News broke today that some ranks in London are being closed to Hackneys and designated for on Demand Buses.

These "Opportunities" are being allowed and sponsored by the 'Bus services Act 2017 (new-powers-and-opportunities)

GoAhead and Via Van are two of the Companies taking this opportunity in London shortly.

Via Van are part owned by Gett Taxi through their Merc Benz connection.

This made me think of Gett Taxi a couple of years back, here in Manchester. You will remember they ran a Bus service (by Taxi)
from Lapwing Lane to Town along the Oxford rd corridor.

They were paying a large amount of money to MCR Hack's (sometimes Salford and Trafford also) driver's to sit along that route morning and afternoon, quite often not even doing one journey. It seemed madness, a waste of money and no surprise when it ended one day without warning.

Now everything makes sense, they were collecting Data from each journey carried out, this data was added to their 'City Mapper' software.

It is now also inevitable that on Demand Buses will shortly be here in Manchester.

I note they have popped up all around the Country, since the new 2017 Bus Act. I list a few.

https://taxileaks.blogspot.com/2019/05/will-you-stand-and-fight-or-will-you.html

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/jun/29/oxford-buses-turn-to-uber-style-apps-in-on-demand-experiment

https://www.kentsciencepark.com/park-life/transport-location/

http://www.slidebristol.com/why-slide

https://citymapper.com/news/1232/more-cab-choices-with-gett

https://www.arrivabus.co.uk/arrivaclick/arrivaclick-in-liverpool/

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If that was not enough, I also stumbled upon the first GREATER MCR, Autonomous Pod/Taxi trials which will take place THIS YEAR:

" Mobility as a Service” (MaaS) is a concept that relates to the integration of various forms of transport services (e.g. taxi, public transport and cycle hire) into a single customer experience, which is accessible on demand and uses a single payment application. The proof of this concept in practice is being tested in Greater Manchester through the MaaS4EU project.

 Autonomous, and semi-autonomous, vehicles are emerging as a disruptive innovation, and are being developed with urgency by multiple car and technology manufacturers, such as Google and Tesla. CAVs could reduce congestion in urban areas, by exploiting the ability to safely drive closer together and therefore take up less road space.

 The development and use of CAVs in Greater Manchester is being trialled between Stockport Station and Manchester Airport. The project involves deploying platoons of 3 electric powered, autonomous GTM sports cars to travel 10km, from Stockport train station to terminal 2 of Manchester Airport (and vice versa), via a newly developed section of the A6 to Manchester Airport Relief Road, and 3 autonomous pods to take passengers from a car park to the passenger terminals of Manchester airport over a distance of 2km.

 Trials for the autonomous pods and platoons are scheduled to take place in 2019,

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Now as I said, I stumbled across this and to be quite frank....I wish I had not.

 Please stop this Autonomous Express...I want to get off.