Taxi drivers in European capitals strike over Uber - largest international taxi drivers strike in history

Taxi drivers in European capitals strike over Uber - largest international taxi drivers strike in history
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/jun/11/taxi-drivers-strike-uber...
Commuters face a day of disruption in London, Berlin, Paris and Madrid as taxi drivers stage a protest against Uber, the taxi service app

• Mark Tran
• theguardian.com, Wednesday 11 June 2014 10.01 EDT

Italian taxi drivers hold a placard reading 'Don't take an illegal taxi, take a white regular taxi' during a protest against the growing number of minicabs. Photograph: Andreas Solaro AFP/Getty Images

The Guardian's Ashifa Kassam in Madrid writes that ubiquitous white taxis were nowhere to be seen as they began a 24-hour strike.

The two associations that represent most taxi drivers in the capital said 100% of their members parked their cars for the day in an effort to raise awareness over what they called unfair competition. While taxi licenses in Spain cost between €80,000 to €200,000, there is no such requirement for drivers with Uber.

Wednesday's strike left travellers arriving at Madrid's airport and train stations relying on public transit while a mid-afternoon protest by drivers slowed traffic to a crawl in the northern part of the city. About a hundred taxis were still in service to deal with emergency and exceptional situations.

Protests were also held in Barcelona, the only Spanish city where Uber is currently in use. On Tuesday, two months after the app was introduced to the city, the Catalan government announced that it would demand that Uber "immediately" cease its activity in the city, and that drivers who use Uber could be fined up to €6,000 and see their vehicles impounded.

The crackdown came after Spanish media profiled drivers who use the service to boost their income. One man interviewed by El País said he dedicates up to 25 hours a week to Uber, earning up to 100 euros a week. At any given moment, he said, about 10 to 12 Uber drivers can be found on Barcelona streets.

Uber responded to Wednesday's protests in Barcelona by offering a 50% discount on all shared rides on its blog. "Starting at midday today, taxi driver associations will try to halt the advance of this great city. Don't worry, we're taking care of it so that Barcelona can continue to move."

20m ago
Taxi drivers say the most direct route is not necessarily the quickest.

23m ago
A Guardian reader emails to say that the taxi rank at Paddington is usually full of cabs - at 2.35pm today the queue of passengers extends to about 100.

Paddington Photograph: /public
31m ago
Somebody had to make a World Cup reference.

32m ago
Uber is going to provide work for lawyers. Here's what Fiona Scolding, barrister at Hardwicke chambers, has to say.

Uber seeks to argue that their services are not metered. The LTDA believe that they are. Both sides are seeking the view of the court but the court may indicate that this is a case of technology outpacing regulations.

42m ago
Reuters has this useful bit of background on Uber.

A variety of apps for summoning taxis have threatened the traditional taxi model in European cities such as London where strict rules govern which cars can stop on the street to pick up hailing customers and which cars have to be pre-booked.

Uber has expanded rapidly since it was launched by two US technology entrepreneurs, Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp, and now operates in 128 cities across 37 countries.

Uber chief executive officer Kalanick last week announced $1.2bn in new funding, valuing the company at $18.2bn, one of the highest valuations ever for a Silicon valley startup.

But it has faced a series of hurdles from the beaches of Miami to the piazzas of Rome. Ordinances keep it out of cities such as Las Vegas and Miami while in Chicago, San Francisco and Washington, DC, Uber and similar companies have faced lawsuits from taxi companies hoping to keep the new competition out.

46m ago
Lexy sends this update on the the cab drivers' position. They say they are not against Uber, but Transport for London. It's a subtle point.

Grant Davis, of the london cab drivers club, said the protest wasn't against Uber, but TFL. Against a back drop of horns and chants of "Boris, Boris, Boris,'out out out," he said:

"TFL are failing to impose their own rules and regulations. They are a regulating authority without any authority. The big boys from the States have rolled into town and TFL have just rolled over."

He said cab drivers were not afraid of completion but demanding a level playing field. "We are not dinosaurs, we are not scared of competition, but if you drive a taxi in london you should have to abide by the rules."

Black cab drivers argue that Uber, a San Francisco start-up, drivers use their phones as meters, while according to current laws only licensed taxis are able to use meters and take pick ups from the street.

59m ago
In France, commuters have to put up with a train as well as a taxi strike. Agence France-Presse has this report.

The 24-hour rail strike began on Tuesday evening, but its main impact was felt on Wednesday with train links to other countries also hit.

Trade unions behind the protest extended the strike by another day after a meeting. It is now due to end on Thursday evening. The state rail operator SNCF said only one high-speed TGV train out of two or three was running and regional trains were also affected.

In the busy Paris region, services were down to a third on average. The affected trains included one running from the suburbs through Paris to the city's Charles de Gaulle airport. Eurostar trains to and from London ran normally, while three out of four Brussels- and Amsterdam-bound Thalys trains were operational.

Trains to Germany were unaffected, but only one of two trains to Spain ran. The SNCF advised passengers to put off their travel if possible, and for those travelling in by road to consider car-pooling.

The action takes place just one week before France's lower house of parliament examines proposed reforms aiming to tackle the rail sector's soaring debt.

1h 11m ago
Ahead of the London taxi strike, Jo Bertram, Uber general manager for the UK & Ireland General Manager, issued this statement. The reference to the dark ages is bound to infuriate cabbies.

Londoners are voting with their fingers, tapping the app in support of new and innovative services as we see our biggest day of sign-ups in London today since launch two years ago.

“In fact, today we’re seeing an 850% increase in sign-ups compared to last Wednesday. The results are clear: London wants Uber in a big way. Unsurprisingly, the London Taxi Drivers Association (LTDA), which is stuck in the dark ages, is intent on holding London to ransom and causing significant economic impact to Londoners today, estimated to be £125m.

“We join Transport for London and the Metropolitan Police in calling on the LTDA and others to call off this unnecessary and irresponsible strike. We passed TfL’s most stringent and comprehensive audit of a Private Hire Vehicle operator to date, passing with flying colours.

“We are proud to be to be in London, we are proud to serve London, and we are here to stay. Uber on London!

1h 15m ago
Up to 12,000 black cab drivers plan to tie up the streets around Trafalgar square. Here are some of them.

1h 21m ago
Commuters face traffic chaos in London, Berlin, Paris and Madrid as taxi drivers stage one of the biggest protests against Uber, a US car service that allows people to summon rides at the touch of a button. Guardian correspondents in Europe will be sending news from their patches while Lexy Topping is out on the streets of London. Lexy wrote about the face-off between taxi drivers and the upstart taxi service just over a week ago, talking to both sides.

On street corners, in taxi ranks, behind steering wheels, a war is raging. Britain's black-cab drivers are on the warpath. The enemy? Uber: a new piece of booking software that allows smartphone users to hail private-hire cars from any location. London's cabbies rage that Uber drivers are using their phones as meters, which under current law is illegal for private-hire vehicles. Meanwhile, Uber drivers just keep on driving.

While the intricacies of transport law are examined in the UK courts, who is winning the battle on the streets? In an entirely selfless act, the Guardian threw itself into the fray, road-testing both Uber and a traditional black cab in a dash across London.