An Uber-great deal on taxis?

Tuesday 03 February 2015

Jersey’s Transport Minister has been out and about with taxi drivers doing late night shifts on Saturday nights and the early morning red-eye run to the Airport – and he says that he’d be interested in seeing Uber cabs coming to Jersey.

Deputy Eddie Noel says that a report on reforming the taxi and cab system has been gathering dust for almost a year now, and that he wants to bring out new proposals by Easter.

He said that he wanted to make the system less confusing and to ensure that Jersey had the right balance between supply and demand.

And while Deputy Noel said that he welcomed the emergence of local taxi apps by various companies, he said there’d be no barrier to international taxi firm Uber – who have brought down the price of a ride in cities around the world – coming to the Island.

He said: “I would very much like to see more taxi apps over here. There’s nothing stopping Uber over here, but there’s already a local app up and running. We are at the stage where my assistant minister and I are looking to get better knowledge of the industry.

“One thing is for certain – the days when taxi and cab drivers were making a very, very good living out of the industry have gone. I think that most are making a living or supplementing their main wage as a source of income. There’s not huge profits being made.”