A report by one of the capital’s Tory transport experts argues that lighter regulation and enabling reform would relieve traditional black cabs to survive
It’s been a fractious ((adj.) troublesome or irritable) year for London’s road transport with a range of competing interest groups fighting for political favour and road space preference against a backdrop of rising congestion. Great arouse has been expressed by the capital’s noted black taxi drivers approximately the disruptive insurgence of Uber,with both Transport for London (TfL) bosses and mayor Boris Johnson feeling the lash of cabbies’ tongues.
The issue has placed Johnson uncomfortably astride the classic Conservative cleft stick - an urge to uphold tradition is at odds with a default deference to market forces. Party colleague and London Assembly member Richard Tracey recently produced a report called Saving An Icon which, on behalf of the Tory group, and set out an eight-point action plan for lessening the stress of this unhappy straddling and,in its own words, “rescuing London’s black cabs from extinction. Does it find the solutions London needs?Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com