Luton Borough Council defends taxi stance

Luton Borough Council says it's doing all it can to help local taxi drivers gain local business, as cabbies stage a protest outside the town hall.

Taxi drivers claim the council isn't doing enough to protect the local industry from companies like Uber, which has started operating in Luton, and London-based Addison Lee, which has secured a contract at the airport.

But Sarah Hall, service director for business and consumer services, said: "What we are trying to do with all of our traders is to put them into a position where if opportunities such as this [the contract with Luton Airport] arise in future, they will be in a good position to win these contracts. 


"So we've offered repeatedly - and I continue to offer and offered only last week - business support and advice through a number of local organisations, to try and get our local traders in a business where they can compete in a really competitive market."

We've contacted Uber and Addison Lee for comment.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-39128555

Mytaxi, Europe’s largest taxi app which is majority owned by Daimler Group, has launched in London today. Passengers across the capital are now able to order a licensed black cab with the mytaxi app, free to download from the Apple App Store and Google Play.

The London launch comes after a merger with London taxi app Hailo in July 2016, joining forces to operate under the mytaxi brand in the UK as part of Daimler’s continued investment in innovative mobility services.

The mytaxi app offers all of the features that Hailo has, as well as some new ones. Passengers can save their ‘Favourite Driver’ so that great drivers are more likely to be allocated to them in future. Anyone wanting to let friends and family know they are on board can use the ‘Share Journey’ feature which tells loved ones (of their choosing) where they are and their estimated time of arrival (ETA). The mytaxi team will continue to add more useful features in the coming months.

London’s black cab drivers will also be using the mytaxi driver app from now on. As well as a world class driver app, mytaxi has a portfolio of complementary services that they are developing, such as Protect - a comprehensive personal accident and legal cover product. Drivers will also benefit from the mytaxi network of over 50 cities across Europe. Mytaxi’s very first passenger job in London happened to be a business traveller from Stuttgart.

Andrew Pinnington, CEO of mytaxi said: “We are delighted to be able to bring mytaxi’s market leading technology to London, where the iconic black cab is an inextricable part of the city’s heritage. The mytaxi focus is on combining knowledge of what our customers need with real-time data to help our passengers move freely within the cities we service. We look to work in harmony with our drivers, and the cities and countries in which we operate to facilitate better movement in challenging and congested urban environments”.

Andy Jones, mytaxi’s General Manager for the UK, said: “We’re thrilled that, following a lot of hard work over the last few months to migrate drivers and passengers across from the Hailo app, mytaxi has now officially launched in London. The result, the latest technology matched with the best in taxi driver expertise, will provide Londoners with a black cab with just one tap”.

Switching from one app to the other has been made super simple for passengers. With just a couple of taps, they are directed via a personalised link from the Hailo app, through their respective app store to download mytaxi so that when they open mytaxi there is no need to register, login or add any of their account details, such as payment cards. They are automatically logged in and their Hailo account details will be ready and waiting, meaning they can start hailing cabs straight away.

mytaxi was the world’s first taxi app, founded in Germany in 2009 to help bring the international taxi trade into the 21st century. The concept is based on the idea of establishing a direct connection between drivers and passengers to offer both sides a modern alternative to conventional time-consuming booking processes. With over 100,000 affiliated taxis and over 10 million downloads of the app to date across nine countries and soon to launch in Greece following the recent acquisition of Taxibeat, it is now also the European market leader among taxi apps.

http://www.londonlovesbusiness.com/business-news/14379.article 
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TODAY IN PARLIAMENT

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LAST WEEK IN PARLIAMENT

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SHEFFIELD

A taxi driver was rushed to hospital in the early hours of this morning after his vehicle collided with two lampposts in Sheffield.

It is believed the man, aged in his 30, lost control of the vehicle on Chesterfield Road South in Lowedges at 1.30am and hit two posts.

The driver had become trapped inside and firefighters from Sheffield Central and Lowedges stations had to use specialist equipment to cut him free. He was taken in an ambulance to Sheffield 's Northern General Hospital with suspected neck and back injuries.

There were no passengers in the taxi and no other vehicles were involved.

http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/sheffield-taxi-driver-rushed-to-hospital-after-vehicle-hits-two-lampposts-1-8434345 

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COVENTRY

A dodgy taxi driver was caught plying for trade in an unlicensed cab next to the Coventry council offices.

Nisar Bazmi of Blackwell Road, Foleshill, was fined and had points added to his driving licence after pleading guilty to the offence at Coventry Magistrates’ Court.

He admitted a charge of driving, standing or plying for hire when the carriage was not licensed as a public hackney carriage.

Bazmi, 49, who also admitted driving without insurance, had eight points endorsed on his driving licence, was fined £206 and ordered to pay £370 court costs and a £30 victim surcharge.

http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/courts-dodgy-coventry-taxi-driver-12723836

GEELEY TO LAUNCH APP IN U.K.

CAOCAO, a cab-hailing service pro­vider in Hangzhou, plans to expand its business abroad with London as its first stop, Liu Jinliang, chairman of the Geely-owned company, said.
“AUK version of our cab-hailing app will be released in September,” Liu said. Geely Holdings, a domestic car maker, will produce electric cars for the UK taxi market.

Geely already gained a foothold in Britain in 2012 when it acquired The London Taxi Co, the manufacturer of London’s famous black taxicabs.
In China, Caocao aims to offer both rides and rental cars with a variety of add-ons, including interpretation, body guard and other services.
“In 2017, we plan to expand our ser­vice to 20 main cities in China,” Liu added.

Caocao, the only company with a cab-hailing business license from the Hangzhou government, has more than 1,700 registered cabbies. Didi, Uber and other cab-hailing services failed to obtain licenses because some of their registered drivers and cars failed to meet the city’s requirements. All taxis Caocao uses in Hangzhou are pure electric cars made by Geely.

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/city-specials/hangzhou/Geely-targets-London/shdaily.shtml
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August Budget could see Diesel vehicles value crash overnight.

Drivers have been warned the value of 11 million diesel cars could crash “over night” under a threatened Government clampdown.

Documents buried in this week’s Budget revealed ministers are looking at “the appropriate tax treatment of diesel vehicles".

It is believed this could lead to tax hikes for diesel cars in the Autumn Budget.

Jim Holder, editorial director of What Car? magazine, said: “If the decision is to promote petrol or electrified cars, then diesel cars will lose value over night.

“They will be less desirable on the used car market, and owners could face punishing tax and congestion charges.”

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/millions-diesel-cars-could-crash-10005238
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BOLTON

Preparations for the latest major stage in the development of Bolton’s new transport interchange will take place this week.

From today, the taxi rank on Newport Street outside Bolton rail station will be temporarily relocated to allow the delivery and construction of the 'skylink bridge' which, once complete, will connect the station and interchange.

The bridge, which is being constructed by Network Rail on behalf of Transport for Greater Manchester, will be brought on site in four sections, requiring two deliveries.

The first two sections, which will be delivered during March, will be prepared and clad on site before being lifted into place by a large crane.

The second two sections will be delivered mid-April and again will be prepared, clad and lifted into place by the crane.

The process will require the temporary relocation of the taxi rank to bus stand D on Newport Street.
As a result, bus services 22, 36, 500, 519, 520, 527, 551, 570, 571, 572 will temporarily pick up from the bus stop further up Newport Street, opposite Section Street.

Subject to the successful installation of the new bridge, it is planned that the taxi rank will re-open in early May.

Transport for Greater Manchester Committee Chair, Cllr Andrew Fender, said: “The delivery and on-site construction of the skylink bridge will give people a really eye-catching demonstration of the rapid progress made on-site at Bolton Interchange recently.

“The work will result in some temporary, minor disruption to bus and taxi passengers and we apologise for any inconvenience caused.
“When complete later this year, the new multi-modal interchange will transform a key gateway into the town centre and provide much-improved facilities for passengers, so it really is an exciting time for Bolton.”

The new £48m interchange is expected to open by early summer.

http://bit.ly/2mlCWwg

Gett, the global on-demand transportation app, officially launches ‘Gett Together’ in Manchester today (Wednesday, March 8).

It is an innovative taxi-sharing service which transports customers along dedicated routes by the tap of the app.

Gett Together, which currently operates in London and New York, will start in Manchester running along what is known as the busiest bus route in Europe.

Users can hop on or off anywhere along the line between Withington and Piccadilly Station via the universities in the morning with the route running in the opposite direction in the evening. More routes will be added later in the year.

Bosses claim Gett’s taxi-sharing has significant advantages over competitors as it uses Manchester’s black cabs travelling in the designated bus lanes, providing a faster, more economical transport link across the city for a very competitive rate.

Gett Together’will be completely free to use until the end of March, running every weekday between 8am to 11am and 4pm to 7pm. After this time, Gett Together will cost £2 for a single ride.

Matteo De Renzi, Gett’s UK chief executive, said: “We’re delighted to offer ‘Gett Together’ in Manchester, alongside our on-demand taxi services via the app. Thanks to our innovative technology, Manchester can now experience the comfort and effectiveness of black cabs at an unbeatable price. We are looking forward to seeing how this makes travelling in Manchester faster and smarter.”

http://bit.ly/2n4Oswl
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