In a battle between Uber and the city of London, it looks like the ridesharing service has come out victorious, successfully trashing a proposed ban to delay all rides ordered through its app by 5 minutes. The move would have given traditional London cabs a better edge.
In a session at the London Assembly, London Mayor Boris Johnson disparaged the measure, which was introduced after a consultation on private-hire transportation services and their impact on the revenue of traditional taxi operations. The consultants claimed the 20,000-numbered employee Uber fleet presented additional impositions for business.
Johnson noted that the delay measure would be akin to "trying to turn back the clock on technological progress."
"We can't turn back the clock, we can't uninvent the Internet," the mayor added.
Over 200,000 people signed a petition against proposals for things like 5 minute waits: https://t.co/KQ0MPdQ8u2 Good that TfL has listened
— Alex Belardinelli (@abelardinelli) January 20, 2016
"This is good news for Londoners and a victory for common sense" - Uber UK's Jo Bertram on TfL's announcement today
— Alex Belardinelli (@abelardinelli) January 20, 2016
Uber called the dismissal of the delay practice a "victory for common sense" on its Twitter account, and linked to its campaign against the measure — a petition to Transport for London (TfL), the government body responsible for transport systems in Greater London, that called for the revocation of the proposal.
Via: Bloomberg
Photo: James Barrett | Flickr
