London Transport Regulator Rules In Favor Of Uber

Uber has won a round in its ongoing battle with licensed taxi services around the world.

The London Transport Regulator has ruled that the California-based ride-sharing start-up can legally operate in the British capital.

Under London taxi rules, only licensed black taxis are allowed to run meters in their cars; the taxi drivers therefore argued that Uber smartphone-based tech essentially created a virtual meter in violation of local law.

Transport for London (TfL) did not buy the argument.

“Smartphones that transmit location information between vehicles and operators have no operational or physical connection with the vehicles,” the regulator said on Thursday in a statement. The phones are “not taximeters within the meaning of the legislation,” the TfL noted in their decision, reports The New York Times.

The decision follows protest through out the EU about Uber’s right to enter, and possibly disrupt the local taxi marketplace.

However, Uber is not quite done in London yet, as the TfL has essentially booted the decision as to whether Uber’s app constitutes an illegal meter to the courts.

Those legal cases will not be heard until the fall.

“Using a meter in a private vehicle is a criminal matter,” said Steve McNamara, general secretary of the Licensed Taxi Drivers Association. “Our beef is with TfL, not Uber,” he said. “They are supposed to regulate the industry.”

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