Boss of Uber rival Kapten not fazed by car restrictions

THE boss of a Bmw-backed challenger to Uber has shrugged off the threat of restrictions on vehicles in central London after MPS called for Britons to ditch cars to achieve its zero emissions goal.

Mariusz Zabrocki, London boss of Kapten, a ride-hailing app co-owned by BMW and fellow German automotive giant Daimler, claimed the closure of sections of central London to traffic would not be a major difficulty for his company as most of its business comes from trips away from the heart of the capital.

Twelve miles of roads in central London will be closed to traffic on “Car Free Day”, on Sept 22, to encourage Londoners to walk, cycle and use public transport.

“Even if there were further restrictions, even if large parts of zone one would be closed to cars, still actually most of our customers are using us outside the city centre,” Mr Zabrocki told The Daily Telegraph.

His comments came after MPS called last week for new measures to encourage Britons to ditch their cars in a bid to ensure the UK meets its goal to eliminate its net carbon emissions by 2050. Parliament’s science and technology select committee said replacing existing vehicles with green alternatives would not be enough to offset greenhouse gases generated from transport.

“I don’t think we have enough regulations to support reducing air pollution,” said Mr Zabrocki, citing the exemption of black cabs, which compete with ride hailing apps, from the congestion charge.

Kapten was already the second largest taxi provider in Paris when it launched in London in May. It reached “comparable scale” to its Paris operation in just its second week in London, Mr Zabrocki said. It is prepared to run up large losses through promotional pricing in a bid to gain market share by the end of 2020. It does not reveal detailed passenger or performance figures but confirmed it has signed up more than 16,000 drivers and 500,000 users.

Kapten pays the central London congestion charge for drivers who use electric or hybrid cars to incentivise them to switch to greener models.

These vehicles still have an environmental impact through pollution from their tyres and brakes, research from Oxford academics has found.

But Mr Zabrocki said that eliminating the use of such vehicles was not sensible as there needs to be a “balance between basic needs and the environment”.