Government must act on Mayor of London’s new demand for powers to compel Uber to provide journey data for public use

The Mayor of London, in his taxi and private hire action plan published yesterday, calls on the UK central government to legislate to delegate powers to Transport for London so that they may compel Uber, Bolt, Freenow and other high volume technology platform operators to publicly share journey data in the interests of driver and passenger safety. This was a key demand made by Worker Info Exchange in our Dying for Data report issued recently where we make the case that London has fallen behind regulators in New York, Chicago, Seattle, California, Sao Paulo and elsewhere who require such data so that they may effectively regulate a technology driven high volume platform business.

In New York, Uber resisted providing journey data until finally compelled to do so at pain of losing their license. The data is now used by the regulator dynamically to monitor driver pay and fleet utilization in order to protect driver welfare and reduce congestion associated with over supply. The data is also proactively used by the city to manage driver fatigue by enforcing safe driving limits.

However, the Mayor of London’s taxi and private action plan falls short of regulatory enforcement to control fatigue risk but, for the first time, recognizes the link between poor driver pay at Uber and Bolt and fatigue risk with drivers having to work longer hours to make up for the shortfall. The Mayor’s report rightly complains that fatigues risk is raised due to “some private hire fares being relatively low”.

Disappointingly, the Mayor has not made worker rights a condition of license for firms like Uber and Bolt nor has he set capacity limits for private hire vehicles which are now at an historic high at 97,000 vehicles. Worker Info Exchange data shows fleet utilization rates as low as 40% in London and in New York, where there has been regulatory intervention, Uber and Lyft utilization rates are still only 53%. Indeed, last month Uber told investors of the need to constantly over supply and congest cities with vehicles relative to true demand just so to meet very short etas. In its Autonomous Vehicles spotlight report Uber said: “in a typical large city, a fixed fleet designed to meet the weekly peak will have up to 95% of vehicles idle during the multiple weekly troughs. Conversely, a fleet sized below peak cannot deliver the reliable 4-minute ETAs that consumers expect.”

Uber and Bolt’s gross oversupply of vehicles significantly contributes to congestion with London now rated as the most congested city in Europe. These short etas due to oversupply are made possible because, contrary to the spirit and letter of the 2021 Supreme Court ruling against Uber, neither Uber nor Bolt pays drivers for standby which makes up as much as 40-60% of true working time.  This in turn leads to unacceptable fatigue risk with drivers forces to work longer hours for less work and less pay.

James Farrar, Director of Worker Info Exchange said:

“The Mayor of London has taken a big step forward by demanding powers from central government so that he may compel Uber and Bolt to publicly share journey data. This is critical if Transport for London is to keep pace with technology and regulate high volume platform operators competently in the interests of passenger and driver safety. It is encouraging too that the Mayor now recognizes the inextricable link between low pay in the sector and driver fatigue risk on the road.  But having data is not enough, the Mayor must also act to set private hire vehicle limits and regulate to ensure that platform companies comply with employment and occupational safety legal obligations as a condition of their license to operate in London. As current transport minister and former Deputy Mayor of London for transport, Heidi Alexander must understand better than anyone of the need for urgent action on her part to legislate and provide statutory guidance to ensure effective regulation in London and beyond for the safety of passengers and drivers using app-based services like Uber and Bolt.”