Despite calls for it to be made a national holiday, most of us don’t get polling day off work. For many, this is just a frustrating missed opportunity for another May bank holiday (three in one month! Imagine!). But to those working several jobs or long hours, it can be a real barrier to voting.
Luckily, a white knight has appeared in the form of black cab app-hailing company Hailo. They’ve selflessly offered to take any London-based registered voting to their polling station for free between 7 and 8pm on 7 May.
Only up to a point, of course: journeys will be free up to the value of £15, which would get you about three miles or so. Oh, and the whole thing is called the “People’s Cab-inet”, a name so bad it should come with its own peace and reconciliation tribunal.
Of course, all this isn’t much use for people working between 7 and 8, or those who work far away from their polling station, or anyone who doesn’t have a smartphone. We don’t have solid data on this, but we’ve a sneaking feeling that Hailo users probably had a good chance of voting anyway, and the groups that are less likely to vote – minorities, women, young people, the homeless – may not be swayed by a taxi app promotion.
