Transport for London Craziness

According to the Telepgraph, Transport for London is about to open a public consultation on several things about “minicabs” that are just insane and are clearly an attempt to try to hinder Uber and other similar “on demand” transport apps. According to the Telegraph the consultation will contain the following key tenants:

• Operators “must provide booking confirmation details to the passenger at least five minutes prior to the journey commencing”.
• Companies “must not show vehicles being available for immediate hire either visibly or virtually via an app”.
• Operators “must offer a facility to pre-book up to seven days in advance”.
• Drivers may only work for one operator at a time.
• There should be “controls on ridesharing in public vehicles”.

All of these are insane and very anti-consumer and anti-commuter. Why does TfL want to make transport in London even more difficult than it is? The can’t seem to negotiate with the unions to get the tube running at decent times, now they want to hinder people who are willing to meet the demands of their consumers. You would almost think they don’t like those of us who don’t own cars in London.

If I want pre-booked transport, I pre-book transport. I don’t need the Government to tell me how to organise my life. I can’t pre-book black cabs seven days in advance via Gett, so I don’t use Gett. It is simple, as a consumer I vote with my feet and patronage. I don’t need the Government to constrain that. Why also hinder drivers and who they are employed by. Lots of drivers are immigrants who are just trying to make ends meet. I guess maybe the Government isn’t such a fan of keeping immigrants gainfully employed and would rather them spend more time at their local Job Centre.