It Uber under attack from TfL (Picture: Rex)

Transport for London is planning new rules that could affect the way people get about in the capital.

The document, which has been seen by Metro.co.uk, proposes many new rules companies such as Uber might have to adhere to if they want to continue operating in London.

Among the proposed changes is the introduction of a minimum five-minute wait before a passenger is picked up.

There are also proposals for driver competence and English language tests to ‘improve the customer’s experience’.


A page from the leaked proposals document (Click to enlarge)

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The proposal document states the five minute wait is to ‘reduce the risk of a customer getting into the wrong car and/or into an unlicensed vehicle’, and to prevent passenger pick-up from an unsafe location.



Some suggested there should be a 15 or 30 minute wait, but this was overruled on safety grounds.

Other proposed plans included suggestions that drivers be forbidden from working for more than one company, and controls on any potential ‘ride sharing’, which would allow Uber customers to share cars with strangers, reducing congestion and carbon footprints.

A TfL spokesperson told Metro.co.uk that none of these proposals have been confirmed as yet.

‘At this stage they are just ideas, which we are putting out there to see how people react to them,’ the spokesperson said.

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Uber responded to the leaked proposals with the following statement.

Uber's response to the proposals These pointless new rules will do nothing to improve the service Uber and other apps provide. They’re designed to address the concerns of black cab drivers, who are feeling squeezed due to increased competition from the private hire industry. But the answer is to reduce the onerous regulations cabbies face today — not increase them for everyone else. For example, the requirement to buy expensive vehicles pushes up fares. And while The Knowledge is rightly famous as an extraordinary test of human memory, GPS could help to cut the time commitment that is needed. We’re calling on riders and drivers to say NO to burdensome regulations for black cab drivers — and YES to common-sense regulations and keeping the Uber you know and love.