Taxi Strike Brings Europe to a Halt

You may have noticed ubiquitous gridlock trying to get around London today. Same in Paris. And Madrid.

That’s because cabbies across Europe have gone on strike, snarling traffic in metropolitan centers across the continent, in order to protest San Francisco start up Uber. The drivers say Uber, an app that summons rides at the touch of a button, has been stealing business from local taxis without having to adhere to the same stringent government regulations.

Uber, however used the strike to its advantage, offering discounts and seeing downloads increase 850% over last Wednesday.