LONDON 'FREENOW'

Taxi ride-hailing app FREE NOW have faced criticism from drivers after increasing commission fees by 50% on all jobs.‬

‪From 1 August, FREE NOW, formally known as mytaxi, will increase its commission in London to 15%.  ‬

The firm say the increase is a “necessary change” which will “help the taxi trade to have a sustainable and bright future”.

FREE NOW is a leading ‘mobility provider’ which currently operates in 100 cities across Europe, with 14 million passengers and more than 100,000 drivers. In the UK, the service is available in London, Manchester, Nottingham, Edinburgh, Brighton, Reading, Oxford, Derby and Leicester.

A spokesperson from FREE NOW said in a message delivered to its drivers: “London is one of the most competitive cities in the world and the taxi sector here has changed almost beyond recognition over the last 10 years. Technology and weak regulation have strengthened the competition, giving passengers more choice than ever before.
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“We now need to make some changes in order for us to be able to continue to help you fight the competition and for us to be able to support the long term sustainability of the trade.”
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“When we launched in 2011, we were able to charge a low commission rate and have kept the lowest rate in the industry for as long as possible, while others have increased theirs. We have invested some £200m to support the trade, developing a cutting edge app and running big advertising campaigns. We want to continue to attract new passengers, ensure current passengers are satisfied and to help black cabs stay relevant.”




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 Taxis and Private Hire Vehicles (PHV)

As outlined in the First Minister’s legislative statement, we will not be pursuing legislation in relation to taxi and private hire vehicles in this Bill. Addressing the outdated taxi and private hire vehicle legislation remains a key priority. However, it has become very clear that there is a considerable amount of work still required before we can bring forward legislation that addresses the improvements needed. Responses to the White Paper consultation highlighted the wide range of stakeholder views about how the legislation underpinning the operation of the taxi and PHV industry should be improved and those views are not consistent across the industry.

Furthermore, the Department for Transport is proposing to introduce new guidance relating to measures for the protection of children and vulnerable adults when using taxis and private hire vehicles, which would apply in Wales. The Department for Transport is also looking at introducing national minimum standards; national enforcement powers; a national database and some form of out-of-area restrictions. These would be England only provisions, unless the Welsh Government wanted them extended to Wales and secured the necessary legislative consent motion. The steps being considered by the Department of Transport has also given us cause to reconsider the proposals. 

The Welsh Government is still committed to working with the industry to legislate to bring Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle regulation into the 21st Century. However, rather than hold up introduction of our important bus proposals in order to strengthen the taxi elements, the First Minister yesterday announced that we will now decouple the 2 parts of the proposed Bill for this term and work to bring forward a separate bill on taxis early in the next term.

In the meantime I have asked officials to develop a package of short-term measures, using existing legislative powers, to begin to address some of the concerns local authorities, drivers, unions and others have raised. Officials are already working in partnership with the Welsh Local Government Association to develop and deliver these short-term arrangements.  A plan, for future delivery of new measures will be developed by late autumn.

https://gov.wales
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 AYRSHIRE

A Kilwinning businessman has launched Ayrshire’s first Uber-style taxi app.

Colin Boyd says his new Ayrshire Taxi App will connect passengers with licensed taxi drivers across the county.

The meter started running on the service this week following a ‘soft launch’ in Irvine, Kilwinning, Beith and Kilbirnie.

Now Colin, chairman of Junior football club Kilwinning Rangers, is looking for taxi companies and drivers in all three local authorities to get on board and make the service fully-Ayrshire wide. He said: “The aim is to provide a single taxi booking service to cover the 380,000 people that live in Ayrshire.

“We want to work with all local, independent taxi owners in every town. I’ve got meetings lined up this week to expand into other areas.

“Ayrshire’s taxi services have been fragmented for a long time and I believe there’s a market there for an app like this.

“It pulls everything together.  There will be no need to make six or seven phone calls any more just to get a taxi.”

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk