Australia

40 Uber drivers have been issued suspension notices in New South Wales, as the state government moves in on illegal ride-sharing services.

On Monday, a NSW Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) spokesman said that taxi and hire car services must have authorised and accredited operators, as well as a licensed and insured vehicle.

"Thousands of dollars in fines have already been issued to drivers offering illegal ride-sharing activities and compliance actions will continue," he said. "If drivers continue to offer illegal ride-sharing services, they will continue to risk registration suspensions and fines."

The 40 UberX suspensions will take effect from midnight on Wednesday for three months.

If a suspended vehicle is found on the road after October 1, the vehicle will be deemed unregistered and uninsured, with penalties of AU$637 for each offence, increasing to around AU$2,200 if heard in court, the RMS spokesman added.

Uber says it is waiting for the NSW government to sensibly regulate the industry.

"We are shocked that the Roads and Maritime Services did not appear to show these drivers any due process and we are reviewing the legal options to reverse this decision," Uber said in a statement on Monday.

The RMS has been hot on Uber's heels for a while, issuing court attendance notifications to Uber's Sydney drivers earlier this year.

http://goo.gl/14PKuy
------------------------------------------
EDINBURGH

 CAB hailing service Gett is prep­aring to launch business accounts that guarantee a timely taxi for corporate customers in Edinburgh.

Remo Gerber, chief executive in the UK and western Europe, said Gett for Business will be introduced before the end of the year with options for fixed-price tariffs and various tools for managing a corporate account. Employers could, for example, set up a system that automatically records the identity of a user and the specific purpose of their journey, thus cutting out the paperwork of reimbursing staff expenses.

“Those blank receipts will be a thing of the past,” said Gerber, who was in the capital last week speaking at the Opportunity Knocks conference hosted by Entrepreneurial Spark and RBS.

The critical element, however, is the guarantee that a taxi will arrive promptly.

Unlike major rival Uber, Gett – known as GetTaxi until earlier this year – works solely with licensed black cabs and Hackneys. Drivers sign up for the extra business it generates, but during periods of peak dem­and users may find there are no taxis available.

This has reportedly been the case when the weather is poor, or during rush hour. Additionally, Gerber said Gett was unable to meet all demand during last month’s International and Fringe festivals.

Gett is in the final stages of developing a back-end system designed to prioritise its corporate customers. According to Gerber, business travel accounts for about 40 per cent of all taxi journeys in Edinburgh.

“For the consumers we are working hard every day to get more drivers on board,” he added.

Gett has roughly 200 drivers in Edinburgh, and a further 130 in Glasgow. It launched in both cities seven months ago, during which time the capital has overtaken Manchester as the company’s biggest UK market outside London.

In addition to corporate accounts, Gett is also expanding into other time-saving services via its app, which is available in 32 cities throughout the UK, Russia and Israel, as well as New York City in the US.

http://goo.gl/bKbsBG