Journal

Regulation, data and market for licensed transport, read from the point of view of the people who put the cars on the road. Every article cites its sources.

OCT '26[Regulation]

The contract with your passenger is a tax position. Outside London, in England and Wales, it is still your choice.

An estimated £190m in Bolt’s appeal alone, and over £1bn in the cases behind it, turned on one question: whether the platform or the driver contracts with the passenger. The Court of Appeal answered it in June and the Supreme Court closed the door in September. That same contract settles whose customer the passenger is.

In June the Court of Appeal decided a VAT case about mini-cabs. The sums say it was not a small one: the court was told Bolt’s appeal “involves an estimated £190m”, and that other cases “well in excess of £1bn” were waiting on the outcome. On 29 September the Supreme Court refused Bolt permission to appeal, on the ground that the application raised no arguable point of law of general public importance it ought to hear at this time. That is the end of the road.

London lost a third of its taxis while private hire grew by 80%

Between 2013 and 2023 the number of licensed taxis in London fell from 22,200 to 15,100, while licensed private hire vehicles rose from 49,900 to 89,600. The passengers did not disappear. They changed queue.

The hotel channel is being wired, and not to the operator

In the spring of 2026 two announcements a month apart put Uber inside the software hotels run on: the ride is no longer requested by phone, it is requested from the stay screen, and the fare goes on the room bill.

Uber owns dispatch software much of this trade runs on. Who owns your passengers?

Uber agreed to buy Autocab in August 2020 and completed in April 2021. Autocab sells booking and dispatch technology to the operators Uber competes with. For anyone running a fleet, the thing to look at is not the software licence. It is who holds the booking, and that is something you can work on from Monday.

All articles

The contract with your passenger is a tax position. Outside London, in England and Wales, it is still your choice.An estimated £190m in Bolt’s appeal alone, and over £1bn in the cases behind it, turned on one question: whether the platform or the driver contracts with the passenger. The Court of Appeal answered it in June and the Supreme Court closed the door in September. That same contract settles whose customer the passenger is. OCT '26[Regulation]Paris has put a public authority inside the robotaxi consortium. In England the authority already has a say, and six weeks to use itOn 23 October 2026 the Métropole du Grand Paris, Bolt and Stellantis announced a consortium to run autonomous vehicles around Paris, with testing from 2028. The authority is a partner, not a regulator at the door. In England the licensing authority’s say is already in statute, and it lapses after six weeks of silence. OCT '26[Regulation]Munich’s largest taxi operator says it will keep the brand, the dispatch and the data. Here, the dispatch software is already owned by a competitorOn 27 October 2026 Münchner Taxi Zentrum and Tensor signed a letter of intent for up to 500 autonomous taxis running under the operator’s own brand and inside its own dispatch. Nothing is running yet, and the model is how the two companies describe themselves. Read it next to what the CMA said when it cleared Uber’s purchase of Autocab. OCT '26[Market]London lost a third of its taxis while private hire grew by 80%Between 2013 and 2023 the number of licensed taxis in London fell from 22,200 to 15,100, while licensed private hire vehicles rose from 49,900 to 89,600. The passengers did not disappear. They changed queue. SEPT '26[Data]The hotel channel is being wired, and not to the operatorIn the spring of 2026 two announcements a month apart put Uber inside the software hotels run on: the ride is no longer requested by phone, it is requested from the stay screen, and the fare goes on the room bill. SEPT '26[Market]Uber owns dispatch software much of this trade runs on. Who owns your passengers?Uber agreed to buy Autocab in August 2020 and completed in April 2021. Autocab sells booking and dispatch technology to the operators Uber competes with. For anyone running a fleet, the thing to look at is not the software licence. It is who holds the booking, and that is something you can work on from Monday. OCT '26↻[Market]