TfLTPH, Oh What A Tangled Web You Weave...by Jim Thomas.

Just when you thought the scandal that is TfLTPH couldn't get any more convoluted, another little gem drops into our lap. 

In an email reply to a Taxi driver, TfLTPH's head of policy Tom Moody, makes the statement that a minicab operator/driver who accepts a booking and takes payment, there is in our (TfLTPH) view, what amounts to a contractual arrangement between the operator and the driver. 

He goes on to say, "I don't think that it is for us to comment on any specific contractual arrangements between the various parties". 

This is the same licensing regulator that is insisting that we as a whole trade give free credit to all in sundry, using both chip and pin or Contactless transactions....

One rule for PH....and a stiffer one for us. 

Many drivers believe that this is just the tip of the iceberg as one major CC company has warned its transaction costs could soon rise.

As predicted, TfL's tenuous links with third parties stakeholders are beginning to be leaked.

TfL have been unwavering about the rear siting of the CC reader, even in light of safety concerns of drivers. 

They've  reluctantly allowed independent companies to supply machines attacked by blue tooth to a printer (which is a requirement hat could be dropped), knowing full well that when (not if) TfL bring in the requirement for the CC reader to be attached to the meter (rumoured to be coming into affect summer 2017), the smaller machines i.e. CabApp, PayPal, iZettle and the like, will become unauthorised overnight. This would mean an approximate loss of investment by the driver to the tune of £400. 

Although Helen Chapman recently stated that "at present" they had no plans to do this.... The LCDC published proof in the last issue of the badge that LTPH was in fact currently in close discussion with the major CC companies to do just this!

Just as you were thinking, this couldn't get anymore damming, the Twitter account of TfL put out this tweet, showing conflict of interest to a third party stakeholder/ partner. 

As most of the Taxi top digital advertising screens belong to Verifone, why are TfL paying this company to advertise its own credit card service?

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Uber Faces $5 Million Suit From San Francisco's Oldest Cab Company

Another party is suing Uber over the ride-hailing service's business practices. This time it's San Francisco's Flywheel, the taxi company formerly known as DeSoto Cab, also known as SF's oldest taxi company. To the tune of a $5 million-plus federal suit, Flywheel alleges that since UberX came to be in 2012, the city's taxi industry has lost 65 percent of its riders and 30 percent of its drivers, according to SF Gate.

Flywheel claims that's the result of Uber setting prices between 10-and-45 percent lower than that of taxi services, and that Uber can cover this cost thanks to investments from deep-pocketed venture capitalists. There are a few bits about Uber misrepresenting its safety, pricing and potential earnings for drivers as well.

"This lawsuit is about holding Uber responsible for their unlawful practices," Flywheel CEO Hansu Kim told the publication. "It is not about stifling competition or technological innovations. We want all on-demand taxi services to be treated fairly under the law, and competing on an even playing field."

Flywheel also thinks that Uber will drive out all of its competitors, create a monopoly and then jack prices up because it'll be the only option available.

A Stanford professor doesn't think the suit will go anywhere though because courts have made it "extremely hard" to prove predatory pricing. "The complaint that a competitor charges too little money is usually not evidence of a secret conspiracy to drive everyone out of the market and then raise prices," Stanford Law's director Mark Lemley said. "It's usually (made by) someone who is failing to compete in the market and is upset about it."

NBC Bay Area reports that Flywheel's lawyers predict the case could take over a year to be resolved.

Uber's response? "We compete with lots of ways to get around, especially car ownership," according to a statement given to TechCrunch. "Our goal is to provide a credible alternative to the private car. Our technology lets us make our network more efficient over time, and innovations like UberPool are further lowering prices, making ridesharing available to more people."

Amid all the other litigation Uber currently faces, this once again proves that you can indeed sue for anything -- winning is another matter entirely.

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TfL : Woefully Inadequate, Incompetent And Biased. Remember Remember The 8th Of November.... By GreenbadgeJohn.

Lets be honest, ...The actions of TFL are actually completely predictable, as they are under immense pressure from us in the taxi industry, they are naturally going to respond against us in kind and try to intimidate us into giving them justifiable and defensible reasons to bring the public into the domain, supporting their actions...and by the same defensive strategy try to alienate us as Luddite's and uncooperative objectors.

The whole ploy of publicly endorsing (and advertising the 'TFL' card payment message) is a strategy of elevating TFL's public status whilst placing us as second class subservient followers of the tfl doctrine of "do as we say or else" mantra. As the 8th November demo approaches we will all have our say in the media arena and try to remember that.

So keep calm and carry on, and remember... 'card payments are not a statutory payment recognised in UK law neither are they compulsory legal tender'.

Ironically, TFL allows re application of fraudulently acquired minicab drivers medicals...provided they have another cloak and dagger tfl arranged test (forgetting they all attempted to defraud the current system tfl and attempted to deceive) also allowing NSL testing centre's to license private hire vehicles who's drivers presented the cheapest third party non fare paying passengers insurance cover notes ...not 12 month policies or documents of hire and reward insurance they were meant to have.

Now as a consequence, private hires vehicles flood the London streets, whilst at the same time tfl are attempting to put stops on Taxis, to prevent them working for the unobtrusive or minor credit card notice failings and other related acceptance discrepancies....none of which are safety or life threatening. 

Dont put up with this nonsense.. this is a corruptly derived plan... demonstrate our complete disgust... 

8th November ... be there in the square... we have more questions for TFL than they have or can possibly answer...only public attention and media exposure will draw the corrupt poison from TFL which is killing our business whilst they get rich.

Be Lucky

greenbadgejohn



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Another Prius Fire : How Long Before Someone Is Burned To Death?

Another Uber Prius has burst into flames, this time in Bruton Street in the a heart of Mayfair. This is what happens when drivers share vehicles and the car is on the road virtually 24 hours a day.

This is becoming an all too familiar sight as more and more of the new 600 PH drivers per week, realise they can't make enough to rent/lease these vehicles on their own and take to sharing, in some cases with two other drivers. 

This vehicle is not suitable to be used constantly, over a 24 hour period, as we can see. 

Will TfL take the same line they did when TX4s were spontaneous combusting?   

How long before someone is seriously burned or even killed?

It's obvious these cars have a serious problem, but will TfL enforce a recall and  take these dangerous vehicles off the road until they can be modified, so as not to put the public at risk of burning to death.

Going on the way TfL have shown bias towards this company I wouldn't hold your breath waiting.

   

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TfL COs Out In Force To Put Stops On Taxis Without (Or The Wrong) Credit Card Stickers.

Level playing field my arse ?

TfL's COs were out in force toda putting stops on Taxis for having none or the wrong type of Credit Card stickers.

Shame that the arm of TfL COs developed blind eye and blinkered syndrome and just ignored the scab fest on the opposite side of the road. 

Would it not have been a show of goodwill towards the trade to have turned up with boxes of stickers, giving them out to drivers who didn't have them on.

Why are they treating this as such a heinous crime. 

This is just typical of the bias and woeful incompudance shown towards our trade by managers at TfLTPH.

When asked by a driver why they were being so forceful, a CO said: 

"we are only acting under orders"

Whilst private hire  murders and rapists are allowed to keep their TfL licenses, COs are under orders to take Taxis off the road for not having or displaying the wrong type of Credit Card stickers. 

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Uber, Not Only Homophobic, Discriminates Against Guild Dogs... Now Study Shows They're Racist.

Ride-hailing service Uber, appears to be racially profiling passengers, a new study suggests.

According to the study by researchers at Stanford, MIT and the University of Washington, which was presented to the National Bureau of Economic Research -African-Americans are more likely to face cancellations and extended wait times when using Uber.

“Frankly, that discrimination exists was not surprising after all the evidence of discrimination elsewhere,” said Stephen Zoepf, Executive Director of the Center for Automotive Research at Stanford and one of the authors on the paper. “It essentially confirmed our suspicions more than anything else. 

I think that the magnitude of the discrimination and the cancellation rates was surprising to me.”

Researchers came to their conclusions after conducting more than 1,400 case studies.

Riders with African-American sounding names experienced wait times up to 28 percent higher, African-American riders were up to two times more likely to have a ride cancelled when choosing UberX, a lower cost service from the ride sharing giant.

They also found that cancellations from an Uber driver were three times more likely to happen with black men.

Uber defended their business, citing a study saying the ride hailing services are more likely to operate in lower income communities than standard taxis.

Uber says its app is designed specifically to prevent discrimination.

Its not just race that uber discriminate against... they have form for discriminating against gets couples and guild dogs 

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Uber Driver Murdered Wife After Googling Most Painful Place To Stab Someone

An Uber minicab driver murdered his wife after searching on Google for ‘the most painful place to stab someone’, a court heard today (tues). 

Jose Leonardo, 56, repeatedly knifed 52 year-old Maria Mbombo in the body and arms and left her to bleed to death at their family home in north London, jurors heard.

He then went to buy beer from a local shop while his two sons discovered their mother's body lying lifeless on the floor of the bedroom. 

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