Black Box in New York Taxis / Taxi Times Update 2015-06-10

Better than the competitor Uber: A Black Box is to analyse driving style in New York taxis and motivate drivers to drive safely.

http://uk.businessinsider.com/nyc-taxis-are-going-after-uber-in-a-new-way-2015-6?r=US

Chinese plagiarism of Uber Pop: Didi Kuadi, China’s largest taxi app provider now also arranges passengers for private drivers. The reaction of the authorities followed immediately: these kinds of apps breach the current taxi regulations.

http://techcrunch.com/2015/06/01/didi-kuaidi-chinas-dominant-taxi-app-firm-launches-carpooling-service/

Quote of the day

„Political support for the taxi trade shows us how important our trade is in northern Germany and how well the collaboration with policymakers is working.”

Thomas Lohse, Chair of the Taxen-Union Hamburg Hansa e.V., is delighted that Hamburg’s Mayor Olaf Scholz has taken over as patron of the 4^th North German Taxi and Hire Car Day.

https://taxi-times.w3.lvit.dev/en/norddeutscher-taxitag-is-under-the-auspices-of-hamburg-mayor/

Automobile news

Plug-in Passat saloon costs EUR 44,250: Volkswagen has announced the prices for its hybrid GTE model, which can cover 50 kilometres purely electrically. The estate version costs from EUR 45,250.

http://www.autobild.de/artikel/vw-passat-gte-2015-preise-5346887.html

News from Germany

Fare increase in Berlin: Five months after the introduction of the minimum wage, the German capital now also has higher taxi fares. However, this is still not high enough for one trade representative.

http://www.heise.de/autos/artikel/Berlin-Fahrten-mit-dem-Taxi-werden-deutlich-teurer-2678168.html?wt_mc=rss.autos.beitrag.atom

http://www.taxiinnung.org/fileadmin/images/banner/Pressemitteilung_Tarif_02.06.15.pdf

Higher prices, same number of passengers: Despite the in part massive price increases due to the minimum wage there are hardly any less passengers travelling by taxi.

http://www.berliner-zeitung.de/wirtschaft/taxipreise-gestiegen-menschen-fahren-trotz-preiserhoehungen-kaum-weniger-taxi,10808230,30884892.html

Pay for taxi rides by app: Initially Taxi Deutschland is launching this service in six cities. Other cities are to follow over the coming months.

http://www.maclife.de/news/kostenlose-taxi-deutschland-app-fahrten-nun-bequem-app-bezahlen-verzicht-bargeld-10066358.html

News from Switzerland

A close vote: Basel’s city politicians have voted against a reduction in taxi concessions from 470 to 250 with 44 to 42 votes.

http://www.20min.ch/schweiz/basel/story/Taxis-in-Basel-werden-nicht-limitiert-28301851

autonomous drive

Attack on the taxi business: Driverless cars would lead to fundamental changes in society in future. It’s not just the taxi business that would be affected by this. An analysis in German that is really worth reading.

http://www.2bahead.com/analyse/trendanalyse/detail/trendanalyse-warum-selbstfahrende-autos-kein-lenkrad-haben-werden/

Our last words

The merry-go-round of money: A television report on Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk explains why people on social benefits regularly take a taxi in Leipzig.

Der Kreislauf des Geldes: Ein Fernsehbeitrag im Mitteldeutschen Rundfunk erklärt, warum Sozialhilfeempfänger in Leipzig regelmäßig taxifahren.

http://www.mdr.de/mediathek/fernsehen/video275384_zc-7931f8bf_zs-2d7967f4.html

About this update: Our bilingual ‘update’ summarises the international news of the last days and hours. As some of the links are in foreign languages, we recommend using a website translator.

photo: disegno by j.schultheis  / pixelio.de