Brett Barenholtz, President, National Limousine Association (NLA)

Amid increasing national concern over passenger safety in ride-hailing services, the National Limousine Association (NLA) is calling for urgent legislative and regulatory action to establish consistent, enforceable safety standards across all ground transportation platforms. 

Recent reporting and ongoing litigation underscore the seriousness of the issue. Court filings indicate more than 558,000 reports of sexual violence associated with Uber rides between 2017 and 2024, ranging from misconduct to severe assault. Thousands of related federal lawsuits are currently moving through the court system, with bellwether cases expected to influence future settlements and regulatory outcomes.

“These reports raise serious questions about whether voluntary, platform-led safety measures are sufficient to protect the riding public,” said Brett Barenholtz, President of the National Limousine Association. “Passenger safety should never depend on which app someone uses. Riders deserve transparency, accountability, and safety standards that reflect the risks being reported nationwide.”

As the association representing professionally trained, commercially insured and heavily regulated chauffeured‑transportation providers, the NLA is urging policymakers to implement uniform safeguards that apply across all passenger transportation services.



The NLA calls on Congress, state legislatures, local regulators and public safety stakeholders to accelerate reforms, including:

• Consistent, enforceable safety protocols across platforms
• Uniform background check requirements for all drivers
• Mandatory safety-incident reporting standards
• Stronger oversight and enforcement for platforms with systemic safety failures

Image: TaxiPoint UK

Transport for London (TfL) has published its first pan-city roadworks and traffic management plan, setting out how the capital’s road network will be operated and upgraded over the next five years, with changes that are expected to affect taxis, private hire vehicles and other commercial road users.

The strategy focuses on using new technology, data and tighter coordination with London boroughs to improve traffic flow, reduce disruption from roadworks and support TfL’s longer-term objectives around safety, sustainability and congestion reduction. While much of the plan centres on improving bus reliability, TfL says the measures are designed to benefit all road users operating on one of the busiest urban networks in the world.

London’s road system includes around 6,400 automated traffic signal junctions and pedestrian crossings, handling billions of journeys each year. TfL says new infrastructure and upgraded control systems will be critical to managing this demand more efficiently, particularly as streets continue to carry more journeys from buses, freight, taxis, cyclists and pedestrians.

A central element of the plan is the continued rollout and enhancement of TfL’s FUSION traffic control system. Already in use across much of the capital, the system will be upgraded to process a wider range of real-time data and react more quickly to changing traffic conditions. TfL estimates the changes could cut delays by up to 14 percent and deliver up to £1bn in economic benefits through reduced journey times. Future upgrades are expected to allow the system to integrate artificial intelligence-based sensors.

TfL is also expanding the use of Vivacity AI cameras to better understand how different road users move through the network. The technology can distinguish between pedestrians, cyclists, wheelchair users, taxis and heavy goods vehicles, providing more detailed data than traditional traffic counters. More than 1,000 cameras are expected to feed into shared data platforms with boroughs, informing decisions such as signal timings and crossing phases that can affect vehicle flow and stopping patterns.

For taxi drivers, one of the most immediate operational impacts is likely to come from the expansion of the lane rental scheme. Previously limited to TfL red routes, the scheme charges utilities and contractors for occupying busy roads at peak times. TfL says this has reduced congestion and improved air quality where it operates. From January 2026, four boroughs Camden, Enfield, Lambeth and Merton have already received Department for Transport approval to introduce their own schemes, with a further 22 boroughs progressing applications. The Government is in the process of devolving approval powers to the Mayor, which TfL says should allow more consistent rollout across London.

Source: TaxiPoint UK

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Winter Storm Snarls U.S. Travel, Forces Mass Flight Cancellations

A powerful winter storm sweeping across much of the United States forced airlines to cancel thousands of flights and delay hundreds on Monday, as freezing rain and heavy snowfall disrupted travel and snarled transportation networks. About 3,900 flights were canceled and more than 1,500 delayed as of early Monday, FlightAware data showed, after over 11,000 flights were scrapped on Sunday - the highest daily total since the pandemic, according to data from aviation analytics firm Cirium.

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Brightline’s Florida Operation Gives Glimpse toward Vegas to SoCal High-Speed Rail Service

As work continues toward getting Brightline West’s Las Vegas to Southern California high-speed rail line built and running, the company’s East Coast operation is transporting passengers daily. The Brightline high-speed rail line in Florida has been in operation since 2018 and features six stations from downtown Miami to Orlando. The train’s speed varies depending on the area being traversed, but trains can reach 125 mph in some stretches.

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Hawaii Is Crowdsourcing the Collection of Road Data

Hundreds of motorists across the Hawaiian Islands are outfitting their vehicles with dashcams, capturing imagery of the roadways in service to the state transportation agency. Hawaii residents and businesses are participating in the Eyes on the Road project, a partnership among the Hawaii Department of Transportation, Bentley Systems and the University of Hawaii. The initiative is distributing roughly 1,000 NextBase dashcams to motorists who will spend the next year capturing imagery data as they drive state roads, identifying cracking pavement, potholes, debris, active work zones and more. The data is analyzed by machine learning and AI technology created by Blyncsy, a subsidiary of Bentley Systems, which turns it into actionable information used by the transportation officials.

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It’s Been Another Tough Winter for the REM. What’s Going On?

Many who use Montreal’s light-rail network have been feeling frustrated recently due to winter-related delays and stoppages on the network. Experts say it’s difficult for engineers to predict and prepare for intense weather patterns.

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RCMP Recover Stolen Taxis in Antigonish

Nova Scotia Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) say two taxis that were stolen from a business in Antigonish earlier this week have been found. In a news release Friday, police said the two vehicles were taken sometime late Thursday evening or early Friday morning from a business on Beech Hill Road. Both vehicles were Dodge Grand Caravans. Both featured a Captain’s Cab logo and business phone number and were equipped with roof lights.

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Toronto's New Finch West LRT Experienced 350 Delays in December, City Data Shows

Toronto’s new Finch West LRT line experienced 350 delays in December, city data shows. The delays were recorded on the LRT, known as Line 6, between Dec. 7 and Dec. 31, according to data provided on the city's open data site. The LRT is jointly operated by the TTC, Metrolinx and the City of Toronto. In a statement Thursday, the TTC said all partners are committed to doing their respective parts during the soft opening period to work collaboratively through any issues causing delays.

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EV Chargers Are Being Targeted for Copper Theft and the Problem Is Getting Worse

At the center of this unfolding story is the theft of charging cables and copper wiring from public fast-charging sites. UK police reports obtained through freedom of information requests show that more than 200 incidents of theft and vandalism at EV chargers were recorded between 2022 and mid-2025.

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India to Cut EU Car Tariffs to 40% as Free Trade Deal Nears

India is preparing to sharply reduce import tariffs on cars from the European Union, marking the biggest opening yet of its tightly protected automobile market as New Delhi and Brussels move closer to sealing a long-awaited free trade agreement. The deal could be announced as early as Tuesday, according to sources cited by Reuters. Under the proposed arrangement, India plans to cut peak import duties on EU-made cars to 40% from current levels of as high as 110%.

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‘Mother of All Strikes’: Belgium Braces for Five Days of Rail Disruption

Belgium faces a full working week of disruption on its network as railway unions escalate a long-running dispute with the federal government into a coordinated five days of industrial action. With unions’ calling it ‘the mother of all strikes’, here’s why and which lines will be worst hit.

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Dubai RTA Receives First of 735 New Buses

The initial delivery includes 40 electric buses, marking the first large-scale introduction of electric buses into Dubai’s public transport fleet. This is the largest procurement of electric buses of its kind in the UAE to date.

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Congestion Charges Could Help Auckland - But Only If Alternatives Exist

Government has already signalled Auckland Council would be the first local authority likely to have the charge, although council said it was still investigating and there would be public engagement before anything was introduced. Aimed at tackling congestion, and improving travel times on New Zealand's busiest roads, the scheme could charge drivers a toll at busy times to enter a downtown area, or just target busy roads and corridors. Quantitative geographer expert and University of Auckland lecturer Dr. Hyesop Shin believed if done well, congestion charges could encourage more people to take public transport, scooter or walk to work.

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From Petrol to Electric: How Bikes Offer Cleaner, Cheaper, Faster Mobility

TANZANIA - Inside the small laboratory at Migongo Health Centre in Buhigwe District, Kigoma Region, Mr. Frank Marwa works confidently, arranging test samples and recording results. Outside, an electric motorcycle powered by solar panels on the health centre’s roof waits by the door, serving as his reliable link to town. With it, Mr. Marwa, head of the laboratory, can rush to town anytime to collect vaccines or submit reports to the Buhigwe Medical Office, tasks that once involved long waits or costly transport.

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Image: Getty Images

Tesla scrapped its Autopilot driver assist feature that used to come standard in new vehicles, as it attempts to steer customers to its newly subscription-only Full Self Driving (FSD) system. According to Electrek, the company removed Basic Autopilot as a standard feature from new Model 3 and Model Y vehicles in North America. That means in order to get Tesla’s lane-keeping Autosteer feature, which was previously free when purchasing a new Tesla vehicle, customers will now have to fork over $99-a-month to subscribe to FSD. 

Tesla will still sell its vehicles with its Traffic-Aware Cruise Control feature, which sticks to a designated speed limit while maintaining a distance behind cars ahead, as standard. But if customers want Autosteer, they’ll have to subscribe to FSD. Last week, Tesla announced that it would stop selling FSD as an optional package and would instead shift to a monthly or annual subscription. And as TechCrunch notes, the move comes as Tesla faces a 30-day dealer and manufacturing suspension in California for overstating the capabilities of its driver assist system. 

A judge ruled in December that Tesla had engaged in deceptive marketing by misleading customers about the capabilities of Autopilot. The California DMV, which brought the complaint, stayed the ruling for 60 days to allow Tesla time to comply by dropping the Autopilot brand name. Tesla made basic Autopilot standard on all new vehicles in April 2019, bundling it with the purchase price rather than as a separate add-on — while keeping the more advanced FSD as an optional upgrade.

Source: The Verge

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