Comment: Further to my post yesterday, concerning Uberk's support from Business Leaders in London.

It now appears to be a series of Uberk sponsored press stories around the globe.

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USA.

Safety is a common topic when people talk about ridesharing experiences. Most often the focus lies on driver behavior. Uber indicates, however, that drivers are more likely to be abused or assaulted by riders than the reverse, according to The Washington Post.

“The truth is that most of our safety incidents are abusive riders on drivers,” David Plouffe, Uber’s chief adviser. Uber didn’t provide statistics for bad-acting passengers, nor does the firm do so for problems with or complaints about drivers.


http://www.digitaltrends.com/cars/uber-drivers-abused-attacked/

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Florida

Pinellas Park, Florida, isn’t the kind of place where you'd expect to gain insight about the future of mass transit. The suburb of Tampa is as car-crazy as your average stretch of Floridian sprawl—the local landmarks include the Tampa Bay Automobile Museum and a drag racing strip—and anyone who can avoid the bus does. But recently the agency responsible for the area’s public transportation began a novel experiment: It stopped running two bus lines and started paying for a portion of Uber rides instead. 
In Uber’s early days, it said it wanted to be “everyone’s private driver.” Now the company and its main U.S. competitor, Lyft, are playing around with the idea of becoming the bus driver, too. Uber has partnered with a handful of local public transportation agencies to strike deals like the one in Pinellas Park, which it expanded earlier this month. Later this month Lyft plans to launch a partnership with Centennial, Colorado, its first deal where a local government will subsidize its rides. The company also said it has helped a dozen transit agencies apply for federal grants that would pay for a portion of Lyft fares in situations where its drivers would effectively become part of the public transportation system. 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-15/uber-and-lyft-want-to-replace-public-buses

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CANADA

The city won’t delay making Uber legal, even though taxi plate owners are making a potentially precedent-setting claim that they’re owed millions because of a major change in municipal licensing.

“We’re proceeding full-steam ahead,” Mayor Jim Watson said Monday.

“We think the public certainly want choice when it comes to transportation in the City of Ottawa. The taxi industry has really had a monopoly for decades. I’m very comfortable with where we are legally and procedurally to move forward with alternative forms of transportation, like Uber and other ride-sharing companies, on a go-forward basis.”

Uber and any other alternative ride provider can operate legally in Ottawa starting Sept. 30 as long as they adhere to the new rules for “private transportation companies.”

Cabbies are worried about the impact to the value of their taxi plates. The city is opening up the regulations to more ride providers and the market value of a conventional licence plate is decreasing.

It has led to the $215-million lawsuit against the city filed Friday by Metro Taxi co-owner Marc Andre Way, who has the most taxi plates in the city. He is also the vice-president of Coventry Connections and the president of the Canadian Taxi Association.

http://goo.gl/0BWPlp

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Addison Lee has accused rival Uber of attempting to “water down” new private car hire regulations.

Europe’s largest private hire operator has written an open letter to London mayor Sadiq Khan complaining about Uber’s actions.

The argument centres on Transport for London’s new regulations which were approved in March this year.

Among the new rules required for private hire drivers are: a written English and map reading test, notification of any changes made to apps, pricing or products and all operators to run a call centre in the licensed city London.

Uber said the new rules will “threaten” thousands of driver jobs and result in longer wait times for customers.

Addison Lee said the regulations will ensure that “all licensed drivers have a command of English and knowledge of London’s geography”.

“Addison Lee has 5,000 licensed drivers and is determined to lead the way in driving up industry standards,” the company said in a statement.

“They will also ensure that all licensed vehicles will have fully effective Hire and Reward motor insurance in place.

It added that in May, Uber welcomed the outcome of TFL’s consultation process on regulation, after lobbying hard for changes to the initial proposals.

Andy Boland, CEO of Addison Lee, said: “Having previously backed the proposals it’s hard to understand Uber’s resistance to implementation of these new regulations.

“The whole industry was fully involved in the consultation and there is a strong belief that they will benefit both passengers and drivers,” said Boland.

Uber said it supports Sadiq Khan’s ‘Keep London Open’ campaign and further regulation will threaten this vision.

“Bureaucratic new rules from TFL send the opposite message and threaten the livelihood of thousands of drivers. Fewer drivers will mean longer waiting times or no cars when you need them most,” Uber said.

https://buyingbusinesstravel.com/news/1526099-addison-lee-slams-uber-fighting-new-taxi-laws#.V7I0FWu_V5Q.twitter

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Brazil

A German coach has died after a horror high-speed road accident near the Olympic park last week.  

Stefan Henze, a former Olympian and current German kayak women's team coach, died of head injuries, three days after the crash.

Henze, 35, was surrounded by his family, the German team said while announcing his death on Monday afternoon.

He had been left in a critical condition after a cardiac arrest following the crash.

The collision happened as he was returning to the Athletes' Village in a taxi in the early hours of Friday morning. 

Germany will commemorate Henze's death in the Olympic Village on Tuesday, and the country's flag will be flown at half-staff at all Olympic sites in Rio.

The Olympic body 'is mourning the loss of a true Olympian,' IOC President Thomas Bach said.

'Our sympathy is with the family of Stefan Henze, his friends and all of the German Olympic team.' 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3742133/German-Olympic-coach-dies-taxi-hit-high-speed-head-collision-Rio.html

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BRADFORD

Two men have admitted causing a crash which killed the driver and passenger of a taxi.
Mirza Malick, 64, and Paul Hayward, 55, from Bradford, died at the scene of the crash on the Shipley Airedale Road in January.
Ismail Miah, 23, of Springfield Place and Muhammed Sikder, 27, of Sylhet Close, pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving at Bradford Crown Court.
They will be sentenced next month.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-37087263

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Rochdale

Tributes have poured in for a popular taxi driver described as a ‘pillar of the Newhey community’.

Nigel Stott, who was known to customers as ‘Newhey Nigel’ - died suddenly on August 8, aged 64.

Floral tributes have been left at Newhey Taxis on Shaw Road, which he ran for 40 years, and residents have called for a tribute to be put up in the village in his honour.

Friend Karen Gallagher said: “Nigel was a selfless guy who went above and beyond the duty of just a taxi driver.

“He helped everyone - young and old. He shopped for them, made sure they were safely in their homes before driving away, he made sure the younger end made it to school safely and on time and was trusted by the people of Newhey and Milnrow.

“He loved his garden and you would often see him out there at all hours of the day and night.

“He is very much missed in Newhey.”

http://goo.gl/xjsEmJ

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KIDDERMINSTER

Taxi driver 'killed man and then washed car'
A taxi driver who killed a pedestrian after driving over him put the cab through a car wash minutes later, a court heard.

Simon Robinson, who did not notice Jason Westcott lying in the road, initially told police he ‘thought he had hit a badger’ and failed to stop at the scene.

The 43-year-old admitted causing the death of Mr Westcott by careless driving and has been given a suspended jail sentence.

The court heard how Mr Westcott had been out at Tribe nightclub in Kidderminster and left in the early hours of November 15 last year.

After leaving the club at around 4.45am, 22-year-old Mr Westcott had headed towards the town’s A451 Ringway, but had fallen – for reasons unknown– and suffered a head injury.

His body was lying in the carriageway when Robinson approached in his Peugeot taxi and drove over Mr Westcott at 5.03am.

Miss Madhu Rai, prosecuting, told Worcester Crown Court: “Simon Robinson failed to notice Mr Westcott lying on the road and effectively drove over him and carried on driving.”

Police officers arrived minutes later, Miss Rai said, and they ‘saw the tail lights of the defendant’s taxi in the distance as he was leaving the area’.

She told the court that a police reconstruction had found that Robinson, who was driving at the speed limit of 40mph, would have had around six seconds to spot Mr Westcott and manoeuvre to avoid him.

http://goo.gl/W48a1D