The mayor of London has launched a £42m fund to help remove the oldest "dirty" diesel black cabs from the capital.

Up to £5,000 will be paid to cabbies for retiring diesel powered taxis between 10-15 years old. No new diesel taxis will be licensed from January.
City Hall says the scheme will cut pollution in central London by 45% by 2020.

Campaigners have warned that drivers still face financial penalties for moving to zero-emission capable taxis.

Research suggests taxis are responsible for 16% of the nitric oxide and 26% of the particulate matter (PM) road transport emissions in London.

The fund will be made available for drivers de-licensing their cabs, which prevents the vehicle from being used as a taxi in the future.

An owner de-licensing a 10-year-old taxi would receive the highest amount of £5,000, scaling down to £1,200 for a vehicle coming to the end of the 15-year age limit.

However the Licensed Taxi Drivers' Association argue payments will simply replace funds taxis drivers could have raised for selling on fully licensed taxis.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: "London's filthy air is a health crisis that needs urgent action.

"I hope this fund helps deliver a new generation of zero-emission taxis on our roads and paves the way for the Government to offer a diesel scrappage scheme so all London motorists can ditch their dirty diesels."

Deputy chair of the London Assembly's Transport Committee, Caroline Pidgeon, said: "Tackling the price of electric taxis is central to their high take up."

She called on the mayor to "drive down the cost of electric taxis by bulk purchasing a large number and then selling and leasing them to drivers and garages".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-40752054

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GETT COMMUTE

Commuting in London and already fed up of the rush hour chaos over the past few days? 

It’s only going to get worse from next week as eight platforms are due to be closed at Waterloo station for major improvement works.

And, more specifically, with a 50% decrease in trains running through Clapham Junction, there’s set to be major disruption for thousands of commuters using South West Trains.

Luckily, help is on hand for people using the UK’s busiest station.

Thanks to the Black Cab App Gett, you’ll be able to commute from Clapham Junction through to Waterloo station for just £2.

From July 31, you’ll be able to use Gett Together – the app’s unique ride sharing service – to jump into a black cab with other commuters.

The line starts at Clapham Junction, travels via Queenstown Road, which will be closed completely, Vauxhall and into Waterloo, and costs just £2 for any journey during the morning rush hour.

In the evening, the line runs in the opposite direction for the same price.

The route will run on weekdays from 7am to 10am and between 5pm and 8pm.

As black cabs are able to use bus lanes, commuters will be able to get to their destination more quickly and for less money.

Gett Together, which launched in London at the start of this year, also lets you hop on and off the line at any point and will guide you on the most convenient point to join the cab.

http://bit.ly/2h9D8zZ

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“BOY, if you’re a taxi owner, you’d better think about a new model.” After studying his company’s latest report on business-travel spending, Bob Neveu is pretty clear about the way the world is heading.

Certify, an expense-management software company, released its quarterly report of spending trends on on July 27th, and the numbers are stark. Traditional taxis now account for just 8% of ground transportation transactions among American business travellers—the first time that figure has been in single digits. In contrast, the rise of Uber and Lyft seems unstoppable.

It has been a rough year for Uber in a lot of ways.

There have been allegations of sexual harassment and a hostile workplace culture, as well as a lawsuit from Waymo, a Google affiliate that alleges it stole self-driving car technology.

Last month, Uber’s besieged boss, Travis Kalanick, resigned. But its appeal among people travelling for work does not seem to be diminishing. Uber was responsible for 55% of ground transportation transactions tracked by Certify in the second quarter of this year, compared with 29% for rental cars and 8% each for taxis and Lyft. Excluding rental cars, Uber accounted for more than three-quarters of trips on the road.

In some cities, that figure was even higher. In the tech-hub of San Francisco, for example, 85% of non-rental-car rides go to Uber, with Lyft getting 12% and taxis just 3%.

Taxis’ decline has been precipitous. A year ago, Certify’s survey found that taxi usage had already declined by 51% over the past two years. But they still represented 22% of ground transportation trips, excluding rental cars. A year later, that figure has halved. Lyft has been a big winner in recent years, growing from 0.34% of the non-rental-car market in 2014 to 5.2% last year and 11% now.

Business travellers look for three things in ground transportation, Mr Neveu says: convenience, quality and cost. Hailing (or pre-ordering) an Uber or Lyft on a smartphone has become more convenient than catching a cab on the street.

Quality is also often more reliable, Mr Neveu says, with many Ubers and Lyfts offering bottled water and phone chargers. And while business travellers do not usually foot the bill for their rides, the cost is lower than taxis, too. According to the report, the average Uber ride last quarter was $24.49 and the typical Lyft cost $21.28, versus $31.06 for taxis. Travellers gave Uber the highest satisfaction rating, 4.46 out of 5; taxis got the lowest rating, 3.83.

Uber’s bad PR this year might give some business travellers pause, but Mr Neveu says there is a much bigger factor counteracting that. Many companies, particularly large ones, have been slow to allow employees to use and expense ride-hailing services while travelling.

A survey earlier this year by the Global Business Travel Association found that half of corporate travel policies, across eight countries including America, still do not explicitly allow workers to use ride-hailing services. But that figure was already declining quickly, and the trend is probably accelerating now.

More companies, Mr Neveu says, are putting Uber and Lyft onto their lists of preferred or allowable vendors. Companies are also allowing employees to book Uber and Lyft using company credit cards that are pre-loaded into their apps, saving them the trouble of getting reimbursed for cabs and giving them an incentive to book with these services.

https://www.economist.com/blogs/gulliver/2017/07/ditchin-cabbin-it
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