Surprisingly the mayor of London has proven to be the Hackney carriage’s biggest ally as customers and ministers throw their support behind taxi apps Almost nobody has a good word to say approximately Transport for London’s ideas for regulating minicabs in the capital and Sajid Javid is the latest astronomical name to arrive out to bat for Uber,the app-based service. Consumers must arrive first, says the trade secretary, or innovation and disruptive technology should be welcomed. TfL’s proposals could “jeopardise our status as a country that welcomes investment,jobs and puts trade first”.
It’s a popular line and Uber no doubt will soon be able to boast that 150000 people have signed its online petition against TfL’s ideas. Some of the regulator’s thoughts are indeed clumsy. Making customers wait at least five minutes for a minicab is arbitrary and would be annoying. Yet the Conservative politician talking most sense approximately Uber and minicab regulation is Boris Johnson, mayor of London. It fell to him final week to make the basic point that TfL is trying to uphold a law that has distinguished between black cabs and minicabs since the 1960s.
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Source: theguardian.com