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The Taxi News for Tuesday January 17, 2012
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Uber Under Attack
Uber car impounded, driver ticketed in city sting The Washington Post - (Washington D.C.) By Mike DeBonis The D.C. Taxicab Commission is wasting no time showing Uber, the hybrid taxi-limousine service, who’s boss. An Uber car was impounded and its driver was ticketed this morning as part of a sting operation, said the commission chairman, Ron Linton. The action comes two days after Linton said in a commission meeting that he considered the service to be operating illegally. Uber Über Alles? Washington City Paper - (Washington D.C.) Posted by Shani Hilton on Jan. 13, 2012 at 4:51 pm At DCist, Benjamin R. Freed has a good rundown on this morning's sting on a Virginia limo driver who has a contract with Uber, the new car-booking service that connects riders with drivers. Ron Linton, the D.C. Taxicab Commission says Uber's acting illegally, and used the service to book a limousine; once he arrived at the Mayflower, where he had agents waiting, he ordered the car impounded and the driver fined for two violations. One, Virginia drivers can't pick up passengers in D.C. unless they're taking them to Virginia, and two, limos are supposed to charge a fare set in advance—not a fee based on distance traveled. Battle Brewing Between Uber And DC Taxi Commission Washingtonian - (Washington D.C.) The chauffeured-car service’s CEO, Travis Kalanick, gives us an exclusive update on the conflict. By Carol Ross Joynt The drama is heightening between the upstart luxury livery service Uber, which is trying to make inroads in Washington, and the DC Taxicab Commission. The San Francisco–based Uber began service here last month. This week, the District’s taxi commission accused the service of “being illegal.” One of Uber’s cars was impounded and the driver ticketed this morning for not having insurance, according to CEO Travis Kalanick, who says the driver “did have insurance. We don’t know why he got ticketed.” After Stinging Uber, Linton Says He Just Had to Regulate DCist - (Washington D.C.) D.C. Taxicab Commission Chairman Ron Linton was quite the publicity hound Friday, following up his statement earlier last week that Uber, the high-end livery service, was operating illegally with a sting operation that left a driver with a hefty fine and Uber with some new business to discuss with the commission. The Uber cab model deserves a chance The Washington Post - (Washington D.C.) By David Alpert, D.C. Taxicab Commission Chairman Ron Linton thinks Uber, a new service that lets people reserve luxury-sedan rides from their smartphones, is illegal. If he’s right, then something is wrong with the law, not with Uber. Illegal or not, on-demand car service Uber is good for DC Greater Greater Washington - (Washington D.C.) by Erik Weber • January 12, 2012 1:10 pm New car service Uber launched in DC in December, but has already run afoul of the Taxi Commission. Whether they're doing anything illegal is unclear, but the service is definitely good for transportation in DC. |
NCN Guyana - (Guyana)
Published on Friday, 13 January 2012 23:44
Written by Super User
A taxi driver fell prey to what appears to be a Robbery and Homicide after midnight on Thursday when an unidentified person hired him to go to Plaisance. The driver’s body was discovered this morning slumped over in his car which was in a trench.
Police are investigating the murder of forty nine year old Marc Small of David Street Kitty. Small, a taxi driver attached to the GT Express Taxi Service Was found murdered in his car at Goedverwagting East Coast Demerara.
Teen found fit to stand trial in murder of Mt. Vernon cab driver
KFVS-TV Channel 12 - (Cape Girardeau, Missouri)
By Christy Hendricks
MT. VERNON, IL (KFVS) -
One of four teens facing murder charges for the shooting death of a taxi cab driver in Mt. Vernon was found fit to stand trial.
A Jefferson County judge ruled Christopher Wells, 16, is fit to stand trial for the May 31, 2011 killing of Charles Ellis.
Petersburg man charged in cab driver slaying
Progress-Index - (Petersburg, Virginia)
By PATRICK KANE (Staff writer)
Published: January 13, 2012
PETERSBURG - A city man has been indicted on first-degree murder, robbery and gun charges related to the March 16 shooting of cab driver Raphael Cudjoe. Leonard Ray Stephens-Staton Jr. has already been sentenced for a cab driver robbery that occurred days earlier.
Cudjoe, 36, was found unconscious in his cab by police responding to a vehicle crash at Jefferson South of the James apartments. He was declared dead at the scene.
3 men charged with carjacking DeKalb taxi drivers
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution - (Atlanta, Georgia)
By David Ibata
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Three men who carjacked eight taxi cab drivers in DeKalb County are to be arraigned next week on more than 30 charges, including armed robbery, aggravated assault and kidnapping, authorities said.
The suspects are to appear Tuesday before Chief Judge Mark Anthony Scott of DeKalb County Superior Court after a grand jury handed up criminal indictments against the trio.
Cab service admits bilking the MTA by submitting thousands of bogus receipts
AM New York - (New York City, New York)
A Staten Island cab service has pleaded guilty to scamming the MTA by billing the agency for thousands of rides it never gave to disabled people, officials said Thursday.
Investigators found that Wadsworth Car Services had customers sign several vouchers at once and then added in fake dates and times later. In other cases, cabbies filled out bogus forms using their own names, charging the MTA for rides when they were driving themselves around.
New York cab fleecing holds lesson on data versus intuition
Irish Times - (Dublin, Ireland)
DANNY O'BRIEN
WIRED: Uber allows you to get a taxi when no one else can but a recent slip-up could end up costing it
ITS LATE on New Year’s Eve night in New York. Your chances of finding a cab, even in a city usually brimming with yellow cabs, are slim. That’s okay, though: you pull out your smartphone and summon a car from Uber, a start-up that uses GPS and intensive data-crunching to guarantee its users a reasonably timed ride in cities from Austin, Texas, to Paris, France.
You get your ride: but then you get the bill. Travellers like Aubrey Sabala found themselves paying $107 for a 1.5 mile ride. In New York, some were paying more than six times Uber’s usual rate – even for New York, that’s a mite steep.
Bloomberg challenges a broad decision mandating 'meaningful' taxi service for the disabled
Capital New York - (New York City, New York)
By Dana Rubinstein
12:21 pm Jan. 16, 2012
On Dec. 30, a little more than a week after Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced an agreement to bring taxi service to the outer boroughs while making taxis and livery cars more accessible to the disabled, New York City quietly filed notice that it would appeal a federal court decision that imposed an even more stringent requirement for disability access.
Lexington considers changing regulations governing taxis
Lexington Herald-Leader - (Lexington, Kentucky)
Posted: 3:04pm on Jan 12, 2012
By Beverly Fortune Herald-Leader
A new taxi ordinance being proposed by the Urban County Council's Public Safety Committee would reduce the number of cabs needed to start a company.
The minimum number of taxis needed to start a cab company in Lexington would be reduced from 25 to 10 under a proposed ordinance that came before the Urban County Council's Public Safety Committee earlier this week.
Also, a company could operate on a part-time basis, eliminating the restriction that a cab company must offer service 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Taxi Ordinance
WTTW-TV Channel 11 - (Chicago, Illinois)
Paris Schutz | January 16, 2012 10:00 am
Do you feel safe taking a Chicago cab? Well, the wheels are in motion on a new proposal that would crack down on unsafe drivers and modernize the city's fleet of nearly 7,000 cabs. It has the city, cab company owners, and drivers at odds.
In his spare time, Dmitry Samarov is a blogger, a published author, and a painter. That's when he's not spending all day, every day driving a cab.
“I work 12-14 hours per day, said Samarov. “Every day.”
Council passes taxi cab credit requirement
Minneapolis Star-Tribune - (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
Posted by: Eric Roper under Local business Updated: January 13, 2012 - 11:28 AM
No cash for the ride home? No problem, as of June 1.
The Minneapolis City Council voted Friday to require taxi cabs in the city to accept credit cards starting this summer. The new ordinance, which passed on an 11-2 vote, was spearheaded by council member Gary Schiff.
Vancouver considers allowing taxis to travel in bus lanes
Vancouver Sun - (Vancouver, British Columbia)
January 12, 2012. 5:18 pm
Posted by:
Kelly Sinoski
The City of Vancouver is considering a year-long pilot project to determine whether taxis are able to share the city’s bus lanes without disrupting transit schedules.
| Europe, Africa, and the Middle East |
Two arrested over missing Kisii taxi driver
The Star - (Nairobi, Kenya)
Friday, 13 January 2012 00:09 BY AMOS NYAMBANE
TWO people were yesterday arrested in Kisii in connection with the disappearance of a taxi driver last Friday. Area OCPD Tom Mutisya said that police have launched investigations to apprehend more suspects behind the disappearance of Elijah Onchiri Omosa. On Wednesday taxi drivers operating in the area staged a demonstration over the mysterious disappearance of Omosa, six days after he was hired by unknown people.
A passenger poisoned taxi driver to avoid paying the bill
forUm - (Kiev, Ukraine)
Traffic police officers saved the life of a taxi driver, poisoned by a passenger.
"It happened on Christmas in Mykolaiv. To avoid paying the bill a passenger drugged the coffee of the taxi driver and escaped.
Wildcat taxi strikes hit Italian cities
Outcome Magazine - (Internet)
January 13, 2012 7:22 pm
01/14/2012 Tourists and local residents in Italy’s major cities were left stranded on Friday as taxi drivers held wildcat strikes to protest planned government reforms of the sector aimed at boosting the economy.
Cabbies see no pick-up in Olympics ‘chaos city’
Financial Times - (London, England)
By Vanessa Kortekaas, Olympics Correspondent
The head of London’s biggest minicab company says the city’s roads face gridlock unless Olympic spectators stick to the Tube. He says giving visitors priority over regular customers would be “business suicide”.
John Griffin, chairman of Addison Lee, says the London 2012 Olympics will be “damaging” to his company – and potentially to the whole taxi industry.
Scores of criminals apply for taxi driver’s licence in South Ayrshire.
Ayrshire Post - (Ayr, Scotland)
Jan 13 2012 by Lisa Boyle, Ayrshire Post (main ed)
A DELUSIONAL driver with 32 road traffic convictions under his belt applied for a taxi licence.
The unnamed man, who put his application forward in October 2009, has been convicted of drink driving twice, careless driving twice, driving with no insurance 17 times, driving while disqualified three times and driving without a licence five times.
And he has also been found guilty of trying to steal cars three times.
Shropshire taxi licence applications rise by 400%
BBC News - (United Kingdom)
A West Midlands council has said it is being "inundated" with taxi licence applications from drivers living outside their area.
Conservative-controlled Shropshire Council said applications increased by 400% over the last calendar year.
More than 80% of these came from applicants based outside Shropshire, the council said.
Phoenix Taxis in Blyth set to switch over to electric cars
by Richard Fletcher, The Journal
Jan 12 2012
A TAXI firm in Northumberland aims to have most of its fleet of more than 100 cars running on electricity and hopes to install three public charging points.
Phoenix Taxis, based in Blyth, is looking at upgrading most of its cars over the next five years to electric vehicles and is currently testing the new upgraded Toyota Prius to assess its suitability.
Azerbaijani Taxi Drivers Protest New Requirements On Cars
Radio Free Europe - (Internet)
January 16, 2012
BAKU -- Police have attacked hundreds of Azerbaijani taxi drivers protesting in Baku against new restrictions on the use of privately owned automobiles as taxis, RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service reports.
More than 100 police used batons outside the Transport Ministry against the demonstrating drivers who chanted for the resignation of Transport Minister Ziya Mammadov. Three taxi drivers were detained but immediately released due to pressure from the protesters.
The drivers say they currently pay an annual tax to the government from their profits, but the new requirements will only allow them to work as taxi drivers if they have a license.
Number of London cabs in Baku to double
MENAFM - (Amman, Jordon)
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Jan 12, 2012 (Trend News Agency - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- The Baku Taxi Company has discussed the possibility of signing a new contract to supply another 1000 London Taxi TX4 cars, CEO Eldar Gasimov said to Trend on Thursday. It has already been contracted to supply 1000 vehicles.
| Asia and the Pacific |
Gunmen kill taxi driver, 20 hurt in roof collapse
The News International - (Karachi, Pakistan)
Our correspondent
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
JAMRUD: Unidentified gunmen on Monday killed a man in the limits of Town Police Station.
The police said that unknown gunmen shot dead a taxi driver identified as Adam Khan, resident of Ghundi area in tehsil Jamrud, near Sufaid Dheri. They said the men had booked the cab in the Jamrud tehsil for Peshawar and later killed the driver.
Driver trapped in burning taxi dies
Tuoi Tre - (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam)
Sun, January 15, 2012,11:01 AM (GMT+0700)
After three days of treatment, Phan Duc Hoa, a 32-year-old taxi driver of Vinasun, who was severely burned when his cab suddenly exploded into flames on January 11, died at Hospital 175 in HCMC yesterday.
Doctors said 80% of his body was burnt, leading to respiratory failure, liver failure, kidney failure, and cardiovascular collapse. Hoa’s body has been taken to central Nghe An Province, his native land, for burial.
Rogue cabbies run out of luck
Hindustan Times - (New Delhi, India)
Leena Dhankhar , Hindustan Times
Gurgaon, January 16, 2012
A notorious cabbie gang that had unleashed a wave of terror among Gurgaon residents has finally been busted. With the arrest of five criminals late on Sunday, the police claimed to have solved the case.
Though the police said only five complaints were received from executives of multinational companies and BPOs in the past one year, the gang members confessed to have robbed at least 40 commuters after giving them lifts.
The accused have been identified as Zuber Khan, 25, Shahid, 21, Islam, 21, Iqbal, 19 and Zafru, 22 — all residents of neighbouring Mewat district. Zuber is the gang leader.
Yellow Cab Scheme: Thank you for the cab but where can I park it?
The Express Tribune - (Karachi, Pakistan)
Published: January 17, 2012
LAHORE:
Yellow cabs say they are facing problems in parking as the government has yet to notify taxi stands. So far 900 cabs have been delivered to unemployed youth under the chief minister’s Youth Employment Scheme.
A senior official of the Transport Department, speaking on the condition of anonymity, acknowledged that although the department had issued a notification regarding fare, parking lots had not yet been designated.
 |
Ender
Wiggin
Updated jan 18 2012 @ 09:27 GMT
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