Knowledge isn't power in this case.
Conservative London Assembly member Richard Tracey is calling for London's struggling black cab industry to dramatically reduce the requirements of its infamously difficult knowledge test.
Why? Well, Tracey reasons that since the navigation test can take up to three years to learn and pass, it needs to be scrapped, so that the country's black cab drivers can survive, better compete with Uber and, overall, so that there's a more level playing field.
It's part of Tracey's eight-point plan to save London's black cab industry, as reported by the Greater London Authority Conservatives. The most sticking of the points include reducing London's black cab knowledge test by two-thirds of its current requirements and having sponsorship pay for technology advances to keep up with Uber.
Tracey is calling on black cab companies to heed his advice if they want to survive the onslaught by Uber, save their failing business model and actually compete with the ride-hailing app service. While London's taxi drivers must pass a test, which can take up to three years to fully learn its 25,000 streets, roads and avenues inside and out, Uber drivers have the luxury of instantly applying and allowing the app to navigate them to their customers' desired destinations.
Tracey believes cutting down on drivers' knowledge requirements will also help London's cab companies attract younger drivers — something that's sorely needed in the country.
Greater London Authority Conservatives reports that only 5 percent of London's cabbies are 35 and under, while four times that amount are over 70 years old.
Heeding Tracey's advice could be the lone hope for London's black cab industry after the United Kingdom's High Court ruled in favor of Uber, claiming its app doesn't run on a smartphone taximeter and is therefore legal in London, just this past October.
Weeks later, in early November, London's largest black cab training school for would-be drivers, Knowledge Point, announced it's closing its doors in December over a drop-off in enrollment.
"Cutting down the knowledge as part of a package of reforms will level the playing field for our much-loved cabbies and ensure our roads remain full of this popular and practical icon for the forseeable future," Tracey said, as reported by the Greater London Authority Conservatives.
