Agenda item

Information report on the company that trades in the UK and around the world

as ‘Uber’.

As requested at the previous meeting of the Committee, Members had requested an update from the Senior Licensing Practitioner, Worcestershire Regulatory Services, (WRS), on the company that trades as Uber.

The Senior Licensing Practitioner, Worcestershire Regulatory Services, (WRS), provided information to the Committee and informed Members that Uber was growing rapidly and now operated in Birmingham a under private hire operator’s licence granted by the City Council..

Uber Technologies Inc. was an American international transportation network company, with its headquarters in San Francisco, California.  The company developed, marketed and operated the Uber mobile application (app), which allowed consumers with smartphones to submit a trip request which was then routed to Uber drivers.  Essentially it was an online booking service for private hire vehicles.

Members were further informed that Uber was not the only smartphone app developed to help connect passengers and taxi / private hire service providers.  There were other operations in the United Kingdom (UK) which included Hailo, Addison Lee, Bounce, Kabbee and Gett.

The activities of Uber had provoked controversy in some countries.  Questions were raised about the legalities of their operating model.  However, it should be stressed that in the UK, Uber appeared to be operating entirely lawfully within the private hire licensing regimes provided for in London by the Private Hire Vehicles (London) Act 1988 and in the rest of England and Wales under the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976.

The controversy surrounding Uber’s operation in London related to the way that fares were calculated and charged to passengers who used the Uber app; and the fact that the fares were generally cheaper than those charged by London’s world famous ‘Black Cabs’.  The fares charged by Uber were calculated via a Global Positioning System (GPS) and in London it had been argued that this was basically the same as using a taximeter.  In London only licensed hackney carriages could use taximeters, under section 11 of the Private Hire Vehicles (London) Act 1988.  Recently the transport regulator Transport for London (TfL) had brought a case to the high court following pressure from the city’s black-cab and minicab drivers.  But the high court ruled that Uber’s app was legal in London.

Members were asked to note that the legal challenges to the way Uber operated in London were not replicated in the rest of England and Wales, as private hire vehicles were allowed to utilise taximeters outside of London as there was no equivalent provision to section 11 of the Private Hire Vehicles (London) Act 1998 in the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976.

The Senior Licensing Practitioner, WRS, responded to Members’ questions and explained that fares were calculated via GPS and that passengers were notified prior to the journey as to the fare payable.  Fares were cheaper due to the number of taxis available.  The journey was tracked and passengers were given a booking reference.  Passengers were also asked to rate their journey.  This rating system had encouraged a higher level of driver standards.  Uber was very streamlined.  There was no need for an operator to take the bookings. The Uber app calculated the nearest available driver and allocated the job to that driver.  Drivers paid a rental fee to Uber.

As with all licensed private hire operators, Uber could dispatch vehicles and drivers to carry out work anywhere in the country; provided that the vehicle and driver allocated the booking were licensed with the local authority that had issued the relevant private hire operator licence.  Due to the relaxation on sub-contracting rules for private hire vehicles, which came into effect on 1st October 2015, Uber could also sub-contract bookings to other licensed private hire operators in other local authority areas so that, that operator could then dispatch an appropriately licensed vehicle and driver.

The Chair thanked the Senior Licensing Practitioner, WRS, for his comprehensive update report on Uber.

RESOLVED that

the Uber update report be noted.