A proposed crackdown on ridesharing passed out of a Chicago City Council committee Aug. 30, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

The ordinance would seek to cut back on “surge pricing” a practice by ridesharing services, such as Uber and Lyft, in which fares go up when demand rises. The proposal would also require drivers to be fingerprinted and photographed.

Alderman Anthony Beale, 9th Ward, longtime ridesharing opponent and chairman of the Committee on Transportation and Public Way, pushed the ordinance through committee, according to the Sun-Times. The move came despite the fact a surge-pricing study previously commissioned by the Transportation Committee has not yet concluded.

This is not the first time Beale has gone after ridesharing. In June 2016, Beale and other aldermen proposed a slew of similar regulations, which included city-overseen fingerprinting of drivers and vehicle checks and mandating that drivers obtain chauffeur’s licenses. Uber and Lyft protested the regulations and warned that if implemented, the rules would cause the ridesharing giants to leave Chicago.

In the end, after outcry from drivers and the public, the Chicago City Council passed a watered-down ordinance that required drivers to obtain special chauffeur’s licenses and post signs informing riders they can relay complaints to 311, and prohibited ridesharing drivers from operating cars older than 6 years, unless they submit their vehicles for semiannual testing.

However, with this new proposal, Beale has dismissed the possibility that Uber and Lyft might leave the city, even daring Uber and Lyft to “walk away from billions of dollars,” the Sun-Times reported.

Beale cited as a reason for fast-tracking the ordinance an incident in August when Chicago L train and bus service was disrupted and resulted in ridesharing surge pricing, according to the Sun-Times.

The proposed ordinance would cap surge pricing at 150 percent above the average regular fare and require ridesharing drivers to provide photographs, submit to fingerprinting, and pay a processing fee. Uber and Lyft have claimed that such a move could have a disproportionate effect on minority drivers, according to the Sun-Times.

Beale has supported various restrictions on ridesharing, including extra taxes, training requirements for drivers, and even an outright, citywide ban. Beale has even joined Alderman Ed Burke, 14th Ward, in attempting to severely restrict self-driving cars, a key project of Uber and other ridesharing companies.

But Beale’s hostility to ridesharing may have something to do with his friendly relationship with the taxi industry. Beale has received thousands of dollars in campaign donations from pro-taxi groups such as the Illinois Transportation Trade Association Political Action Committee.

And with ridesharing services impinging on the business of traditional taxi companies, Beale’s proposed crackdown should not surprise anyone.

http://bit.ly/2vVLeOW 
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SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Taxi drivers protesting the growth of mobile ride hailing applications such as Uber and Cabify blocked the main road to Chile's principal airport in capital Santiago on Monday, leading to one death and wreaking havoc on travelers' plans.

Santiago-based LATAM Airlines, the region's biggest carrier, as well as budget carrier Sky suffered delays, local media reported. Television images showed traffic backed up for miles (kilometers), while many passengers resorted to walking along the highway.

One 65-year-old Brazilian tourist stuck in traffic died of a cardiovascular event, Chilean police said without offering any further details. A medical helicopter evacuated the man, but it was too late, they added.

"This takeover of the airport by the taxi drivers has significantly hurt the image of Chile, the image of the airlines, and has hurt people traveling or arriving in the country," Claudio Orrego, the governor of the Santiago Metropolitan Region, told reporters.

He added that the government would bring charges against those responsible for the protests, and that at least 15 people had already been arrested.

Legislation is advancing slowly through Chile's Congress to regulate Uber and Cabify, which remain in a legal gray zone. While some authorities have promised to sanction users of the widely used applications, they have also expressed a desire to bring the services within Chile's existing regulatory framework.

https://yhoo.it/2xLU5EJ 
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CARDIFF

Cardiac cabbie for hire as sacked heart surgeon forced to drive a taxi

Peter O'Keefe was suspended from his £95,000 job after staff accused him of bullying but he has now settled with the hospital although he still drives his taxi.

A heart surgeon who has accepted a cash settlement from the health board he accused of sacking him unfairly is now working as an Uber driver.

Peter O’Keefe, who was a consultant cardiac surgeon at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff, was suspended for more than three years before being dismissed after health workers accused him of bullying and harassing them.

An employment tribunal case, which was due to begin yesterday, was called off after Cardiff & Vale University Health Board reached a settlement agreement with him.

Mr O'Keefe said: “It’s a bitter-sweet outcome for me.

"It’s an enormous relief not to have the pressure on me any more, but this has gone on so long and I can’t go back to medicine.

“I’ve tried to get work, but I’m the wrong side of 50. I came to the conclusion that the best thing was to give myself a job, so I’ve become an Uber driver, and I’m loving it.”

When Mr O’Keefe was dismissed from his £95,000 a year post in 2015, Cardiff and Vale University Health Board issued a statement which said: “After considering the findings made by an independent inquiry panel and hearing evidence and submissions in mitigation the board of the health board found that Mr O’Keefe’s standards of behaviour in the workplace constitutes gross misconduct within the health board’s disciplinary rules.”

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/cardiac-cabbie-hire-sacked-heart-11113828 
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LEICESTER

A taxi driver has been jailed for kidnapping and raping a teenage passenger.

Saeed Shaikh, who held the woman against her will and raped her, has today been found guilty at Leicester Crown Court.

He denied kidnap, rape and sexual touching, but was convicted today after a six day trial.

The 41-year-old picked his victim up in Leicester city centre in the early hours of March 5, and was asked to take her to an address in Syston, Leicestershire.

Instead of taking her where she had asked him to, he stopped the Toyota Auris in the country lanes around Barkby, and sexually assaulted her.
He got out of the driver’s seat, got into the back of the car with her and raped her.

Today, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison and he will also be the subject of a lifetime Sexual Harm Prevention Order and will be placed on the Sexual Offender’s Register.

Detective Constable Kasie Carter-Moore, the officer in the case said: “This incident has, understandably, left the victim very shaken and she is struggling to come to terms with what happened to her.

“While the guilty verdict won’t change what’s happened, I hope it will allow her to start to deal with what happened.

“We have specially trained officers available to speak to anyone who has been a victim of a sexual assault and anyone who has been a victim is encouraged to report it to the police. We will take all reports seriously.”

http://bit.ly/2eI1H6G