Coventry-based taxi manufacturer London Electric Vehicle Company (LEVC), which builds the famous black cabs, is inviting Birmingham cabbies to test-drive its electric TX Taxi for 48 hours.

LEVC is heading to Birmingham city centre today when it will have on display its new TX Taxi, the world’s first purpose-built electric taxi, which it says will meet the new Clean Air Zone (CAZ) regulations that are being introduced next year.

Drivers will also have the opportunity to ask the experts questions about the vehicle, which was introduced into London in 2018, the benefits of switching from diesel to TX, as well as speak to Octopus, about a new pay-per-mile finance deal.

The visit comes just a week after the Business Breathes website was launched – the one-stop, go-to site for fleet managers and self-employed drivers who need to prepare for January 2020, when the CAZ is introduced in Birmingham city centre.

The website, which has been launched as part of Brum Breathes, Birmingham City Council’s air quality campaign to reduce emissions of harmful pollutants, aims to encourage businesses to move over to cleaner vehicles.

Steve Cootes, commercial director of LEVC, said: “With the Clean Air Zone regulations coming into force in 12 months time in Birmingham, it’s the ideal time for Hackney cab drivers to explore what a green TX Taxi could mean for them.

“We’ve been overwhelmed by the positive response to the TX from drivers across the country and hope that Birmingham cabbies take the opportunity to find out why over a thousand of their fellow drivers have made the switch.”

https://goo.gl/BnwJ6o
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BRADFORD

COUNCILLORS have hit back at claims that their new taxi policy was “racial profiling” that aimed to create a “hysteria” and turn the Bradford public against the Pakistani community.

The extraordinary claims, made by a member of the Unite Union at a Council meeting this morning, were branded “abhorrent,” “disgusting” and “disgraceful.”

Bradford Council is working with other authorities in West Yorkshire and York to harmonise their taxi regulations, including rules on who is classed as a “fit and proper” driver. Proposed changes included a three year ban for drivers who commit minor traffic offences.

A public consultation on the changes was held last year, with almost 700 people taking part. After the consultation the Council decided to soften some of its policies – the ban on minor offences was originally proposed to be five years.

Yesterday Bradford Council’s Regulatory and Appeals Committee met to decide whether to move forward with the changes.

New plans could ban serious offenders from driving a taxi in Bradford

At the meeting a Shop Warden for the local Branch of the Unite Union, named Mr Sheikh, spoke to object to the changes, launching into a furious tirade during which he accused the Council of plotting to turn people against the Pakistani community and of masterminding the Yorkshire wide policy.

Mr Sheikh said: “I have come for Political justice. I object in the strongest terms to this. The information has been manipulated – this is populism at work.

“This is racial profiling at its best. It disgusts me that you are trying to marginalise the taxi driver community and divide the public. You are trying to marginalise a certain ethnic group, the Pakistani community.”

Referring to the plans to implement changes across Yorkshire, he said: “I would like to know if Bradford was the main instigator of this – is everything coming out of Bradford? Other local authorities are being corrupted by this populist policy.

“It is offensive that again and again the Council says it has to protect the public from taxi drivers. The Council wants to cause hysteria among the public by talking about unfit drivers and unfit vehicles.

“You are trying to divide the public – it is very devious.

“If taxi drivers went on strike then this city would be brought to its knees.”

When he was asked how many drivers the union represented in Bradford, he replied: “I can’t disclose those numbers.”

Councillor Simon Cooke (Cons, Bingley Rural) I understand that some people will have concerns, but out primary duty is to protect the public. We have consulted the public, and I’m a bit taken aback by this being referred to as a racist policy.

“This was about getting a view from the public of how the Council should licence individuals who drive public vehicles in our district.

“This policy doesn’t suggest anything too problematic for a person to expect from someone who is going to drive them home.

“If I asked people I represent they would probably say the Council isn’t being tough enough.

“I’m extremely disappointed that the representative tried to make this about racism. It is nothing to do with that, it is about making sure that a person, whatever their race, feels safe getting into a taxi cab.

“It is not really clear what he was actually objecting to.”

Councillor Alan Wainwright (Lab, Tong) said: “I’m disappointed by some of the words being used by the union representative. All colours, all creeds, we don’t have a problem. For you to bring racism into this is abhorrent.”

Chair of the committee Councillor David Warburton (Lab, Wyke) said: “I am disgusted in the comments being made here.

“There are 4,600 registered drivers, but 500,000 people in our district our job is to protect them as well as protecting the drivers and operators.

“To make this a racial point is in extremely bad taste – it was a disgraceful comment to make. It was absolutely disgusting.”

Councillor Mohammed Amran said he agreed with the other Councillors, saying: “You haven’t actually said what in the proposal you’re unhappy with.

“With respect, you’ve just gone on one.”

Councillor Alun Griffiths (Lib Dem, Idle and Thackley) described the speech as an “extraordinary performance” adding: “You had a chance to make a helpful point, but you failed to take it up.”

The committee then approved the changes.

https://bit.ly/2DXBbjo

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Uber Technologies Inc. is more than just ride-hailing. That’s a key part of the pitch it’s making to investors as the company prepares for an initial public offering this year. In fact, some of Uber’s new lines of business may actively dissuade people from calling one of its cars.

Rachel Holt, head of the New Mobility division, says that customers who use Uber’s scooters and bikes hire 10 percent fewer cars through the app. And in at least one market on certain days -- the core of Sacramento, California -- more people took Uber’s electric bikes than used its cars. On Friday, the company plans to release 100 scooters into the city as well.

Uber says that cannibalization of its ride-hailing business is part of its master plan. Just as the startup disrupted its black car service years ago by offering lower-margin UberX rides, it now hopes to help forge the next shift in transportation. At the same time, growth is slowing in Uber’s main business -- meaning that as an IPO looms, its other ventures are becoming more important.

Besides investments in areas like food delivery and trucking, Uber is betting big on bikes and scooters. In April, it purchased Jump Bikes for $200 million. The company has also considered buying scooter front-runners Lime and Bird Rides Inc., holding talks with each, people familiar with the matter have said, but so far hasn’t done a deal. Instead, in the past few months, Uber has been cranking out its own product -- producing nearly 1,000 Jump-branded electric bikes a day. This year, the company has a $1 billion budget for scooters, bikes and other mobility initiatives, Holt said.

"Between Jan. 1 and March 1 you will see tens of thousands of Jump bikes and scooters hitting the road in the U.S.," she said.

The company’s long-term goal is to let users book all transit within its app. It’s not the only startup with a vision of a fully tech-enabled transportation future. 
Other companies, including competitor Lyft Inc., are also working to integrate public transit options. Lyft riders in Santa Monica, California, for example, can now use the app to look up route information for local transportation.

“It’s part of them subscribing to a vision that in a few years there will be one or two apps through which we access all of our transportation modes,” said Arun Sundararajan, a professor at New York University’s business school. That could mean, for example, using one app to coordinate taking a bike to the train and then a car to the office, instead of just taking a car.

If urban transit does eventually shift marginally away from cars to bikes or scooters, Uber aims to stay competitive. In at least one market, the company has already seen a decrease in ride-hailing. "If we look at our early San Francisco data, we’re seeing a decline in Uber rides,”
 Holt said. "But the increase we are seeing in bike trips vastly outweighs it."

Still, bike trips are much cheaper than car rides, and Uber’s path to diversification promises to be an expensive one. As the company dabbles in an increasingly wide array of businesses, it’s spending quickly. Uber lost $1.1 billion in the third quarter of last year alone. It’s now in the phase of "building mind share and changing behaviors,” Sundararajan said, “and that is frequently accompanied by losing money.”

https://bloom.bg/2DY1GFj