AUSTIN USA

Uber and Lyft are battling cities over fingerprinting drivers, saying it does nothing to improve safety and is an unnecessary burden — however, new data that came out Tuesday from Austin, Texas, a city both services quit over the issue, might undermine their case.

Austin's new fingerprint-based background checks, which went partially into effect on Aug. 1, barred 86 people with criminal records from driving for ride-hailing services, according to the Austin Transportation Department. Disqualifying offenses may include violent crimes, drug dealing, DUI, prostitution, fraud, resisting arrest, reckless driving, arson and theft.

There is no way of knowing if Uber and Lyft's own background checks — administered by Checkr and Sterling Backcheck — would have flagged these individuals. Uber and Lyft have said that the laws governing traditional taxi and limousine drivers should not be applied to their drivers, many of whom work part time.

Both Uber and Lyft closed up their Austin businesses in May when the city voted to require drivers to be fingerprinted. Both companies are fighting similar regulatory demands in cities such as Houston and Chicago.

http://goo.gl/BkGKLr

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SINGAPORE

The world’s first “self-driving” taxi service has been launched in Singapore – albeit with a human backup driver and co-pilot on board for the time being.

Members of the public selected to take part in the trial would be able to hail a free ride through their smartphones, said nuTonomy, an autonomous vehicle software startup.


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While multiple companies, including Google and Volvo, have been testing self-driving cars on public roads for several years, nuTonomy said it would be the first to offer rides to the public, beating Uber, which plans to offer rides in autonomous cars in Pittsburgh, by a few weeks.

The cars – modified Renault Zoe and Mitsubishi i-MiEV electrics – had a driver in the front prepared to take back the wheel and a researcher in the back watching the car’s computers, the company said. Each was fitted with Lidar, a laser-based detection system like radar.

An Associated Press reporter taking a ride on Wednesday observed that the safety driver had to step on the brakes once, when a car was obstructing the test car’s lane and another vehicle, which appeared to be parked, suddenly began moving in the oncoming lane.

The service would start with six cars, growing to a dozen by the end of the year, said nuTonomy, adding that it aimed to have a fully self-driving taxi fleet in Singapore by 2018.

http://goo.gl/sKWnCO

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TENERIFE

Road rage! Taxi drivers filmed punching and wrestling each other as they argue over who will take a passenger to the airport for £79 fare

This is the moment two taxi drivers got locked in a brutal fistfight over who would get to drive a customer - and collect the hefty £79 fare.

The men grappled violently at a taxi stand in the southern tourist resort Adeje in Tenerife after a passenger asked for a ride to Los Rodeos Airport 54 miles away.

They fell to the ground and wrestled in the middle of the street over who would make the long journey to the other side of the Spanish island.

The argument between the two unidentified taxi drivers then escalated into a full-on fistfight.

Footage shot by a witness inside a car shows the two men exchanging punches before they clinch and wrestle each other to the ground in a stalemate.

One viewer wrote: 'The council should take away the licences of both these drivers who have ruined the image for everybody else. 

'Surely taking away the licences of people like this will mean there are less maniac taxi drivers going 100 mph down the motorway to get to the airport for another run.'

Another commented: 'This is what happens when money comes before human dignity.'

It is unclear whether the police got involved and neither driver has been named in reports. 

http://goo.gl/lKVAO5

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Voyager Multi-Purpose Vehicles (MPV), a leading UK-based specialist vehicle converter, has ordered 50 Vauxhall Vivaro Combi models to be converted for use as taxis.


The firm has regularly converted Vauxhalls in the past and the latest order means that the company’s conversions are predominantly Vauxhall models.

Voyager MPV ordered the Vivaro Combis in bespoke specifications and convert all 50 nine-seater vehicles into dedicated wheelchair accessible taxis at its facility in Crewe.

“Our dedicated team at Voyager MPV are looking forward to working in partnership with Vauxhall,” said Vin O’Leary from Voyager. “We have built an all new nine-seat wheelchair accessible taxi, approved to EC whole vehicle type approval, with innovative technology and design, ensuring the Vauxhall Vivaro VX8 Taxi will remain at the forefront of the taxi market for years to come. Building on the Luton-built combi, ensures that we can offer a product into the taxi/private hire trade that is truly Built in Britain.”

Richard Collier, Vauxhall’s national commercial vehicle and B2B sales manager, added: “We have been working with the team at Voyager for a while now and  they certainly appreciate the value and versatility of the Vivaro Combi. It’s always interesting to see what our customers do with our product and it looks like Voyager have done a great job with these Luton-built combis.”

http://goo.gl/BTGriw

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NEW YORK

A bankruptcy judge blocked New York taxi mogul Evgeny “Gene” Freidman from abandoning 46 taxis outside the Citigroup tower in Queens after he threatened a very public surrender to the lender he has battled since 2014.

Bankruptcy Judge Carla Craig on Wednesday told Mr. Freidman and his lawyers, who agreed to surrender the vehicles and their medallions in a dispute over a $34 million unpaid loan, to keep them securely in his possession until further notice.

Earlier this week, Mr. Freidman said he couldn’t refinance his debt to Citibank NA and told the judge he would surrender the medallions, which give drivers of each vehicle the right to pick up street hails in Manhattan’s lucrative central business district.

The surrender marks a turning point for Mr. Freidman, who put dozens of his taxi companies in bankruptcy protection on July 22, 2015, to keep Citibank officials from taking possession of the 46 taxi medallions issued by the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission and owed by his companies.

Mr. Freidman and his lawyers didn’t respond to emails requesting comment.

Citibank officials said Mr. Freidman’s companies missed a monthly loan payment on Dec. 1, 2014. Mr. Freidman’s lawyers said in earlier court papers that the failure to pay was a bank error and said that Citibank officials betrayed him to try to win business from Uber Technologies Inc., the car-hailing service that has taken some business from taxi drivers. Citibank has denied there was a bank error and Mr. Friedman’s other allegations.

http://goo.gl/XZeABG

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NUNEATON

 Proposed increase which would make town one of most expensive places in country to hire a cab could be reconsidered

Concerns that Nuneaton will become one of the most expensive places to get a taxi have put the brakes on a proposed fare increase.

A plan to allow taxi drivers to increase their fares in Nuneaton and Bedworth could be reconsidered after residents objected to the proposal.

The introduction of higher prices for taxi journeys across the borough was set to come into place on August 12, but has been delayed to allow the council to review the arguments of those challenging the proposal.

A recurring reason for objection is that the proposed taxi fares would be much higher than those in surrounding areas.

One objector wrote: “Our rates are already one of the highest in the country. The town is already suffering from shops closing.

"If fares were lower more people might be encouraged to use taxis especially in the evenings when there aren’t any buses, which in turn could encourage more use of town centre facilites. We need investment and footfall. Raising taxi fares will not help this at all.”

Another wrote: “How on earth can it be right that Nuneaton and Bedworth has higher taxi rates than Birmingham, Coventry, Hinckley, Newcastle and even London?”

Members of the Nuneaton and Bedworth Taxi Association requested the new rates, saying they need the increase to keep up with the minimum wage, vehicle insurance, statutory pension provision and National Insurance for staff after four years without a rate rise.

http://goo.gl/Clloaw