Government report shows London’s private hire vehicle boom of 40% since 2013

With e hailing apps becoming more and more popular the UK has seen a significant increase in private hire vehicles.

The department of transport has released figures showing a rise of 11.8% across the UK since 2013 with a massive rise of 40.66% in London.

In 2013 there were 49,854 private hire vehicles in London the latest figures released by TFL on 14th sept 2015 show 70,126.

The current number of Private hire licences for individuals stands at 87,734 up against 21,612 Green Badge (All London Public Hire Taxi Licences) and 3,437 Yellow badge (Suburban Licence Public Hire Licences).

Currently TFL are issuing around 700 extra private hire licences a week, Boris has been lobbying the government to limit the capitals Private hire licences but up until now nothing has been passed in law.

The licenced Black Taxi numbers have remained stagnant and has actually dropped by 58 since 2011. This year has also seen the lowest number of applications for individuals studying the Knowledge in many years.

The Taxi trade are currently awaiting the decision on whether the way UBER calculates it’s fares amounts to a meter, something that TFL say can only be used by a Licensed Black Taxi.

e hailing mobile app screenshot