Uber versus taxi battle comes to London

Header image for Interrobang article CREDIT: SCANRAIL / THINKSTOCK
Uber has shaken up the taxi service industry in Canada, but the city of London isn't quite ready to give them full reign over the city.

With the rise of Uber in many large cities across the country, taxi services, as well as some municipal governments, have been fighting back.

The main strife Uber has generated comes from the fact that Uber drivers avoid paying registration fees that can be costly. Uber avoids these fees and other regulations by classifying themselves as a ride share service as opposed to a taxi service.

Bob Barker, the dispatch supervisor for London Yellow Taxi service, said he has seen the number of people calling for taxis go down, but that is to be expected anytime a new business comes to town.

“We’re still servicing the city of London to the best of our abilities,” Barker said. “Whenever there’s new competition in town there’s always a concern, everybody wants to try the new guy. Ultimately our goal is to keep our customer base as happy as we can.”

The city’s battle with Uber made headlines again recently when city council rejected creating a third category or transportation for “transportation network companies”. This would mean that Uber is legally allowed to run in London and would not break any bylaws by doing so.

Uber drivers were ticketed in a spree near the end of August and charged with $500 tickets for breaking the taxi/limousine drivers bylaw.

Considering how the penalty for a first time offence of this law can be up to $25,000, the city let them off fairly easily.

Under normal conditions Uber is a great option, especially for students. With the easy-to-use application, all you have to do is put in your credit card information and then call for an Uber driver when you need one. London taxi services like Yellow London Taxi offers the same services on their app.

Uber rates typically cost less than a cab ride, one of the main reasons why taxi drivers oppose Uber. The base rate is $3 plus 25 cents per minute and an additional $1.10 per kilometer. Uber ride prices go much higher during busy times and can inflate as much as three times the regular price.

Fare estimates for both Uber and Yellow London Taxi showed that there is not much of a difference in prices between the two services. UberX estimated a five-kilometer ride would be $12 to $16 and Yellow London Taxi estimated that the same trip would cost $14.

Barker said he does not understand how Uber can continue to run when it is breaking city bylaws, laws that were put in place for Londoner’s safety.

“Uber comes in and sets up shop, with or without the approval of the city of London,” Barker said. “I don’t understand why different municipal governments feel like they have to conform to Uber’s way of business when they’re not even attempting to conform to the municipality’s requests.”

The Interrobang reached out to Uber but they did not reply before printing.