Oct 5, 2015 03:33 PM
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/courts-...-taxi-laws
EXCERPT: Uber has been operating in London since 2012, but is it even legal? That’s a question currently being considered by the High Court, which has been asked to clarify whether the cab-hailing app complies with existing taxi rules in its current form.
The issue, which is being heard by the courts Monday and Tuesday, boils down to a simple question that regulators are nevertheless finding hard to answer: Does a smartphone app like Uber’s count as a taximeter?
Taximeters—devices that calculate a fare based on time and distance travelled, and that are ubiquitous in London’s famous black cabs—are not allowed in private hire vehicles. Uber is regulated as a private hire vehicle operator, much like a minicab service, where cars are booked through a middleman rather than hailed in the street like black cab taxis. So the argument is that, if its drivers' smartphones are taximeters, Uber is flouting the law.
The decision was referred to the High Court by local government body Transport for London (TfL), which provisionally came to the conclusion that the app isn’t a meter, but is seeking clarity from the Court on how the regulations around meters apply to modern technology. Two interested parties disagree with this stance: the Licensed Taxi Drivers Association (LTDA) and the Licensed Private Hire Car Association (LPHCA)....
EXCERPT: Uber has been operating in London since 2012, but is it even legal? That’s a question currently being considered by the High Court, which has been asked to clarify whether the cab-hailing app complies with existing taxi rules in its current form.
The issue, which is being heard by the courts Monday and Tuesday, boils down to a simple question that regulators are nevertheless finding hard to answer: Does a smartphone app like Uber’s count as a taximeter?
Taximeters—devices that calculate a fare based on time and distance travelled, and that are ubiquitous in London’s famous black cabs—are not allowed in private hire vehicles. Uber is regulated as a private hire vehicle operator, much like a minicab service, where cars are booked through a middleman rather than hailed in the street like black cab taxis. So the argument is that, if its drivers' smartphones are taximeters, Uber is flouting the law.
The decision was referred to the High Court by local government body Transport for London (TfL), which provisionally came to the conclusion that the app isn’t a meter, but is seeking clarity from the Court on how the regulations around meters apply to modern technology. Two interested parties disagree with this stance: the Licensed Taxi Drivers Association (LTDA) and the Licensed Private Hire Car Association (LPHCA)....