The London Electrical Cab made its debut more than 120 years ago.

In August 2017, London’s first hybrid black cabs hit the streets ahead of new legislation that came into effect this year, requiring all new cabs to be ‘zero emissions capable’. The TX can operate for around 70 miles on battery power alone, with a petrol range extender allowing it to clock up around 400 miles before refuelling. But London’s very first electric cabs actually came into service exactly 120 years earlier.

"Mr W H Preece inaugurated a service of electrical cabs which are to ply for hire in the streets of London in competition with the ordinary hackney carriages," wrote The Engineer in August 1897. "Thirteen of these cabs are now ready for work, and a staff of drivers have been instructed in the use of them. 

The cabs will be let out by the proprietors, the London Electrical Cab Company, Limited, just at the same rate and in the same manner as the London cabs. The ‘cabbies’ are, we are informed, quite enthusiastic about the new vehicle."

The London Electrical Cab – also commonly known as the ‘Hummingbird’ due to its sound, or the ‘Bersey Taxi’ after its young designer – first took to the streets of the capital on August 19 1897. Inventor Walter Charles Bersey was just 23 at the time, but had been designing and patenting electric vehicles for several years already. According to our predecessors, his creation was intended to mimic the appearance of the horse-drawn taxis of the day.

"The vehicle resembles very closely a horseless and shaftless coupé. It is carried on four wooden solid rubber-tired wheels. There is ample space for the coachmen. The accommodation within is luxurious. The propelling machinery consists of a 8-horse power Johnson-Lundell motor, with double wound armature and fields, so that by the use of a suitable switch or controller a variety of speeds can be obtained."

"The current is supplied by 40 EPS traction type cells, having a capacity of 170 ampere hours when discharged at a rate of 30 amperes. The cabs can thus travel between thirty and thirty-five miles per charge."

The vehicle had speed settings of three, seven and nine miles per hour, controlled by a lever at the side of the driver’s box. A powerful footbrake that broke the electrical circuit could also be applied, halting the vehicle in short order. This was one of four key conditions under which taxis were granted licenses by Scotland Yard, with carriages also required to be capable of turning in small spaces and climbing central London’s steepest ascent of the time, Savoy Hill.

The batteries, which weighed some 14 cwt (over 700 kg), were hung from springs underneath the vehicle and could be swapped out at Bersey’s Lambeth station using a system of hydraulic lifts. This was undoubtedly restrictive, and it was planned at the time to introduce other stations throughout London where the batteries could be charged and swapped. Though Bersey’s company claimed cab drivers welcomed the vehicle, it appears its introduction was not received as warmly from all quarters, as the following passage from a September 1897 edition of The Engineer illustrates.

"Mr. Walter C Bersey, the general manager of the London Electrical Cab Company, Ltd., has written to the general secretary of the London Cab Trade Council, saying that he fails to see how it can be contended that the introduction of electrical cabs can be against the interests of the cabdrivers. He says he has spoken to hundreds of cabmen on the subject, and has always understood they were most anxious for the change, as it would shorten their hours by saving the time wasted in changing horses, and also save them the unpleasantness of frequently having to drive tired and undesirable horses."

Despite Bersey’s protestations, the vehicle never really took off, with the fleet only reaching a peak of around 75 units. The cab’s two-tonne weight caused huge wear on the tyres which led to noise and vibrations escalating significantly after six months of use. Bersey’s company lost £6,200 in the first year of operation, and the business was forced to close in 1899, the vehicles disappearing from London’s streets just two years after making their debut.

Source : the engineer.co.uk

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Will Ola Out Uber, Uber? Woman on way to Kempegowda International Airport forced to strip, pose for pictures by Ola cabbie

A traumatic ride: 

Keep quiet or my friends will gang rape you’ 

26-year-old had booked the cab at 2 am as she had to fly to Mumbai; driver arrested after she mailed a complaint to the Commissioner 

A 26-year-old city-based architect had a traumatic experience enroute to the airport after her Ola cab driver took a detour, held her hostage, molested and took pictures of her in the car in the early hours of June 1. The woman was travelling alone in the cab from her residence in JB Nagar to the airport to catch an early morning flight to Mumbai. Based on her complaint, the driver, V Arun (28), has been arrested and his cab seized. 

The woman said in her complaint that she had booked the Ola cab at around 2 am. Once on the road, she found that the driver had taken a different route. When she enquired, he claimed it would be faster and free of toll. 

Near the airport, when she found that he had taken a secluded road and asked him to turn around. But the driver stopped the car, locked the doors and molested her. When she put up a fight, he threatened to call a group of men and get her raped. He also snatched her phone and threated to kill her if she screamed for help, the woman said in her complaint. 

The driver has been arrested and the cab seized. I spoke with the victim after the arrest. She had mailed us the complaint

Seemanth Kumar Singh, Additional Commissioner of Police (East)

A police officer investigating the case said: “The accused reportedly asked her to strip as he wanted her pictures. He tried to strangle her when she refused. Fearing for her life, the woman complied and gave him the photos he wanted. He clicked the pictures on her phone and shared it through WhatsApp to his phone number.” 

The accused told her he was leaving for Dubai the very next day, a claim that proved to be false. After much begging on her part, he dropped her off at the airport around 3 am. He threatened to post her pictures on social media if she complained. 

After the incident, the woman said she took the flight to Mumbai. In the meantime, the accused had called her twice after which she blocked his number. 

“After reaching Mumbai, she mailed her complaint to the city police commissioner. The complaint was then transferred to the jurisdictional JB Nagar police station for further action,” said the officer. 

The car used in the crime has been seized and parked at the Jeevan Bima Nagar police station after the driver’s arrest

The woman managed to get the driver’s details through the OlaCabs application and had attached it along with her complaint. This helped the police arrest him within a few hours of the complaint. The JB Nagar police also sought help from the cyber crime police to check if he had shared the photos with anybody else. 

“The driver has been arrested and the cab has been seized. I personally spoke to the victim after the arrest and updated her on the progress of the case. The woman had mailed us the complaint. A case in this regard has been registered by the jurisdictional JB Nagar police,” Seemanth Kumar Singh, Additional Commissioner of Police (East) told BM. 

The JB Nagar police has registered a case of assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to disrobe (IPC 354B), voyeurism (IPC 354C), assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty (IPC 354), attempt to murder (IPC 307), putting person in fear of death (IPC 387), wrongful confinement (IPC 342). The IT Act of 2000 has also been invoked. 

When BM reached out to Ola for its comments on the incident, a spokesperson said: “We regret the unfortunate experience the customer had during the ride. We have zero tolerance for such incidents and the driver has been blacklisted from the platform as an immediate action upon receiving the complaint. Safety of customers is our top priority and we are extending our full support to the police authorities in their investigation.” 

Gang Rape And Murder By Ola Drivers In Kolkata Raises Alarm On Safety Of App-Based Minicabs Again

    

As we get into a lull and begin to believe that the world is becoming saner and calmer, things end up becoming messier and murkier. In the most recent and rather appalling incident – two Ola drivers in Kolkata have gangraped and strangled to death a 12-year-old girl. Reports suggest that the girl’s body was thrown over a bridge.

A tweet by ANI News said that the two cab drivers have been arrested:

Kolkata: 2 cab drivers arrested for allegedly gang-raping and killing a 12-yr-old girl, body recovered.

— ANI (@ANI_news) August 31, 2016

A report by CNN-News18 said that the accused have been arrested and they even confessed to picking up the girl from the footpath when they were drunk. The drivers told the police that they were looking for some ‘merriment’ and after killing the girl, the drivers - Shankar Shaw and Guddu Singh - threw her body into the canal below Park Circus Flyover.

Reacting to the news, Ola immediately issued a statement. However, it called the rape and murder a case of “alleged misbehaviour”. It said:

We are saddened by the reports of the alleged misbehaviour of a driver in Kolkata. On preliminary identification of the cab details shared by authorities, we have suspended the account associated with this cab with immediate effect. As per our records, this incident has not occurred while on the Ola platform. We will work with the authorities to share any information that will help support their investigation.

This isn’t the first time that such a report has been filed against an Ola or Uber driver. In December last year, a woman passenger was raped by an Ola driver in Delhi who even threatened to kill the woman if she told anyone.

In May this year, a Belgian national was molested by an Ola driver in Delhi. And how can anyone forget the incident where an Uber driver, Shiv Kumar Yadav, raped a woman in Delhi in December 2014.

Today, with the growing convenience that cab aggregators provide, news of this magnitude again brings to question the safety and security of passengers, especially women. It is interesting to note that a few months back, the cab aggregators and the government authorities were at loggerheads for some of the rules the government had imposed.

The state governments had requested for complete police verification of every driver on the Ola and Uber platforms. One of the main reasons for this was to ensure women’s safety. However, such incidents clearly show that much more efforts need to be put into the safety aspect. According to the new rules, every cab is required to have a panic button, but little has been said on the response time in dire situations and cases like these.

Source : YourStory.com, ITA.

TAXI LEAKS EXTRA BIT....

Looks like it's true that Ola will outdo Uber. I thought they were talking about the amount of booking, but after a little digging it looks like Ola will out Uber in the realms of UberRape and murder!

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