Can Uber triumph in London?

Transport for London last week announced it will not renew Uber’s private hire operator licence after its current licence expires on 30 September. While there will be a stay of execution to allow for the ride-sharing app to appeal, TfL is sticking to its guns and the end of Uber in London looks inevitable.

But is it?

While Uber is often under attack in the media, the service is hugely popular among its 3.5 million London users for a multitude of reasons, from price to feeling safe at night.

And for a company that reportedly spends £250,000 a month on PR and lobbying, Uber has unsurprisingly come out all guns blazing. A petition, started by Uber itself, has already attracted over 700,000 signatures and became Change.org’s fastest growing petition of 2017.

In the petition, Uber has attacked TfL and London Mayor Sadiq Khan: ‘By wanting to ban our app from the capital, Transport for London and their chairman the Mayor have given in to a small number of people who want to restrict consumer choice.

‘This ban shows the world that London is far from being open and is closed to innovative companies, who bring choice to consumers and work opportunities to those who need them.’

By attacking Khan’s own claim that post-Brexit London is open, both to people and business, Uber is suggesting that this comes across as an anti-innovative move that inconveniences the people of the city. Khan hit back, telling the petitioning customers to direct their anger at Uber as they have been found at fault: ‘It would be wrong for TfL to licence Uber if there was any way this could pose a threat to Londoners’ safety or security.’

But now the situation is escalating. The Financial Times has reported that TfL is under fire with suggestions it is responsible for two of the four reasons it gave when revoking Uber’s licence.

The two reasons in question are:

• Its approach to how medical certificates are obtained.
• Its approach to how Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks are obtained.

The vetting and safety checks of Uber drivers are apparently carried out by TfL. James Farrar, an Uber driver and trade body representative told the FT: ‘To me this reeks. It’s a bogus charge from TfL. Uber will be able to remedy this in court immediately because DBS and medical certification are prerequisites for drivers getting their licences from TfL.’

And this licence ban affects so much more – what about UberEats, the food delivery service? Or the other towns and cities in the UK that Uber still operates in?

For the former, UberEats is safe – the licence renewal is about private hire operators so the delivery service is exempt. But as for the rest of the UK, it’s unclear how they’ll operate around London. Can they still visit airports? Possibly. Will they stop at the M25 and make passengers walk? Seems unlikely.

So, have we seen the last of Uber in London? Perhaps not – the tech giant has many resources to hand but most importantly, and perhaps this something that’s been underestimated, an army of supporters in the capital who rely on the ride-sharing service. Sure, there are other apps available, but people don’t like change; they like what they know and what they know will work.

Uber may have a bad reputation at head office in the US, and it may come out on the wrong side of black cabs struggling in the capital, but the service has focused on excellent customer service at a one-to-one level and is now wielding this significant reputation to fight its case.

Sometimes reputation isn’t top down, it’s down up – take care of the day-to-day customers and they’ll take care of you.