News, Ride Hailing

Uber tries to win London back with 24/7 hotline

Back in September last year, Transport for London (TfL) didn’t renew Uber’s operating license in the city of London. Uber has appealed the decision but that hasn’t stopped Uber from trying to get back into the good graces of the TfL. One of the reasons citing for not renewing Uber’s license was its lack of safety.

Uber has imposed a limit of how many hours drivers can drive at once as well as implemented new changes such as having a 24/7 hotline for both passengers and drivers to raise issues and speak to a person instead of reporting it through the application.

“After listening to feedback from drivers, riders, local regulators and the police we’re introducing a number of new features and changes to enhance driver and passenger safety,” said Tom Elvidge, Uber’s general manager in the UK to Engadget. “We’re determined to change the way we do business, so we’ll carry on listening and plan to make other improvements over the coming months,” he added.

Under new leadership, Uber now deals with the police directly by forwarding all major complaints to the police instead of encouraging users to report to the police directly. Uber is also reviewing all of its past issues and tackling them one by one to ensure that it has a clean slate.

Uber can still operate in the city of London as the whole legal process and appeal process will take some time. This will give the ride-sharing company enough time to meet all of the TfL’s requirements.