The measures being considered by TFL could include the introduction of an interval of at least five minutes between a booking and the start of a journey.
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The recommendations are part of a consultation on minicab regulation starting Wednesday and running for 12 weeks, Transport for London said in an emailed statement.
The BHA said it believes the government should act to ensure fire, health and safety regulations apply equally to every player within the industry, including sharing economy accommodation providers.
Simon Walker, director general at the Institute of Directors said, “Transport for London is right to take an interest in the way companies like Uber have disrupted the way we travel around the capital”.
For example, Coun. Giorgio Mammoliti asked whether municipal regulations would require Uber Canada to use vehicles 5-years-old or newer, or provide accessible and energy efficient options.
While Uber has been popular with commuters around the world, it has faced backlash from traditional taxi operators and a few governments, and been hit with legal challenges in cities including Brussels and Jakarta.
“If adopted, these [rules] would mean an end to the Uber people know and love”, Uber London reps told the BBC. “Outlawing companies from showing available cars on an app is a Luddite solution to a problem which doesn’t exist”. “But the answer is to level the playing field by reducing today’s burdensome black-cab regulations, not to introduce rules that will be bad for riders, drivers and London”, Uber said in an email to customers. (The two companies were founded within months of each other, Uber in San Francisco in March 2009, and Hailo in London in late 2010). Currently, Uber drivers operate without business insurance on their vehicles, are given minimal training with no background checks and have no requirement to have their cars inspected as Toronto’s licensed taxis.
TfL said its overriding concern in developing the proposals is to improve passenger safety. Within 24 hours of the announcement that TfL was launching a consultation the petition has attracted over 100,000 signatures.
The NRMA is also calling on the taxi industry to abolish its five per cent card payment surcharge and review its “draconian” leasing and network fees now forced on individual drivers.
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Uber has provoked a backlash in cities across the globe, with the mayor of Rio de Janeiro saying on Tuesday he would ban its use in the city while a taxi drivers protest jammed the center of Bratislava on Monday.
