Taxi trade fledgling apps look to boom in London

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Whilst the bigger and more well known Taxi apps battle for market share with Uber, two of the trades fledgling apps look to boom using different tactics.

One of the smaller apps include cab:app who has provided taxi drivers with a mobile card payments system that pays next day and have just passed the milestone of one million transactions.

Looking to grow they are now crowdfunding with the intention of investing more into developing a corporate account booking platformto help bring drivers work. The app would also offer additional services to save money including insurance and fuel discounts.

The UK wide platform which already has 11,500 registered drivers in 90 locations, say they are happy to commit to “investing to help build a stronger taxi industry for the future.”

cab:app are looking for £200,000 worth of investment and have already had over £90,000 pledged to the fund.

The other London app looking to make inroads in the capital is Taxiapp. The not-for-profit app run by a group of passionate taxi drivers takes a different angle as it looks to push on from its release roughly two years ago.

According to its founders “Taxiapp was born out of the need for an app that wasn't beholden to big corporate investors or its shareholders.”

This militant stance against the established players in the ride-hailing market attracted roughly 1,600 London cabbies to the app in August 2017, but driver numbers have remained static since then according to David Forster who resides on the Taxiapp steering-group.

The driver led app has seen roughly 7,500 downloads of its customer app and relies heavily on its customers, the driver, to increase that number.

Customers of Taxiapp pay £20 per month to support the initiatives and direction of the drivers running the app. No revenue is made via the passenger on board a Taxiapp cab. Currently, on average, each driver converts roughly 1 passenger onto the platform every 3 months.

A Taxiapp spokesperson via their website said: “Taxiapp is not for profit, so it can only work with the backing of its drivers and passengers. Please, spread the word, we see it as our duty to the travelling public to provide them with the safest and most reliable transport option in London.

“As far as technology goes, no one knows what will descend on us next, but at least we’ll be ready. For just 67p a day, what is achieved now could play a crucial role in cementing our place in the market as well as laying the foundations for future generations of the best taxi service in the world.”

To find out more about Taxiapp visit here for more information.

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Taxify revenue reaches €18 million in 2017 but records a net loss

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Estonian ride-hailing app Taxify have recorded €18 million in revenue in 2017, six times their previous years figure, but have recorded an €11 million loss over the same period.

The revenue stream has come feom the commission fees charged to drivers on the platform.

€1 billion has been amassed in rides in 2018 alone. Geographic expansion and technological progression has been attributed as tge reason behind the figure, and is expected to grow considerably in the future.

According to Martin Villig, Taxify CEO, the loss in 2017 were attributed to expansion of the company.

Chinese ride-hailing firm Didi Chuxing were recent investors in Taxify as well as Daimler. The company are now valued close to the $1 billion mark.

The company has 500,00 drivers as well as 10 million customers on its platform, which spreads across several countries around the globe.

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Passenger found guilty beating up Uber driver after leaving her bag in the vehicle

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A man and a woman have been convicted of attacking a minicab driver after the woman accused him of stealing her bag.Ioan Pal, 23, a Romanian national living in Mitcham and Charlotte Johnson, 20 from Carshalton were both found guilty of Grevious Bodily Harm, but both escaped jail upon sentencing.

On the evening of 10 January 2017, Johnson travelled in an Uber cab from her home address in Carshalton to nearby Middleton Road where she asked the driver to stop so she could go into a shop.While she was in the shop, the driver - a Somali man who speaks limited English - drove off. He did not realise that Johnson's bag was in the back of the car.Johnson used an app to trace her phone to the Uber car, which, with the help of friends including Pal, they tracked and followed in another car. Johnson and Pal confronted the driver in Madeira Road, Streatham, where they took the bag from the car and punched the driver at least four times.The group made off from the scene prior to the arrival of police. The victim was taken by London Ambulance Service to hospital, where he underwent surgery for three fractures to his cheekbone and eye-socket.Detectives from Lambeth CID were able to identify Johnson as having booked the cab. She was arrested on 1 February 2017. Further enquiries led to Pal, who was interviewed under caution on 12 September 2017 and summonsed to court.

Upon sentencing Johnson cried in the dock as Judge Jeremy Donne QC sentenced her to a nine-month prison sentence suspended for 18 months.

The judge said: “I don’t think either of you went out that evening to beat up a taxi driver, but beat up a taxi driver is exactly what you did.”

Johnson was ordered to complete 120 hours of community service, a 30-day rehabilitation course, and will be under a curfew at night for two months. Pal, from Mitcham, was given 15-months in prison suspended for two years, ordered to complete 150 hours of community service, and also handed a curfew.

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Hilarious imprint of woman's face left on the back of cab drivers headrest after emergency stop

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The imprint of a woman's face was left on the back of a cab drivers headrest when he was forced into an emergency stop while ferrying a trip across Glasgow. Cab driver Jim McNee was unaware of the spooky image left by the woman's make-up until the next day when a male passenger pointed it out to him. The image soon became a hit on social media racking up more than 26,000 likes on Twitter. Jim has now left the imprint on show for all his passengers to enjoy a laugh over.

(Image: Twitter)

Jim was forced into an emergency stop when the car in front suddenly stopped. His female passenger who had a face full of make-up, who clearly wasn't strapped in, was thrown forward with enough force that the whole side of her face left a perfect, some would say "artistic" print. The female passenger was left unhurt and even laughed about the incident it was confirmed in the metro online. Jim's son, Jamie has said his dad seems to be enjoying his newfound internet fame.

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BBC journalist has coffee spiked in Moscow taxi

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A BBC journalist who had been sent to Moscow to cover the World Cup has fallen victim to a robbery involving a Moscow cabbie.

The unamed reporter had taken a taxi from the Bolshoi Theatre at approximately 3.30 am on Friday, July 6th.

Upon entering the taxi he was offered a coffee from an unknown person, which he accepted. He subsequently lost conciousness, and found himself dumped at a metro station in Moscow.

When awaking at the metro station he had found that both his mobile phone and wallet were missing, he then found out shortly after that the equivalent of £500 had been wirhdrawn from his bank account.

The BBC confirmed that the journalist was fine and he is now back at work.

Moscow City Police are investigating the incident and have made an arrest. They are continuing the search for an accomplice involved in the robbery.

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Why Is It That TfL PCOs Don't Work Closer With Westminster Marshals ?

Anger as Ferrari driver 'moves cones out of way' to park in taxi rank, despite 'being told not to'

One witness said he laughed when confronted about it

Onlookers say they couldn’t believe their eyes after watching a Ferrari driver move traffic cones out of the way to park in a taxi rank.

The driver of the sports car was seen moving the cones out of his way to pull up at the spot designated only for taxi drivers. 

A traffic marshall was seen speaking to the man, only for the driver to allegedly laugh before putting the cones back around his vehicle.

He was far from the only person parked up there when they shouldn't have been - but perhaps unsurprisingly, the very conspicuous Ferrari was the car that most people noticed.

And those who saw it have been quick to make their feelings known about what happened.

One woman, who was with her husband at the time, but didn’t want to be named, said: “I was quite amazed to see this guy remove the cones and pull up.

“Several other people witnessed it, including the taxi driver and a parking warden official, who did make some comment to him.

“I thought it was inconsiderate and totally out of order as there was no room for any taxis to use the rank. And if a taxi had pulled up next to it, he would have had to double park, which would have caused congestion.

“It is not fair on the taxi drivers to take their spaces.”

The woman was left further enraged as she says the driver ignored advice given to him by traffic marshal.

“I am not a confrontational person,” she said. “I said something to the taxi driver about it and then the traffic warden spoke to him, but he just put the cones back round his car and walked off laughing.

“He walked off like: it's ok, I drive a Ferrari driver, cones don’t apply to me.”

Another man, who didn’t want to be named, said that others were also parking on the Taxi rank. 

A sign clearly says only taxis can be parked there!

However, he says the driver of the Ferrari as well as the others could have easily have parked elsewhere.

Rule 240 of the Highway Code states 

Motorist must NOT park on taxi rank bays as indicated by upright signs and markings.

It is a contravention of code 45 for any vehicle other than a licensed taxi to be parked on a taxi rank. No observation period will be applied. Fines can be issued immediately. 

Only Licensed Taxis are permitted to park on Taxi ranks. Private hire cars (minicabs) are not permitted to park on a Taxi rank and should be enforced against the same as any other road vehicle.

•  Loading/ unloading is not permitted. 

• Blue Badge holders are not exempt on Taxi ranks 

Exemptions to enforcement

Vehicles (other than taxis) are not permitted to park on a taxi rank with the following exemptions:

• council/ government department in pursuance of statutory duties

• Emergency services (fire, police, ambulance, customs)

• Road maintenance

• Statutory undertaking or water, gas, electric, BT, and so on. 

Anyone caught is liable to receive a fine.

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People need to think before parking in any taxi bay, as the are stopping working drivers earning a living.

Moving ‘no parking or loading’ cones is also breaking traffic laws and could lead to a fine to anyone who is caught moving them.

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