Uber Partnering with the London Black Cabs

Many cab drivers were already signed up with Uber. You couldn't request one but sometimes one showed up. It was like all other Ubers--a fixed price.

Many cab drivers were already signed up with Uber. You couldn't request one but sometimes one showed up.

Are you sure? I don't think hackney carriages (black cabs) have had a connection with Uber before. Quite the opposite in fact. The LTDA hate Uber with a passion I thought. This whole thing strikes me as very odd...

There's basically two types of taxi licences in the UK; PCO and PHV. PCO is what black cabs are licenced under. They can be hailed in the street and are compelled to run a meter. PHV needs to be pre-booked and doesn't run a meter. Uber drivers have been operating under PHV licences, the same as other private hire car firms like Blackberry Cars or other companies you prebook. Having PCO drivers take fares from Uber's app is new (and surprising).

I’ve just heard the UK boss of Uber on BBC Radio 4 pleading with cabbies to join the Uber app for this new partnership. Some cabbies who were voxpopped said they had to be on enough apps already and were fed up with it all.

Reading a bit more about this, I think the general idea is that Transport for London will have taken a massive bung from Uber to allow it (speculation on my part, not confirmed in the press anywhere I can see) but the Licenced Taxi Drivers' Association won't be having it. Dead in the water already.

My subjective opinion is that there's some cultural and societal factors at play, possibly too politically charged for this forum, that would prevent such a deal from being a success, as well as a history of animosity in business between Uber and the LTDA.

Oops, my bad....it's Manchester not London.

In Central London taxi drivers in general rarely take app jobs because picking up off the street / busy ranks with a regular turnover of shortish jobs is more lucrative, and they aren't required to do so. They look at them more if they have been taken out of the centre especially to get back, or if particularly quiet.

I would be astounded is LTDA went for it. I have seen that they were not consulted by u*** and that it was just dumped on them.

Publicity for u*** is all I see.

Oops, my bad....it's Manchester not London.

I hate to cast aspersions, but I don't think it was a PCO (Public Carriage Office) badge holder that picked you up in Manchester either. That's what the issue here is.

Digging into it a little further, it seems that Uber has a partnership with companies operating private hire taxis (colloquially known as minicabs, though not to me in my Scottish dialect funnily enough) which is known as Uber "Local Cabs". That operates in a number of places across the UK. There isn't such a partnership in London, though many Uber drivers will also drive for a High Street minicab firm as the PHV (Private Hire Vehicle) licence allows them to do so.

So basically, two licences, two different types of taxi in the UK. I hope my rambling helps visitors to make informed decisions when they're thinking about taking cabs.