Cashless taxi service Uber continues its drive across

Greater Manchester with launches in Bolton, Bury 

and Oldham

Private hire taxi companies say other operators will have to compete, and insist that their customers prefer the personal touch

Smartphone taxi service Uber is launching cars in three more Greater Manchester towns.

The cashless, US-based firm, which is already on the roads of central Manchester and the surrounding areas, has branched out into Bolton, Bury and Oldham.

Uber brands itself as a ‘technology platform’ that connects customers with its fleet of licenced private hire drivers through a downloadable smartphone app. Customers book and pay through the app.

But established private hire taxi companies have previously hit out, claiming Uber could take business and drivers away from them.
Private hire drivers in Bolton threatened to go on strike in protest at one point, but have since backed down.

The firm said its new offering, the UberX service, offers 20 per cent cheaper fares than those already in place in Manchester city centre. The trip from Bolton Bus Station to the Royal Bolton Hospital in Farnworth would cost £4.60 and Bury to Manchester city cent​re​​​ would cost £14.80.

Drivers locate passengers who have booked through GPS and alerts are send.

Private hire taxi firms in the three new areas said companies would have to compete for business.

Jay Khan, who runs firms in Oldham including Chadderton Cars, Broadway Cars and Express Cars, said he didn’t believe Uber would take off in smaller towns as the firm has done in larger cities.

He said: “Our customers would rather talk to a person rather than a computer, or no one. It is a personal service.

“My view is that it is competition. We have to accept it and get on with it. There is nothing really we can do about it. The best thing we can do is to compete. We will make sure our standards and services are up to scratch.”

Max Lines, Uber’s general manager for Greater Manchester, said all Uber drivers in the UK have passed a Disclosure and Barring Service check, are licensed by the relevant local authority and insured as private hire drivers. They all carry full commercial insurance.

He said: “We’re delighted to be bringing UberX to more towns. From the growth we have seen in Manchester we know the people in the region love Uber, so we are really excited to opening the app to more people in the area.”

The firm also operates in Salford, Rochdale and Stockport. They have also applied to Trafford council to operate there.

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/uber-launch-bolton-bury-oldham-9165954
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Comment

Uber's publicity machine in operation again.They launch yesterday in Bolton and Bury, but as we know they have had those vehicles working here in Manchester for the last month.

They now operate in 8 of the 10 Greater Manchester Area's.

I have received this account of a Public Protection meeting held on Thursday night in Trafford. I do not have specific permission to share it with you, it is from a Licensing officer, but his comments indicate I may go ahead and publish anyway.......


Max Lines from UBER attended the Public Protection meeting last night. He is a young and plausible person. He is the General manager of UBER for Greater Manchester. To date UBER have Operator Licences in the following Greater Manchester Boroughs; Manchester, Stockport, Salford, Bury, Bolton, Rochdale, and now Trafford.

The Trafford office which is nothing more than a virtual office a bit like the Carlsberg Complaints Office, is based at Empress Business Park on Chester Road Old Trafford.

He runs a team of fiver persons split into Driver Operations and marketing and Customer relations. He was asked what percentage of the market UBER currently have across Greater Manchester and what percentage they hope to achieve. He refused to answer that question citing commercial sensitivities. He said that UBER are currently recruiting drivers in Bolton and now hope to do the same in Trafford.

If a customer currently uses the UBER application in Trafford to get a Taxi they will get most likely a Manchester Licensed Private Hire Cab and of course reminded the Committee that this is perfectly legal.

As I said to him there is no way of knowing where the Taxi that accepts a job is Licensed because the system is set up to alert the nearest UBER Taxi to the customer. So you could get the ridiculous situation of an UBER based Birmingham Taxi being at Manchester Airport dropping off and accepting a job in Wythenshawe because they are the nearest cab to the customer.

He was unable to answer any legal questions because he was not qualified to do so. He talked in general terms about how they operate and how their innovative approach is changing the market much to the chagrin of the traditional market. He did say that UBER do not use out of town Hackney Carriages and have a deliberate policy of not doing so.

I have requested he supplies the Committee with a copy of the UK terms and conditions for UBER Customers and the terms and conditions as they apply to drivers they sign up and ‘on board’ to their platform. We will see if that materialises. He was asked a question about whom the Contract is with when a customer uses the application to order a Taxi. He did not understand the concept of contract. He just says UBER pair the customer with the ‘self-employed’ driver. He did not seem to appreciate that the Operator too has an overriding duty of care to the customer! 


I asked him about fare structure. UBER have a base fare of £1.50 and in addition you pay £1.30 per mile and 15p for every minute you are in the taxi. 

On records he was adamant that UBER comply with Licensing authorities and will supply information upon request and he also said UBER operate a zero tolerance approach to plying for hire. If any of their drivers are caught they are removed from the UBER platform. On Customer care he said they review driver feedback and those drivers getting poor reviews are brought in for training/ review and that they use drivers who get high rated customer feedback to do this. He said UBER have a high bar. Those drivers not up to scratch will get removed from their platform!

They expect to start ‘onboarding’ Trafford Private Hire Drivers in the near future. He said he wanted Trafford business to go to Trafford Licensed Drivers and Taxis but I doubt his sincerity on that because UBER cannot guarantee which driver from which authority is getting the job. When I get the responses to my questions which had to be tabled due to time constraints I will provide you with the answers, if we ever get them. Please feel free to share this email with your colleagues. This is my take on what occurred at the meeting last night. Regards 

ENDS.
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On a National note, I am currently working with a the National Private Hire Association on a spreadsheet of the Authorities in the UK where Uber have licenses. I am not at Liberty to show you this as it is an ongoing project.

However I can tell you that Uber are Licenced in 20 area's with applications pending in another 11 area's (one of which is Trafford)

I will of course update you when possible, however if you are in a rush and need the info NOW, you could always ask the MCR branch of UNITE. God help you.