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Uber rival Taxify plots London comeback
A European Uber rival that was forced out of the UK after just three days last year is plotting a return to London, in a new challenge to the US taxi app. Taxify, which operates in 26 countries across Europe, Africa and Australia, applied for a private hire licence with Transport for London (TfL) this month.
If successful, it will mark the latest entry into the competitive London transport market, which has been shaken up by a string of tech companies. Taxify hopes to steal a march on Uber by promising better pay to drivers, as well as cheaper fees.
The company, which allows passengers to hail a car with an app with fares automatically paid by credit card, entered London in September, assuming a licence by the backdoor by acquiring a small minicab operator. But after three days TfL ordered it to cease operations. In December the company pleaded guilty to operating without a minicab licence, leading it to be fined £250 and pay TfL’s £10,000 legal fees.
In a 160-page licence application filed this month, Taxify admitted to a “major error of judgment” and said it had turned a new leaf. After an investigation, its UK boss, Finn Geraghty, was removed and the company has hired a number of industry veterans including Uber’s former UK policy chief. The company says it has signed up almost 5,000 self-employed drivers and has applied to have as many as 10,000, in comparison to Uber’s 40,000 in London.
Uber, which entered London in 2012, was stripped of its licence last year after TfL accused it of a string of safety failures.
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