular proposal goes through.

No wonder Mr McNamara isn't happy with social media. 

Good luck explaining this away as fake news!

from Taxi Leaks https://ift.tt/2nE49Mu
via IFTTT

Uber Rival Ola has hired the former Chief Operating Officer of Google Europe to run its UK

Uber's latest UK challenger, Ola is the market leader in India's ride-hailing market with a service including taxis, luxury cars and even rickshaws. It is set to launch in South Wales and Manchester later this year.

Both Legg's technical and business credentials will serve Ola well when it comes to competitive strategies in the evolved British transportation market. 

Before embarking on a corporate career, Legg was a Captain in the British Army’s Royal Engineers for 10 years.

He joins from digital advertising company AdParlor.

Can’t wait for TfL to licence London’s electric rickshaws and then see them operate under the Uber or Ola banner. 

The Lycra clad happy clappers will lap up the zero emission reichshaw bikes which are turning London into a virtual third world City 

from Taxi Leaks https://ift.tt/2OxLTQ1
via IFTTT

Mike Brown's TfL And The Mayor Give Uber 1,000 Strikes And Your Out With 14 Months To Go.

Story we seen today on Twitter that Katers Douk left a wallet in an Uber Car. Afte agreeing to bring it back, the drive late text saying he would hold on to the wallet unless a sum of £30 was paid. 

The uber account holder contacting Uber support by email but was then given the run around, with Uber saying the issue should be sorted using the in app support team. 

But it seems the in app support team are not listening to complaints today!

from Taxi Leaks https://ift.tt/2MeZ1Nw
via IFTTT

Uber investor Bradley Tusk Says Dara Khosrowshahi's kinder, gentler approach Is Makibg Uber Apoear Weak

Uber CEO Dara KhosrowshahiUber

 • Regulation critic Bradley Tusk, who is also an Uber shareholder, has some strong opinions on New York's new regulations that cap the number of ride-share drivers.

 • He believes that Uber's kinder, gentler approach these days could be interpreted as weakness by Uber's traditional rivals.

 • But an Uber insider tells us that times have changed, and Uber's view on its former rivals has changed with them.

Political-campaigner-turned-regulation-critic Bradley Tusk -who is also an Uber shareholder - has some unsolicited advice for Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi: Uber's kinder, gentler image isn't a good thing when it comes to a "bare knuckle fight" with would-be regulators who want to limit Uber's business.

"Effectively, if you want a CEO who is chosen because he is calm and smooth and avoids conflict at all costs, that may work really well in certain parts of the business. But when it comes to a sort of bare knuckle fight with the city council, you really have no chance at all," Tusk tells Business Insider.

Tusk's comments are in response to new rules approved earlier this week in New York, when Mayor de Blasio achieved something he had been wanting to do for three years: limiting the number of ride-sharing cars operating in the city.

Tusk's viewpoint poses interesting questions for tech startups fighting incumbents in heavily regulated industries.

Is there still a time and place for Silicon Valley's famous resistance to government regulations? The most extreme example of that attitude is Uber's brash former CEO Travis Kalanick, who fought them with gusto. But companies like Airbnb, FanDuel, Bird, and the bevy of self-driving car companies are all having their own stand-offs with city and state regulators. And in the years before Kalanick's spectacular fall from grace, he was widely praised in the Valley for his tactics in taking on the old-school incumbents...and winning.

In fact, in 2015 de Blasio tried to do this same thing, and limit the number of ride share drivers. But Uber engaged in an all-out assault of protests that was so powerful, it became the blueprint for how tech upstarts could combat would-be regulators.

It also catapulted the take-no-prisoners political operative who orchestrated Uber's counter-regulation campaign, Tusk, into a sought-after star helping other tech upstarts fight regulators.

Bradley TuskGetty 

Tusk was paid in Uber stock to help Kalanick navigate New York's notoriously thick taxi regulations in those earlier days. Those shares of Uber, paid in lieu of Tusk Strategies' usual fees, were believed to be worth $100 million in 2017.

Tusk cashed out some of his Uber shares earlier this year, when SoftBank invested in the company and bought up equity from existing shareholders. However, he still owns a significant chunk of shares in Uber, he said.

But he says he's never met Khosrowshahi, much less advised him.

Still, he has some advice for Uber's current CEO.

"What I would say to him: there's a lot of areas where a kinder, gentler approach makes sense. But taxi is a cartel. Uber only exists because Travis and team were tough enough to take them on and fight them tooth and nail in every city in the United States," Tusk said.

"And if you don't do that, they are going to re-emerge," he warned. "They didn't become nicer people or kinder people. Or, just because you have a better reputation than Travis, they are all of a sudden going to treat you differently. More likely they are going to see you as weak and they are going to come after you."

Do nice guys finish last?

And yet, just because tough tactics worked in the past doesn't mean they are necessary for the future, argues a person familiar with Uber's New York operations, who requested anonymity to discuss the company's internal deliberations on this latest city council ruling.

"A lot has changed since 2015 in terms of driver and rider sentiment and how they feel about Uber has declined significantly. If this was a political campaign, Uber doesn't have a base anymore," this person said, adding that Uber has suffered a 30%-plus drop in reputation, even among riders.

That drop would have "weakened" the company's ability to rally protesters, should they have tried a repeat of the tactics used in 2015.

Also, under Khosrowshahi, Uber doesn't view the taxi industry as the all-out enemy anymore, this person said.

The company particularly has sympathy for the the drivers themselves hurt by the rise of ride-sharing, the person said. Six of them have committed suicide in New York, blaming Uber for destroying their livelihoods.

Plus executives believe that Uber, under Khosrowshahi, has won back the good graces of regulators in London and Buenos Aires, and that this is a better strategy than campaigning against them in the long-term.

Internally at Uber, executives nowadays didn't see much of a threat to their long-term business by capping the number of ride sharing vehicles on the road at current levels in New York for a year, this person said. They don't believe that New York will become a model for other cities instituting caps, as Tusk warns.

Meanwhile, even if Uber has moved on, Tusk has no shortage of takers that want his brand of fight. He's currently working with electric scooter rental company Bird and daily fantasy sports firm FanDuel.

Source : ukbusinessInsider.com

from Taxi Leaks https://ift.tt/2vEK50N
via IFTTT

The London Electrical Cab made its debut more than 120 years ago.

In August 2017, London’s first hybrid black cabs hit the streets ahead of new legislation that came into effect this year, requiring all new cabs to be ‘zero emissions capable’. The TX can operate for around 70 miles on battery power alone, with a petrol range extender allowing it to clock up around 400 miles before refuelling. But London’s very first electric cabs actually came into service exactly 120 years earlier.

"Mr W H Preece inaugurated a service of electrical cabs which are to ply for hire in the streets of London in competition with the ordinary hackney carriages," wrote The Engineer in August 1897. "Thirteen of these cabs are now ready for work, and a staff of drivers have been instructed in the use of them. 

The cabs will be let out by the proprietors, the London Electrical Cab Company, Limited, just at the same rate and in the same manner as the London cabs. The ‘cabbies’ are, we are informed, quite enthusiastic about the new vehicle."

The London Electrical Cab – also commonly known as the ‘Hummingbird’ due to its sound, or the ‘Bersey Taxi’ after its young designer – first took to the streets of the capital on August 19 1897. Inventor Walter Charles Bersey was just 23 at the time, but had been designing and patenting electric vehicles for several years already. According to our predecessors, his creation was intended to mimic the appearance of the horse-drawn taxis of the day.

"The vehicle resembles very closely a horseless and shaftless coupé. It is carried on four wooden solid rubber-tired wheels. There is ample space for the coachmen. The accommodation within is luxurious. The propelling machinery consists of a 8-horse power Johnson-Lundell motor, with double wound armature and fields, so that by the use of a suitable switch or controller a variety of speeds can be obtained."

"The current is supplied by 40 EPS traction type cells, having a capacity of 170 ampere hours when discharged at a rate of 30 amperes. The cabs can thus travel between thirty and thirty-five miles per charge."

The vehicle had speed settings of three, seven and nine miles per hour, controlled by a lever at the side of the driver’s box. A powerful footbrake that broke the electrical circuit could also be applied, halting the vehicle in short order. This was one of four key conditions under which taxis were granted licenses by Scotland Yard, with carriages also required to be capable of turning in small spaces and climbing central London’s steepest ascent of the time, Savoy Hill.

The batteries, which weighed some 14 cwt (over 700 kg), were hung from springs underneath the vehicle and could be swapped out at Bersey’s Lambeth station using a system of hydraulic lifts. This was undoubtedly restrictive, and it was planned at the time to introduce other stations throughout London where the batteries could be charged and swapped. Though Bersey’s company claimed cab drivers welcomed the vehicle, it appears its introduction was not received as warmly from all quarters, as the following passage from a September 1897 edition of The Engineer illustrates.

"Mr. Walter C Bersey, the general manager of the London Electrical Cab Company, Ltd., has written to the general secretary of the London Cab Trade Council, saying that he fails to see how it can be contended that the introduction of electrical cabs can be against the interests of the cabdrivers. He says he has spoken to hundreds of cabmen on the subject, and has always understood they were most anxious for the change, as it would shorten their hours by saving the time wasted in changing horses, and also save them the unpleasantness of frequently having to drive tired and undesirable horses."

Despite Bersey’s protestations, the vehicle never really took off, with the fleet only reaching a peak of around 75 units. The cab’s two-tonne weight caused huge wear on the tyres which led to noise and vibrations escalating significantly after six months of use. Bersey’s company lost £6,200 in the first year of operation, and the business was forced to close in 1899, the vehicles disappearing from London’s streets just two years after making their debut.

Source : the engineer.co.uk

from Taxi Leaks https://ift.tt/2KJw6vt
via IFTTT