NEW YORK

The Queens organization or The Committee for Taxi Safety is denouncing Uber’s proposal of a “hardship fund” to help bail out struggling yellow medallion taxicabs in New York City, amid a spate of driver suicides in the past six months.

On June 18, following the recent suicide of Abdul Saleh in his Brooklyn home — the sixth yellow taxi driver or owner to take his own life in less than six months — launched a “Clock of Inaction” to document how much time has passed since the first tragic death without any legislative action being taken by the City Council to address the crisis and regulate Uber.

“As long as the Council continues to drag its feet, we will continue to remind them of their obligation to step up and do the right thing,” said David Beier, president of The Committee for Taxi Safety. “There is nothing stopping the Council from working immediately to regulate Uber and save lives.”

The Committee for Taxi Safety is comprised of licensed New York City taxi agents managing approximately 20 percent of the yellow medallion vehicles in New York City Just days before Saleh’s suicide, Uber Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi told the New York Post that the city should impose a fee on all ride-sharing apps to create a fund to help yellow cab drivers who bought their medallions at a high cost and are struggling to pay their debt. But taxi advocates contend the real solution is placing a cap on Uber cars and enforcing regulated prices on ride-hailing apps like Uber and Lyft that continue to take their customers.

Khosrowshahi did not say how much the fee should be.

“His proposal, of course, does not provide any real answers to the struggles facing yellow taxi owners and drivers,” said Beier. “It would just help Uber to continue maximizing its own profits in New York City.”

According to Khosrowshahi, the fee would help any independent medallion owners -- not fleet bosses or investors. About 25 percent of the 13,587 city taxi medallions currently are owned by independent drivers.

“Things have changed, and if we can be a part of the a solution to make things better to help get some of these owner-operators get out from under water and to continue making a better life and to make a decent life and to help themselves, we want to do that,” Khosrowshahi said. “We don’t want to be a part of the problem.”

Beier said the owners and drivers of taxi medallions are in “enormous debt” with over hundreds and thousands of dollars of outstanding loans, leaving drivers feeling hopeless. Medallions were once extremely valuable, but in the years since Uber and similar companies disrupted the industry, the value of medallions has dropped to $175,000 from over $1 million.

“This went from the American dream, to saving money and buying medallions, to an American nightmare because the city of New York failed to act and protect the medallion license,” said Beier.

According to Beier, New York City Council Members have made numerous statements of condolences for the yellow taxi drivers and owners lost in recent months, but they have not voted on any legislation that would actually fix the problem by limiting the number of ride-sharing vehicles allowed on the streets of New York City.

The yellow taxi industry is required by law to keep its fleet capped at approximately 14,000 vehicles, but there are now more than 100,000 cars driven for companies like Uber in the five boroughs, making it virtually impossible for drivers to earn a living wage, Beier said.

“Uber came in with no regulations, no accessibility, no caps or restrictio­ns,” said Beier. “There’s no way to compete with them; they’re not under the same regulation as we are.”

The Committee for Taxi Safety applauded City Council Speaker Corey Johnson (D-Manhattan) for recently acknowledging that the Council “made a mistake” by failing to impose a limit on Uber’s growth when a bill was introduced in 2015. Beier said the Council is beginning to look into the issue again.

https://goo.gl/H3zUsC 
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 FINLAND

After ceasing operations in Helsinki last year, Uber is back in business after new transportation regulations came into effect this week.

The ride-sharing company had suspended its services in Finland while it awaited the implementation of the new transport law, which allows for surge pricing, increased ability to roam outside of previously restrictive patrol areas, and loosened qualifications to apply for a taxi licence.

Finnish news sites have reported a dramatic increase in the number of operators applying for taxi licences under the new law, with almost 700 applications in one day hitting the country's Transport Safety Agency after it came into affect.

Joel Jarvinen, Uber's general manager in the Nordic region said:

    Almost one year ago we paused our operations in Finland, pending the implementation of a new modern transportation law which embraces digital services like Uber.

    Those new regulations have now come into effect and so we’re delighted to relaunch in Helsinki today.

Journeys are expected to restart in the country later this afternoon through its Uber X and Uber Black services.

The news comes as Uber's CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has set a course for improving the company's relationships with cities and regulators across the world, in a time when Uber is slowly gearing up to go public in 2019.

Rumours surfaced late last night that Uber is exploring a potential merger with Careem Networks to tie-up their services in the Middle East, according to Bloomberg sources.

The deal would see Uber either acquire Careem outright, or own more than half of the company. In the latter case, Careem would manage the running of both companies services while retaining one or both of the companies' local brands.

To date, Uber has sold operations in Southeast Asia, Russia and China to players like Grab Holdings, Yandex and Didi Chuxing.
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 MABELTHORPE


 A taxi driver was beaten up in his own taxi and left horrifically bloodied in a savage attack by three masked thugs as they radioed his office to boast to staff as they beat him.

The heartless yobs launched the unprovoked assault on Adam Scandell at around 11.45pm on Monday July 2 and he had to be rushed to hospital, reports Lincolnshire Live .

He is now unsure whether he will return to work following the traumatic incident at Mablethorpe Caravan and Chalet Park, in Lincolnshire.

The masked brutes also picked up Adam's radio in the taxi during the attack and contacted his office, saying: “We have got your taxi driver and we are kicking the **** out of him.”

Scandall could also be heard screaming for help.

Garrie Levett, who owns A1 Taxis where Scandall works, told Lincolnshire Live: "We are at the end of our tether.”

“We’ve had enough of the violence. A lot of people around here have.”

He added: “We’ve had problems with Mablethorpe idiots between the ages of 14 and 17 for over two years. It’s cost us thousands.

https://goo.gl/VJFvbe 
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BERLIN (AP) - A group of city counselors in Munich say they want the southern German city's main train station to have a landing pad for flying taxis.

Five city council members from the Christian Social Union party submitted a motion Wednesday calling on rail company Deutsche Bahn to consider the space needed for the small, drone-like passenger aircraft in its plans for a future redesign of the station.

In their motion, they write that "it is to be expected that within a few years technology will have advanced so far that flying taxis can be used to transport people."

The party, which has a majority across Bavaria but is in opposition in the state capital's assembly, has recently been championing the idea of flying taxis as a future means of travel.

https://goo.gl/i8owrh
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MILTON KEYNES

Two taxi drivers have been prosecuted after being caught picking up passengers illegally - plying for hire - known as ‘blagging’ in Milton Keynes.


MK Magistrates heard the two cases on Friday (29 June 2018) after a joint enforcement operation carried out by MK Council and South Northants Council in December 2017.


Selvanayagam Jeevakumar of Turnmill Avenue, Springfield, Milton Keynes attended court and pleaded guilty to plying for hire and driving without valid motor insurance in December 2017.  He was fined £84 for plying for hire and £168 for invalid insurance.  He was also given 6 DVLA penalty points and has to pay costs of £400, with a victim surcharge of £30. 


At the time of the offence(s) his vehicle was operated by Speedline.  Mr Jeevakumar was previously licensed by Aylesbury Vale District Council who revoked his licence in May 2018.


Muhammed Muddasar Zulfiqar of Windsor Street, Wolverton attended court and pleaded guilty to plying for hire and driving without valid motor insurance in December 2017.  He was fined £116 for plying for hire and £232 for invalid insurance.  He was also given 6 DVLA penalty points and has to pay costs of £400, with a victim surcharge of £30. 


At the time of the offence(s) his vehicle was operated by Speedline.  Mr Zulfiqar is licensed by South Northants Council who are aware of the position and will now consider appropriate action.


Four other licensed drivers also attended court for taxi licensing offences and their cases were adjourned. 


The court heard how officers, acting as members of the public, engaged the drivers on journeys which had not been pre-booked from one location to another in Milton Keynes. 


Investigations by council officers showed that the vehicles were not lawfully pre-booked for these journeys.  


Cllr Catriona Morris, Chair of the Council’s Taxi Licensing Committee, said:


“The laws and licensing standards that we enforce are in place to ensure that passengers are safe.  The public needs to be aware that if they use private hire vehicles without booking in advance then the vehicle will not be insured if an accident occurs.  I would like to thank South Northants Council for their support in these joint operations.”
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