Economy
Hungarian cabbies protest against Uber, Uber inks Airbus chopper deal
Cabbies vs. Uber
Cabbies have demanded putting Uber and other “illegal passenger transport" companies out of business immediately by blocking one of the main intersections in Budapest today.
They said they will stay until telephone service providers remove the Uber application from their online stores. If they have to stay for days, they will, they said.
Chronology
- The government implemented new rules for taxi companies in September 2013, which were aimed against "hyena taxis" that charged 3-5 times more than usual. The measure was a fixed fare, but this also prevented taxi companies to offer discounts to regular clients for instance.
- The basic fare was set to HUF 450, and riders have to pay HUF 280 per kilometre and HUF 70 per minute. The move mostly favoured large taxi companies that have been facing growing challenges by up-and-coming small firms which offered more muted fares.
- The new requirements were tough and put several drivers out of business. The new cabs had to be pained a uniform yellow and had to be non-smoking vehicles with low emissions, equipped with A/C, winter tires and they also had to accept credit cards.
- Then Uber and Wundercar arrived. These offer on-demand driver services. If you have a car, a driver’s licence, your own car insurance and a smartphone, you can be an Uber driver. After registration it takes an app to see the Uber drivers around your location, demand a car and start a trip in no time, while knowing what type of car you will be riding and who will be your driver. There is no cash involved in the transaction, as you are automatically charged when you reach your destination. The fare depends on the type of car you use and the demand-supply relation. If a lot of people are waiting for a ride but there are not enough Uber drivers around, the price goes up, which in turn may spur more drivers to join the party and then prices will go down.
- As the Uber network expanded on both ends (customers and drivers), regular cabbies that had to spend a pretty penny to remain in business were naturally upset when they found that during certain hours Uber charged half as much as they did and so it “stole" customers from them. Taxi companies started to lobby at the government that the same rules must be applied on Uber, whereas Uber claimed it is not even a taxi company, merely an online platform and the drivers are not employees, but only users.
- Local authorities were also scratching their heads over tax issues regarding Uber, and this tax advantage has only improved Uber’s competitiveness. The authorities were also frowning on the lack of information about the reliability of the drivers and their vehicles.
- By 2015, Uber was all over the place, but the authorities clearly did not want to upset a whole lot of satisfied customers (taxpayers, voters) by pulling the plug on Uber.
- New legislation was passed at last in 2015, which has rendered Uber cars practically in the same category as the yellow cabs and obliged them to use the HUF 280/km tariff.
- This virtually equalled banning the company.
- Uber continued to operate as if nothing has changed. Their drivers said they had to pass some test, but once they’re done business goes on as usual. A few months ago Uber even raised prices to make the service more attractive to drivers. Budapest was flooded with Uber taxies and now it takes less time to hail an Uber vehicle via a smartphone app than a regular cab in the capital city.
- According to a summary by local news portal index.hu, whenever they enquire at the ministry in charge, the reply is the same: Uber in its original form is banned and the only way to drive for Uber is if the drivers comply with the new rules. Both tax authority NAV and the Budapest Transport Centre (BKK) are actively checking the drivers and if they find irregularities, fines are imposed and they may even strip the car in question of its licence plate.
- Meanwhile, there were also reports that Uber representatives are in talks with the ministry, seeking a regulation that does not make Uber illegal.
- Taxi companies are now enraged, saying local authorities are not tough enough with illegal taxi drivers and while there are regulations in place saying Uber is illegal, the company can remain in business.
- Cabbies are now demonstrating against Uber and the likes of it in any which way they can. They are monitoring, photographing and reporting Uber drivers to authorities. There have already been verbal and physical confrontations between the drivers of yellow cabs and Uber cars. (Source: index.hu).
Meanwhile, Uber is about to take off
Airbus Group SE will provide helicopters to Uber Technologies Inc. for its on-demand services, the European plane maker’s chief executive said Sunday.“Its a pilot project, we’ll see where it goes—but it’s pretty exciting," Airbus Chief Executive Tom Enders said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal at the Digital Life Design conference here.
Uber, which launched in 2009, recently has expanded its offerings to incorporate other forms of transportation, including on-demand rickshaws in India and boats in Turkey.
Uber has charged between several hundred and several thousands of dollars for those rides.
The company will offer Airbus H125 and H130 helicopters for the Sundance project and has partnered with Air Resources, a Utah-based operator of H125 helicopters, an Airbus spokesman said, adding that Uber will dispatch a car to pick up clients for the chopper rides.
