OREANDA-NEWS. IRU General Assembly today awarded the IRU “Top Road Transport Manager” to 69 managers from 15 countries for their best-in-class leadership and managerial achievements in promoting safe, secure, environmentally-friendly and efficient road transport.

IRU created this prestigious award to honour top managers of road transport companies, including bus, coach, taxi and truck, for their excellence and professionalism in providing innovative solutions to enhance environmental protection, road safety and productivity. But it takes more than a person’s ability to improve a company’s growth to qualify as an award nominee.

Indeed, managers must hold the appropriate CPC Manager Diploma and should actively promote vocational training for themselves and their staff, such as the training programmes of the IRU Academy’s Accredited Training Institutes, to ensure that the road transport industry and its employees are in tune with the latest legislative and operational developments impacting the sector.

The Top Road Transport Manager award confirms the wide professional experience and outstanding achievements of all nominees. It celebrates the success stories of exemplary managers who deserve international recognition for their high level of know-how and work to raise the profile and strengthen the efficiency of the road transport industry.

The winners of this year’s award come from: Argentina (3), Belarus (3), Denmark (1), Estonia (5), FYROM (10), Germany (2), Iran (12), Kazakhstan (4), Mexico (8), Morocco (9), Romania (2), Russia (5), Slovakia (3), Spain (1) and Ukraine (1). 

IRU in partnership with the Taxicab, Limousine & Paratransit Association (TLPA), in partnership with the European-based road transport organisation is pleased to announce that three additional major North American apps - zTrip, Curb & The Ride - have joined IRU’s UpTop global taxi network. The UpTop network, which provides high quality, safe, and legal taxi services to customers around the world, now covers more than 500,000 taxis worldwide, representing more than 10% of the global legal taxi market.

The three new additions are another step in answering the growing calls by passengers for a global taxi app to hail licensed vehicles. zTrip is backed by one of the world’s leading transport groups Transdev. Curb is America’s oldest and largest taxi app and present in over 60 US cities and is backed by Verifone. The Ride is a highly innovative app that provides direct links to public transport across Canada.

Yves Mannaerts, President of IRU’s Passenger Transport Council, said, “I am pleased to be able to welcome these major taxi apps in North America to IRU’s UpTop global taxi network. These three new partners represent a significant step in enhancing our presence in North America and in further advancing the network’s coverage and the service provided to customers.”

Alfred LaGasse, the CEO of the TLPA, said, “The addition of these major apps to the UpTop network means greater service, reliability and portability for passengers looking for seamless on-demand services, similar to what roaming did for mobile phone coverage.” The TLPA works with IRU to evaluate North American apps that wish to apply to the UpTop global taxi network.

Dwight Kines of Transdev said, “Ztrip is very pleased to be certified by the UpTop global taxi network and excited to be part of the roaming process as we look to build a truly global network of quality taxi operations that are linked together through a united app.”

Jason Gross, Verifone's Global Head of Product and Marketing Taxi Systems, stated, “There’s growing appreciation everywhere for the high standards of traditional taxis – for their reliability, value to the community, and of course their safety. We are proud to be certified by UpTop as confirmation of our joint mission to protect the rights of drivers and passengers, and to advocate for safety, security and transparency in everything we do.”

Nick Quain from The Ride, said, “We’re really pleased to receive the UpTop certification, as this designation is an important international indication to consumers and industry alike of the high quality, reliability and safety of The Ride app”.

IRU’s UpTop global taxi network is a partnership of taxi industry federations and taxi app providers. Its objective is to promote legal, reliable, high quality and safe services to taxi customers, by making use of the latest smartphone technology in full respect of the regulatory framework in force. The network already on 5 continents and with 17 partner apps now encompasses more than 500,000 taxis worldwide, with on average 30,000 taxis added to its partners’ fleets every month.