LONDON — Uber won an appeal on Tuesday to regain its taxi license in London after agreeing to stricter government oversight, a crucial victory for efforts by its new chief executive to revamp the company’s grow-at-all-costs culture.
The closely watched case could serve as a template for other cities looking to extract concessions from Uber, the ride-hailing service that has upended the taxi industry worldwide, often by ignoring the concerns of regulators. But the company suffered a major setback with that approach last fall, when the transport authorities in London — its most lucrative European market — withdrew its license. It has been able to continue to operate through the appeals process.
The court case has been a test of the attempts made by the chief executive, Dara Khosrowshahi, to end the adversarial approach that was a hallmark of his predecessor, Travis Kalanick, and to signal a change from freewheeling outfit that started in California to responsible international business.
On Tuesday, a judge at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London bolstered Mr. Khosrowshahi’s campaign, reissuing Uber’s license, albeit for 15 months — less than the five years that is typical for taxi licenses. Uber had agreed to install new leadership in London, adopt rules to report incidents to the police, keep tired drivers off the road, and share traffic data with the city. The company also named a new independent board to oversee British operations.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan, whose office oversees transportation in the capital, said in a statement that Uber had “been put on probation.”
“Their 15-month license has a clear set of conditions,” he added, which London’s transportation authorities “will thoroughly monitor and enforce.”
“Uber has been forced to overhaul the way it operates not just in London but across the world, including completely changing its global governance structures and implementing new systems for reporting alleged crimes,” Mr. Khan said.
Tom Elvidge, Uber’s general manager in Britain, said in a statement that the company was “pleased with today’s decision” and would work with city officials to “address their concerns and earn their trust.”
With more than 3.6 million people who use the service at least once every three months, a ban would have hit the company’s bottom line as Mr. Khosrowshahi is scaling back in Asia and preparing for an initial public offering to be held as early as next year.
But the company’s size also makes it politically risky for government officials to take its cars off the road. Uber says it provides millions of rides per week in London, and with roughly 45,000 drivers, its fleet nearly doubles the number of black cabs. More than 850,000 people signed a petition supporting Uber after the ban was announced last year.
Steve McNamara, general secretary of the Licensed Taxi Drivers’ Association, which represents about half the city’s 23,000 cabbies, criticized the city for allowing Uber to become “too big to fail.” The union lobbied to prevent Uber from regaining a license, and some of its members were in the audience during the hearings.
Uber’s experience in London tracks closely with its experience in other major cities. It gained popularity among customers who enjoyed the app’s ease of use and low prices when compared to taxis that were reliant on plying the streets and chancing upon customers, and which often insisted on taking cash. Uber’s strategy was to grow as fast as possible so that it became indispensable.
But with its growth came criticism over poor treatment of drivers, inadequate passenger safety and harm to incumbent taxi industries. In September, frustrated by a raft of global scandals, London revoked Uber’s license, saying it was not a “fit and proper” business, a designation required to operate in Britain.
“We’ve had five years of a very difficult relationship where Uber has felt it didn’t require regulation,” Helen Chapman, Transport for London’s director of licensing, regulation and charging, said during testimony on Tuesday.
Source : Nytimes
