According to a recent study from the Capital City Foundation think-tank, London’s minicabs have to slash their fares in order to be able to compete with Uber. The foundation reports that black cabs have “priced themselves out” of the night-time market owing to their “prohibitive” post-10pm premium.
The cabbies on the other hand have protested Uber’s presence and have stated they are not safe and the drivers aren’t vetted, so it is hard to compare the two.
Black cab drivers are correct in that they go through exhaustive testing and knowledge for their industry. On the other hand, Uber drivers qualify if they simply have a good driving record and a clean criminal record. There is no studying for years, nor is a knowledge test necessary as GPS exists now. Also, as Uber drivers use their own vehicles, the costs for Uber as a company are low and it results in cheaper fares and higher profits.
Uber does charge higher surge fares for their customers at busy times but the prices are still much lower than that of a traditional taxi fare. Unfortunately for black cabs, their fares are set by TFL and they cannot control what the going rate is.
With Uber’s popularity there will have to be some sort of resolution in order to avoid pricing cabs completely out of the nighttime fares. Failure to do so will create a monopoly and will eventually see a phasing out of the traditional London cab which, many Londoners don’t actually want to happen.
It appears the best thing would be to analyse what the market is like, and perhaps for Uber to have stricter driver vetting processes, as well as black minicabs improving their rates in order to remain competitive.