San-Francisco based taxi hailing service Uber has faced a myriad of legal and regulatory problems from all over the world. There was the case in New Delhi India that led to the banning of the service after a passenger using the service was raped. The UberPop service has been banned in France owing to protests by taxi drivers accusing the service of unfair competition. The case has seen two of Uber’s senior managers in France face criminal charges. In Brazil’s metropolis , local authorities are grappling on how to exactly regulate the service to appease the taxi driver unions besides using the service to create employment.
Earlier in the month, Uber faced another challenge in London after the Transport for London (TFL) went to a London court seeking clarification on whether the smartphones used by Uber can serve as taxi meters. It is illegal in London for private cars to use taxi meters to calculate fares as they cannot be regulated. In the case of Uber, a user downloads the application which then used GPS to locate drivers closest to them. Uber then uses GPS and the company’s service to calculate the amount of fare a user will pay for using the service. The court ruled that the Uber GPS and server system did not amount to a taxi meter hence no laws were broken by the service.
The suit was challenging the legality of Uber to operate in London and comes after taxi drivers in London protested against the service. The Transport for London is according to BBC planning to update the regulations targeting private taxi hiring and services like Uber stating drivers ought to state the fares before the trips begin. The Licensed Taxi Drivers’ Association (LTDA) plans to appeal the ruling at the Supreme Court.
Source: BBC
