Uber is doing what it can to co-exist and quell the bad blood between it and London taxi drivers.
It's just that London cab companies don't seem interested in meeting the ride-hailing app halfway ... or perhaps any way at all.
After already launching its UberTaxi option within its app to aid cabbies in finding new customers, the ride-hailing company announced Tuesday that it's also waiving its 5-percent fee that it would traditionally charge and rake in for each Uber-sourced passenger, as reported by Engadget.
So, in other words, Uber is proposing to help London taxi drivers find customers for free ... for at least the time being.
"For Londoners it means they can order a traditional black cab at the push of a button and pay electronically through their phone, rather than worrying about cash," said Jo Bertram, Uber's United Kingdom regional general manager, as reported by Engadget. "For taxi drivers it's a chance to get a fare when there are no passengers on the street or they're waiting in a long queue at a rank."
Sounds good, right? Well, not to the London Taxi Drivers Association.
"With over 15,000 cabbies registered with specific taxi-hailing apps like Gett and Hailo, we would be amazed if any drivers decide to take up Uber's offer," Steve McNamara, the LTDA's general secretary, explained on the association's website. "Licensed taxis in London offer the best service in the world and as a membership group the LTDA doesn't like the way Uber treats its drivers and customers or its dodgy tax arrangements."
He added: "We haven't been consulted on this at all: it's just another PR stunt from a company that spends £250,000 every month on lobbying and PR. The response is 'thanks, but no thanks.'"
One shouldn't be completely surprised by the LTDA's reaction, considering it feels like Uber snaked around London's regulations to grow its business wildly and push the city's historic black cab business to the brink of extinction.
Can Uber and London's taxi drivers ever co-exist?
