LONDON TO UBER— GET OUT OF TOWN:
London authority tells transport giant to get bloody lost
UBER EXECS tried to keep calm and carry on Friday after London’s transport authority announced the company is no longer welcome in England’s capital.
In a statement that prompted instant backlash from Uber apploving Londoners, the city’s transit officials said it would not renew the company’s operating license when it expires Sept. 30, citing public safety concerns.
The global car service is not “fit and proper to hold a private hire operator license,” Transport for London said on its website.
More than 40,000 Uber drivers and 3.5 million customers — who blasted Transport for London for creating “Luddite London” — could be affected. Uber has 21 days to appeal the ruling. A final decision may take at least a year.
The TfL first licensed Uber’s smartphone app car service in 2012. The company applied for a five-year renewal.
“Uber’s approach and conduct demonstrate a lack of corporate responsibility in relation to a number of issues which have potential public safety and security implications,” Transport for London said.
Uber said it was “astounded” by the decision. Its cars can keep operating while its appeals are hashed out in court.
“By trying to ban the app from the capital, the mayor and Transport for London have caved in to a small number of people who want to restrict consumer choice,” Uber said.
The TfL didn’t offer specifics about its objections to Uber, but said the company’s “approach to reporting serious criminal offenses” was a factor.
Also cited was Uber’s use of an internal software program, Greyball, to secretly block disgruntled customers or competitors looking to disrupt its services.
Uber also covertly used the creepy spyware to figure out who might be a potential law enforcement official — and then avoid picking them up.
In some cities, this allowed Uber to operate illegally without getting caught.
Greyball also tracked pick-up and drop-off points. People accessing it frequently around government offices would be “Greyballed.”
Uber has defended the software program, saying it’s used for many purposes, including “the testing of new features by employees; marketing promotions; fraud prevention; to protect our partners from physical harm; and to deter riders using the app in violation of our terms of service.”
But in May, the U.S. Department of Justice opened a criminal probe into Greyball.
Earlier this month a sweeping investigation in Portland, Ore., found that Uber used Greyball to intentionally evade 16 government officials whose job it was to regulate the ride-services company.
Transport for London in its statement said Uber’s use of Greyball prevented “officials from undertaking regulator or law enforcement duties.”
London Mayor Sadiq Khan supported the Uber ban, saying any operator of taxi services in the city “needs to play by the rules.”
“Providing an innovative service must not be at the expense of customer safety and security,” he added.
Some 187,000 Londoners signed a petition to Khan within hours of the announcement in support of Uber.
But among drivers of traditional cabs — black ones in London and yellow ones in New York — the decision was cheered.
“Yellow taxi drivers and operators have been sounding the alarm bells about Uber’s bullying tactics for years,” said Michael Woloz, spokesman for the Metropolitan Taxicab Board of Trade in New York.
Uber has 27 bases in the Big Apple, each one with a permit that will expire between Dec. 31 and July 31, 2020.
There are 62,175 cars affiliated with Uber's bases in New York, according to the Taxi & Limousine Commission.