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RIDE-HAILING phone app Uber is “smashing apart” London’s iconic black cab trade, union reps warned yesterday.
Transport for London figures show that just 2,159 studied geographical training programme the Knowledge for licensed taxi drivers last year — a 35 per cent drop on the figure for 2012, when Uber started operating in London.
Uber has proved controversial as it calculates fares based on journey time as well as distance, in spite of rules banning metered minicabs.
Transport union RMT said that wannabe drivers were “considering a fast-track option” and plying for trade with Uber instead of following the traditional route.
The union’s general secretary Mick Cash said the lack of regulation made “a nonsense of the clear traditional distinction between licensed taxis and private hire vehicles.
“RMT is demanding that the licensed London taxi drivers right to ply for hire be set in statute, with clear legal definitions put in place and retained.”
