Ethnic Distributions of Taxi Drivers and PHV Drivers in London

The vast majority of taxi drivers are white; the vast majority of PHV drivers are non-white

Yesterday, it was announced that Uber is being stripped of its license to operate in London. It has been claimed that this decision was made as a result of pressure from the GMB union, which represents London taxi drivers. The reason why taxi drivers would want Uber banned is that such a ban reduces the supply of private hire vehicles (PHVs), thereby raising the price of taxi fares.

Note that Uber cars are classified as PHVs, rather than taxis. The difference between these two being that:

Taxis are hackney carriages and are licensed to pick people up from the roadside, i.e. hailing a cab

whereas:

Private hire vehicles are only permitted to pick up pre arranged bookings and are not permitted to pick people up from the side of the road

Interestingly, according to data supplied by Transport for London, the ethnic distributions of taxi drivers and PHV drivers are rather different. In particular, the vast majority of taxi drivers are white:

By contrast, the vast majority of PHV drivers are non-white: