TfL court ruling delayed as Uber drivers are sued July 3, 2014 The battle over Uber’s controversial car hire app escalated yesterday as Transport for London (TfL) said its attempt to get a High Court ruling on the dispute would be seriously delayed following news that the Licensed Taxi Drivers Association (LTDA) was taking its own legal action against Uber drivers. The dispute focuses on whether Uber’s [...]
Uber saved from London court battle and is operating within the law says TfL July 3, 2014 Transport for London (TfL) has announced that the High Court cannot proceed with a case regarding taxi app service Uber because the magistrates courts are deluged with cases concerning individual Uber drivers. Furthermore, as far as TfL is concerned, Uber is acting within the law by using an app to calculate fares based on the [...]
Carlyle ponders sale of London minicab firm Addison Lee June 30, 2014 Carlyle Group, the US-based private equity firm, is considering selling Addison Lee, the London minicab company. The decision is part of an evaluation of the business, which Carlyle bought a majority stake in for around £300m in April 2013. The evaluation, to be conducted by Credit Suisse and likely to be completed by autumn this [...]
Uber’s south east Asian rival looks to make history June 25, 2014 The chief executive and co-founder of Malaysian-based startup Grabtaxi believes his mobile app has the potential to take south east Asia by storm and revolutionise the taxi industry. Speaking to the Financial Times, Anthony Tan said: "We all believe that if we get this right, we can literally go into the history books." The taxi app [...]
Our prosperity depends on embracing disruption – but don’t forget the losers June 17, 2014 HERE is your starter for ten. What do the Uber app and David Ricardo have in common? “Ricardo?”, I hear you ask. Scarcely known outside academic economics, he ranks equal with Adam Smith and John Maynard Keynes as the greatest ever British economist. His classic Principles of Political Economy was published in 1816, and he [...]
City & Gild: Catching a cab, or catching up? June 13, 2014 I wrote recently about the sharing economy and the fact that hotels in New York are in court with Airbnb. Surprise surprise, now the black cabs are on strike because of Uber. As the hoteliers of New York claim their grievance is with Airbnb not paying hotel tax, the cabbies are apparently upset because they [...]
Uber app wins the heart of EU commissioner after taxi protests June 12, 2014 Smartphone app Uber has found a new champion in the form of EU digital affairs commissioner Neelie Kroes. After protests against the San Francisco startup swept Europe yesterday, Kroes wrote "we cannot address these challenges by ignoring them, by going on strike, or by trying to ban these innovations out of existence." “The disruptive force [...]
Uber app vs black taxis: Cab war heats up June 11, 2014 Taxi drivers bring central London streets to a standstill over Uber – yet smartphone app says it won the day Thousands of black cabs caused gridlock in London’s west end yesterday as taxi drivers protested over the smartphone app Uber and warned that they could bring more chaos to the streets of the capital with [...]
In pictures: Uber cab protests in London and the rest of Europe June 11, 2014 European cities have come to a standstill as cab drivers protest against the rise of taxi apps such as Uber. Uber customers can hail a ride using their smartphone, which will show them the nearest vehicle available, rather than having to flag a cab. London, Barcelona, Madrid, Rome, Paris and Berlin have suffered traffic disruption [...]
Bank staffer Ben Broadbent: Housing market is greatest threat to UK outlook June 11, 2014 Fear housing market risks, not bond market bubbles, says Bank of England staffer Ben Broadbent. When quizzed by MPs on the potential for emerging bubbles in the UK economy, his words clashed with those of Andy Haldane, now the Bank's chief economist. He disagreed with Haldane's claim that the central bank has "intentionally blown the [...]