Speaking at the Digital Travel Summit, Erinn Collier, UK head at Uber for Business, said the technology company would like to “still help”, while also speaking about the recent negative publicity surrounding its former chief executive and passenger safety issues.

Uber was granted a five-year private hire licence for London back in May 2012. Following its expiration at the end of last month, TfL has renewed the licence for just four months as it weighs up complaints made by black-cab drivers and unions over Uber’s operation and working practices.

When quizzed over the licence renewal by TTG, Collier said: “Over the past year we’ve worked with Transport for London, and we look forward to their conclusion. We’ll look at any fee recommendations, and are happy to go with their recommendations. If we did not have a licence, we’d still look to work with TfL, although there’d be less relevance. But we’d still help.”

During a presentation on urban mobility at the summit, Collier outlined how Uber has been complementing public transport and improving urban mobility.

“In London, we think about how we complement public transport; it’s a misconception we want to replace it. In London, 30% of drop-offs take place within 100 metres of a tube station, because the tube works well when it is operating,” she said.

“We started as a cab business, but then it became about under-served communities. When London’s Night Tube started, we tracked the shift in people and pick-ups. There was an increase in pick-ups from the last stops on tube lines, and this validates the tube as a world-class city transport. And Uber is extending it, so people don’t need to take a bus at night, or risk driving after having a drink, for example.”

Collier also said Uber was helping to lower the risk of accidents, citing recent research in Los Angeles.

“After people go to nightclubs [and use Uber], we found that this contributed to a 5% decrease in drink-driving deaths," she said. "This proves the goal of driving efficiency in a city."

Meanwhile, as levels of car ownership decrease, Collier said Uber was looking at ways to drive down costs even further. “Not owning a car is an increasing trend for the future, so we need to reduce costs. For example, [car sharing] Uber Pool has been used millions of times in London since we introduced it a year ago. Do people want to share their cars with strangers? Our research says yes.”

Bad publicity

Uber’s Travis Kalanick resigned as chief executive last week, after issues over sexism and unorthodox practices at the company were raised.

When quizzed at the summit over how she felt working for a company that was receiving so much bad press, Collier replied: “I can only speak personally, but it’s busy at the moment. We have 14,000 employees, and most have joined in the past two years. Lots of people are tied into Travis’s vision at the start, but there are lots of staff today with a technology background.

“It can feel a bit personal, but the prevailing sentiment is hopeful. There’s a turning point with the recent recommendations.”

In early June, the board of directors voted to adopt recommendations of a workplace review led by the law firm of the former US attorney general Eric Holder.

"I’m proud of the decision to adopt the board’s recommendations. Let’s all move ahead,” she added.

Other criticisms Uber has faced concern passenger safety, and Collier told delegates the company was “adding additional layers on top".

"For example, the driver only knows the passenger’s first name, and does not have their phone number," she said. "Also there’s the capability for riders to send a link to family members or friends to stream their journey details - it’s the feed of the driver’s phone and GPS. There also are ratings for drivers - as well as for riders.

"Mine is 4.86 which isn’t great compared to a lot of my colleagues! But I think that’s due to the enormous number of journeys I take. We’re thinking of riders and drivers as a community.”

Uber is also planning to grow its business travel operations, and Collier claimed Uber trips in North America were now the "most expensed" single-line item in business travel, recently overtaking Starbucks. As a result, she said the company was looking to extend some of the technology used for the diver platform into business travel.

Meanwhile, Uber is looking at expanding into the freight and delivery sectors, professional catering, VIP guest transport for hotels and casinos and even exploring the ways in can improve the recruitment process, when candidates travel to a company to be interviewed.