Jim Armitage: Londoners need a humbler Uber and a Khan-do attitude
He claims to speak for all Londoners, but Sadiq Khan isn’t entirely one of us, is he? Amid the great and good of the CBI hoovering up their chocolate mousses at its annual luncheon yesterday, the Mayor admitted he had never taken an Uber.
What, never been stuck at a party in the wee hours and hit the Uber app? Never got an Uber after failing to reach Stoke Newington by public transport? Never opted for a quick, warm Prius over a rainy10 minutes at the bus stop?
What kind of Londoner is that?
In my experience, the only locals who’ve never caught an Uber are those ideologically opposed to it.
They tend to be of a Leftish bent, are suspicious of Silicon Valley capitalism and feel queasy about the living conditions of the average Uber driver. In other words, they’re not the types you’d charge with taking a dispassionate view of whether or not to grant the company a licence.
Yet that is in our Mayor’s gift. He’s clearly aware of the danger of being seen as an old-school Labour interventionist on the Uber issue, which is why he keeps saying he’s not going to interfere with Transport for London’s regulators.
Yet Londoners will suspect that, with his role as chairman of TfL, and the Mayor of this city to boot, his watchdogs will have his biases uppermost in their minds.
Fortunately, perhaps stung by a 500,000-strong petition in Uber’s favour, Khan now hints at a rapprochement.
If Uber, which has been arrogant towards our bureaucrats, acts contrite and agrees to TfL’s box-ticking, it will get its licence.
That would be the best outcome for everyone; a humbler Uber, a sign that London is open to new businesses, and cheap taxis for all. Who knows, the Mayor might even be tempted to take one.
