Transport for London has stopped carrying adverts for Uber on its taxi and mini cab pages following interventions from Green, Liberal Democrat and Labour members of the London Assembly.
Although the organisation is overwhelmingly funded by fares and government grants, it carries commercial advertising on its website to help generate commercial income.
The adverts appear across the website, including pages covering how to correctly hire a taxi or mini cab, safety advice and fares.
TfL is the regulator for both London’s taxi and private hire trades and is currently in the middle of a dispute with representatives of both trades over the legality of mini cab booking app, Uber.
Last month an Assembly report warned that the dispute was one of several factors behind a rapidly deteriorating relationship between drivers and the agency.
AMs said TfL had allowed itself to be seen as a ‘soft touch’ which fails to uphold regulations.
A number of taxi and mini cab drivers, including some unhappy that TfL has granted Uber an operators’ licence, have raised concerns about the presence of adverts for the firm and other operators
Their complaints were escalated to Mayor Boris Johnson by AMs Darren Johnson, Caroline Pidgeon and Len Duvall at last month’s Mayor’s Question Time.
In a written response published today, the Mayor says TfL will no longer carry any advertising on the Taxi and Private Hire section of its website following a review of its policies.
