Uber drivers may have their days numbered on the roads. The Land Public Transport Commission (SPA) has outlined a plan for identifying and apprehending Uber drivers who do not own a Public Service Vehicle license. There is no escape for any identified drivers, as SPAD is also working with the Road Transport Department to prevent them from renewing their road tax.
It appears that SPAD will use the Uber app to identify drivers. A government source told The Sun newspaper, “For example, after a certain private car has been identified from the digital log in the Uber app alongside solid evidence of video and photo of their operations, the authority will then send out a notice to the car owner to attend an ‘interview’ with the SPAD enforcement division.”
Should the driver fail to appear for the ‘interview’, SPAD will continue to send notices; and use all available channels to locate the vehicle. This will include blacklisting the car from renewing its road tax, at least until the owner appears to surrender the vehicle.
At the moment, the operation is only targeted at Uber drivers. This is apparently because Uber has been banning the credit cards and accounts of the SPAD officers using the app to nab drivers. The move prevents SPAD from identifying more than one driver at a time, making it incredibly difficult to track them down. However, a SPAD official has said that the Commission will soon implement the same methodology for tracking GrabCar drivers.
Ride sharing services have been in the spotlight over the last week when taxi drivers staged another protest. This resulted in a GrabCar driver being lured into a trap where he was subsequently detained by authorities. SPAD has impounded 44 Uber and 97 GrabCar vehicles since last October for offering illegal taxi services.
[Source: The Sun]
