Uber Says Thousands of London Drivers Threatened By English Language Test (reuters.com)

Costas Pitas, writing for Reuters: Tens of thousands of London private hire drivers could lose their licenses due to new English reading and writing requirements, taxi app Uber said on Tuesday at the start of a court battle to halt the plans. San Francisco-based Uber, which allows users to book journeys at the touch of a button on their smartphone, has grown rapidly in recent years but faced bans and protests around the world as regulators play catch-up with technology disrupting traditional operators. Uber launched legal action in August after public body Transport for London (TfL) said that drivers should have to prove their ability to communicate in English, including to a standard of reading and writing which Uber says is too high. "It produces the profoundest of human effects. At one extreme it will lead to the loss of livelihood," Uber's lawyer Thomas de la Mare told the High Court in London. There are over 110,000 private hire drivers in the British capital, according to TfL but around 33,000 would fail to pass their renewal test due to the new language hurdle, de la Mare told the court, citing a calculation of data provided by TfL.

Comments

Uber need to get a clue.

[JustNiz]

It seems just basic common sense to require people that need to deal with the public, including in a safety context, to actually be able to converse in the national language.

Re:Uber need to get a clue.

[BarbaraHudson]

How is that racist? IATA requires all air traffic controllers around the world to be able to respond to aircraft that request service in English.

Pursuant to requirements of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), ATC operations are conducted either in the English language or the language used by the station on the ground.[2] In practice, the native language for a region is normally used; however, the English language must be used upon request.[

Language != race, you moron. Same as religion != race, despite what Trump wants to believe.

Re:Uber need to get a clue.

[LQ]

Nothing to do with Brexit. The London mayor, Sadiq Khan (a Muslim and son of a Pakistani bus driver) backs the language test. It is part of a campaign to improve quality and reduce the number of rogue mini-cabs on the road.

Re:Uber need to get a clue.

[stephanruby]

I'm an Uber driver and I met a Chinese former Uber driver who got deactivated in the US for not knowing enough English.

The first time he got deactivated, he had to pay for and pass an online English language quiz. Of course, he passed the test (I assume one of his family members helped him). Then, he got reactivated, but that didn't last for more than a week or two, and that second time, he got permanently deactivated, because he couldn't get his rating back up and passengers were still leaving the same comments about him not knowing enough English.

My point is that Uber has a crude rating system. For instance, an average of 4.6 stars can get you deactivated in some cities. But crude as that system may be, it does seem to be working at weeding out the worst Uber drivers (including those that may not know enough English).

And if we're talking about forcing Uber drivers in the UK to pass an English test, I would love to see some of their sample questions, to see how difficult they made the test.

Re:Uber need to get a clue.

[Captain Splendid]

Shouldn't the level of quality be up to the customer?

Seeing as the UK is a democracy, it already is. And they decided at the ballot box in order to save time having to make the decision every time they get in a damn cab.

Re:Uber need to get a clue.

[mrbester]

The classes for The Knowledge (you have to have this to be a black cabbie) are in English, so you've got no chance of passing if you don't understand the language.

Re:Uber need to get a clue.

[Hognoxious]

Nazi Germany was also a democracy, since Hitler was elected.

Bzzzt, wrong!

"Although Hitler lost the presidential election of 1932, he achieved his goals, when he was appointed chancellor on 30 January 1933."

There's Only One Thing They Care About....

[segedunum]

......and that's Uber. They don't give a flying fuck about drivers.

Maybe I'm missing something. . .

[Salgak1]

. . . but as an initial point, what's wrong with requiring drivers in ENGLAND to show mastery of ENGLISH ??

But secondly, that's actually a minor hurdle, compared to the "knowledge" required to pass the legendarily hard London Cab Drive License Test.

Specifically:

To achieve the required standard to be licensed as an “All London” taxi driver you will need a thorough knowledge, primarily, of the area within a six-mile radius of Charing Cross. You will need to know: all the streets; housing estates; parks and open spaces; government offices and departments; financial and commercial centres; diplomatic premises; town halls; registry offices; hospitals; places of worship; sports stadiums and leisure centres; airline offices; stations; hotels; clubs; theatres; cinemas; museums; art galleries; schools; colleges and universities; police stations and headquarters buildings; civil, criminal and coroner’s courts; prisons; and places of interest to tourists. In fact, anywhere a taxi passenger might ask to be taken.

Re:more for taxi drivers

[Highdude702]

I live in Las Vegas, NV. The roads are plagued with a sea of traffic cones. Google maps doesnt account for that unless there is an accident or the road is completely closed. I've been driving service work around Las Vegas since I was 15. After 15 years of driving this city daily. Google maps can not get you from one end to the other faster than I can. I have guys I work with call me and ask whats the fastest way to get from point A to point B. Human Knowledge beats shitty "AI" Algorithms all day. Also I can do it without siphoning your personal information along the way..

Re:Most "English speaking" people...

[JustNiz]

From the article:
"Drivers must have B1 level English, or the equivalent of a GCSE in the subject".

FYI This is nowhere near A level.