Archive for category: Taxi News

As if it wasn’t hard enough pursuing a professional boxing career, former Dale Youth ABC starlet Dean Richardson, aged 21, has also been putting in some hard graft outside the ring, as he has just completed The Knowledge and become a licensed black taxi driver.  Having turned 21 at the beginning of August, Richardson is one of London’s youngest cabbies.  He was presented with the coveted Green Badge on 26^th August 2016.

 

After leaving school at 18 and not knowing where to turn next bar boxing, the former Ruislip High school pupil opted to follow his dad’s path and train to become a cab driver, something Ray has been doing for nearly 20 years.

 

He said: “When I was younger I was never really interested in becoming a cab driver. But when I came out of sixth form still not knowing what I wanted to do apart from boxing, my dad turned to me and said what about becoming a cab driver?’

 

‘I knew I wanted to become a professional boxer, but at the same time I needed something to fall back on as you don’t know what’s around the corner.’

 

‘It’s been just over three years of hard work but I’m now reaping the rewards from it.’

 

He continued: ‘It’s a job I can do for life, and I can work on it when I have some spare time between training. I have that freedom, so I’m in a good position now.’

 

The prospect of that is no doubt an exciting one for the Richardson, who has made a flying start to his professional career, with back-to-back knockouts in his first two fights against Aleksejs Grustans and most recently Ivan Duvancic.

 

Richardson trains at State of Mind Fitness in Hammersmith and recently had the opportunity to train with Dale Youth ABC legend George Groves, one of a host of boxers he looks up to in the current day.

 

‘He’s someone who has fought in some really big fights in his career already,’ said Richardson. ‘That includes one of the biggest British bouts in recent history and he’s also been out to Vegas.  You can’t ask for a better training partner really than George.’

 

Richardson’s next fight is on 29^th October at York Hall, Bethnal Green.  Tickets are available on 07512 542168. 

Uber have confirmed that within the next fortnight app users will be able to hail self-driving cars in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Uber first revealed plans to use driverless vehicles two years ago however after teaming up with Volvo they have now made the plans a reality. To start with all vehicles will be supervised by a driver that will be able to take full control if necessary.

A spokeswoman for Uber told the BBC that this an ‘important milestone that no other automotive company has achieved to date’

She went on to explain, “In Pittsburgh, customers will request cars the normal way, via Uber’s app, and will be paired with a driverless car at random. Trips will be free for the time being, rather than the standard local rate of $1.30 [£0.98] per mile.”

The partners, Volvo have already sent a number of sensor-equipped XC90 sports utility vehicles to Uber for use in the trials. By the end of the year they are estimated to provide them with 100 in total.

Volvo has also given confirmation of the ‘joint project’ with Uber and provided some insight into project by stating “Both Uber and Volvo will use the same base vehicle for the next stage of their own autonomous car strategies,”

“This will involve Uber adding its own self-developed autonomous driving systems to the Volvo base vehicle.”

They also added that engineers from both firms will be collaborating on the project.

It has been noted that the deal with Volvo will not be exclusive and that Uber is making plans to work with other carmakers within the industry.

Uber is said to have invested a lot in its automated driving research programme however having raised over £7.5bn from its backers giving it plenty of financial scope at its disposal.

One caveat however – the “self-driving” Volvos picking up Uber users will still have a human in the driving seat as a supervisor. Even if Uber was confident enough in the technology to dispense with a human, neither Pittsburgh nor any other city is ready to adapt its regulations to allow completely autonomous driving.

Uber react to new rules put forward by Transport for London (TFL) by launching an application for a judicial review.

The new rules in London would require thousands of drivers to take an English language.

Uber have stated that the legal action was a ‘last resort’. The General manager of Uber London, Tom Elvidge stated

“We’re particularly disappointed that, after a lengthy consultation process with Transport for London, the goalposts have moved at the last minute and new rules are now being introduced that will be bad for both drivers and tech companies like Uber.”

Uber admits to supporting tests such as an English speaking/listening test however they have argued that it would be unnecessary for them to provide a certificate to prove they have an intermediate level of writing and reading.

Uber has over 30,000 London drivers that would also be affected by the new rulings.

Another rule that is causing further concern is that private hire companies will be required to run a London based operating centre which passengers are able to make contact with during a journey.

TFL issued the following statement in return to Uber, “We responded to Uber’s letter and will be robustly defending the legal proceedings brought by them in relation to the changes to private hire regulations,”.

London taxi-hailing app Hailo has now been brought by Daimler who will look to shut down the Hailo brand and merge it was its own company MyTaxi. The company will look to rebrand by mid-2017 with Daimler owning 60% of the business and the remaining 40% being owned by Hailo stakeholders.

Hailo has been recognised on the streets of London since 2011 however it was created back in 2010 by a group of 6 including tech entrepreneurs and taxi drivers. The app was similar to the others on the current market allowing customers to book a taxi at the click of a button.

Hailo was popular within the city as it offered an ‘Uber-like’ service however using black cabs instead of private hire vehicles and its cofounders were able to build a close and positive relationship with London black taxi drivers.

As of 2013 Hailo tried to roll out the app service in New York however they failed to build a close relationship with the New York cab drivers as well as the more popular areas being dominated by the rival app Uber. Due to this Hailos New York adventure came to an abrupt end with The Independent reported in 2014 that the company had made losses of £21.5 million.

The App operates in other major cities across the UK and also in Ireland and Spain. MyTaxi also has a large base with its services currently available in Austra, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and Sweden.

On review on the app merging it is said that the MyTaxi brand will have 70 million passengers and 100,000 registered taxi drivers spread across 50 cities within nine European countries.

Head office will be moved to MyTaxis head office which is based in Hamburg, Germany with Hailo CEO Andrew Pinnington leading the new Company.

Sadiq Khan has made big plans to tackle London’s air pollution and his office has confirmed that Oxford Street will be pedestrianised by 2020.

At the moment cars are banned from the street between 07:00 and 19:00 Monday to Saturday however the new plans ban all traffic including buses and taxis.

The new plans look to ban traffic along Oxford Street from Tottenham Court Road down to Marble Arch. They are looking to implement the ban in stages starting on the eastern section between Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Circus.

Valerie Shawcross, London’s deputy mayor for transport has stated that busses would be re-routed however did not go into detail on what plans they are looking to put into place.

Siwan Puw, policy manager at the London Chambers of Commerce, said: “The huge increase in footfall will require clear planning to maximise pedestrian safety and minimise disruption to businesses.

“Doing it in stages certainly has its advantages in that it means trading will continue more easily and any issues can be ironed out as we go along.”

A spokesman added that the project will contribute to the mayor’s aim of improving air quality and to make Oxford Street “a far safer and more pleasant place to live”