Uber hitting the big time in London

Uber says it has more than 15,000 drivers in London. Photo / Dean Purcell

Uber's dramatic growth in London has seen the number of private hire vehicles on the capital's roads surge by 26 per cent over the past two years.

The arrival in the UK of the San Francisco-based car-hailing app jump-started the stagnating minicab sector, which had seen the number of private hire vehicles climb by 3 per cent between 2009 and 2011 and drop by 2 per cent in the following two years.

There are now 62,754 private hire vehicles in London, up from 49,854 in 2013, according to the Department for Transport.

However, the number of minicab companies in the capital has declined by 5 per cent to 3000 operators over the same two-year period.

Uber said it has more than 15,000 drivers in London, and its chief executive Travis Kalanick has said he expects that number to rise to 42,000 in 2016.

Uber launched in London in 2012 and has since rolled out to seven other UK cities including Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle.

The company has promised incentives in the past in an effort to recruit drivers and is currently offering 150 ($362) to drivers who take 20 trips and refer a new driver.

The Department for Transport said that the total number of licensed taxi and private hire vehicles across England rose by 9 per cent over the past two years to 242,000 - its highest level since these records began in 2005.

By contrast, the number of black taxis in London inched up by 1.5 per cent over the past two years, with 22,500 Hackney Carriages in the capital - 58 fewer than there were in 2011, before the London launch of Uber.

Black taxi drivers have not welcomed Uber to the UK, staging several strikes and accusing Transport for London of kowtowing to the world's most valuable start-up.