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Courts Will Decide If Uber Breaks London Taxi Laws

Taximeters are prohibited in London’s private hire vehicles. But does the Uber app count? The courts are set to decide.
Black cabs protest against Uber at a protest last year. Image: David Holt/Flickr

Uber has been operating in London since 2012, but is it even legal? That's a question currently being considered by the High Court, which has been asked to clarify whether the cab-hailing app complies with existing taxi rules in its current form.

The issue, which is being heard by the courts Monday and Tuesday, boils down to a simple question that regulators are nevertheless finding hard to answer: Does a smartphone app like Uber's count as a taximeter?

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Taximeters—devices that calculate a fare based on time and distance travelled, and that are ubiquitous in London's famous black cabs—are not allowed in private hire vehicles. Uber is regulated as a private hire vehicle operator, much like a minicab service, where cars are booked through a middleman rather than hailed in the street like black cab taxis. So the argument is that, if its drivers' smartphones are taximeters, Uber is flouting the law.

The decision was referred to the High Court by local government body Transport for London (TfL), which provisionally came to the conclusion that the app isn't a meter, but is seeking clarity from the Court on how the regulations around meters apply to modern technology.

Does a smartphone app like Uber's count as a taximeter?

Two interested parties disagree with this stance: the Licensed Taxi Drivers Association (LTDA) and the Licensed Private Hire Car Association (LPHCA).

To an outsider, the law does seem a bit vague. The relevant section of the Private Hire Vehicles (London) Act was written before smartphones were a thing and describes a taximeter as "a device for calculating the fare to be charged in respect of any journey by reference to the distance travelled or time elapsed since the start of the journey (or a combination of both)."

Naturally, Uber is adamant that it is working within the law. "We believe the Uber app on a partner-driver's phone is not a taximeter, and TfL—the regulator—shares this view," an Uber spokesperson said. "We are looking forward to getting binding clarity on this issue in the high court. However, the outcome of the case would not affect Uber's license in London, or its ability to operate here."

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Indeed, a negative ruling would not take Uber drivers off the road; it would likely mean some re-jigging of the UK version of the app to comply with clarified regulations.

Image: Ashraf Mahmood/Flickr

But even if this case goes Uber's way, the company still faces other controversies in the UK capital, and it doesn't always see eye to eye with TfL regulators.

Just last week TfL released proposals it has developed for reviewing private hire vehicle regulations, and Uber's not happy with the suggestions. Among the proposals under consideration are one that states "Operators must not show vehicles being available for immediate hire, either visibly or virtually via an app"—which, of course, is exactly how Uber works—and one that would require operators to give passengers details of the driver and vehicle a minimum of five minutes in advance.

The consultation closes at the end of this year and any changes would come into play next year. Uber has responded by launching an online petition, and the Uber UK Twitter account currently appears to take great pleasure in retweeting criticism of TfL's proposals.

An Uber spokesperson said the company abided by regulations and that "These bureaucratic new rules will not improve your ride. They're designed to address the concerns of black cab drivers, who feel under pressure from increased competition. But the answer is to reduce the onerous regulations cabbies face today—not increase them for everyone else."

It boils down to a clash of two general potential directions: one that favours a less-regulated playing field where black cabs and Uber compete more directly, and one that promotes a more emphasised distinction between the service offered by black cabs versus that of minicabs.

By the time that one's figured out we'll have probably moved on to the next transport conundrum: how to regulate robot drivers?