Uber

Uber Technologies Inc., the car-sharing service that’s rankling cabbies across the U.S., is fighting its biggest protest from European drivers who say the smartphone application threatens their livelihoods. Traffic snarled in cities from London to Madrid and Berlin to Paris as strikes and gatherings by more than 30,000 taxi and limo drivers blocked tourist centers and shopping districts. They are asking regulators to apply tougher rules on San Francisco-based Uber, whose software allows customers to order a ride from drivers who don’t need licenses that can cost 200,000 euros ($270,000) apiece. While similar demonstrations this year have led to smashed windshields and traffic chaos in Paris, a united front in Europe highlights the challenges for Uber’s expansion after a funding round that values the company at $17 billion, almost five times the figure in an earlier round. Out of some 128 cities it serves, 20 are in Europe, including Manchester, Lyon and Zurich. “European cities have tended to regulate taxi drivers much more than the U.S.,” said Charles Lichfield, an analyst at Eurasia Group in London. “I do think the protests have a better chance of succeeding.” In London, thousands of black cabs and private hire cars descended on the tourist hubs of Trafalgar Square and Parliament Square, blocking some of the city’s busiest streets. Scooter and motorbike riders studying for the cab-driver exam joined in, honking their horns as the police tried to regulate traffic.