India’s decision to impose a ban on the operation of American taxi service firm Uber — after its cab driver Shiv Kumar Yadav sexually assaulted a Delhi girl — is the latest in a series of litigations against the multi-billion company across the globe.
On Tuesday, Home Minister Rajnath Singh directed all States and Union Territories to put on hold radio and web-based taxi services, including Uber, till their verification and registration is completed. The Centre has also advised States to prohibit service providers which are not registered with them directly.
“The Delhi Police is also exploring the issue of possible legal liability of the taxi service Uber in the crime committed and the Transport Department has already banned it,” Singh told the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. Uber operates in 10 cities in the country.
Media reports from several countries do not give much comfort about Uber’s credentials. The taxi providers face one or another type of ban or restriction on its operations in several countries, including the USA, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Thailand, and its drivers have been implicated in rape cases in the USA.
A report in Time magazine said that in San Francisco and los Angeles, district attorneys have accused the ride-sharing service of misleading customers into believing they ban drivers who have ever committed criminal offenses.
In Portland, Uber is facing charge of operating illegally and could face penalties, according to the city’s transportation bureau, including $1,500 for being caught the first time, $2,500 for a second offense and $5,000 thereafter. Portland city’s transportation commissioner Steve Novick said, “They think they can just come in here and flagrantly violate the lawIJ This is really amazing. Apparently, they believe they’re gods.”
Nevada issued a statewide ban on Uber last week. Uber halted operations in the state.
According to Reuters, a court in Brussels recently banned Uber in the Belgian and European Union capital, promising to fine the ride-sharing service 10,000 Euros every time it violates the order.
The Comm-ercial Court in Brussels handed down the ruling last week, according to Tech.eu, summarising an original report by the Dutch-language De Tijd site.
The court based its decision on the fact that UberPOP drivers don’t have taxi licences allowing them to ferry passengers in Brussels, according to Tech.eu. The case against Uber came about following “complaints from traditional taxi operators who are not in favour of competition and consumer choice and would like to see their lucrative business protected by the Government,” the site reported with a healthy bit of editorialising.
Uber presented “unfair market competition” to traditional taxi services in Brussels, the court said. Tech.eu described regular taxi fares in the city as “ludicrously expensive” and not difficult for Uber drivers to undercut “by a large margin” while still making a nice profit.
The UberPOP service has been making inroads in Europe of late — support for local Uber drivers was recently launched in Barcelona and Berlin, among other cities. But the US-based company has had a tough time convincing authorities in Brussels to allow its ride-sharing setup to operate unhindered.
A court challenge against Uber in the Netherlands resulted this week in an injunction against the ride-sharing service, with a court saying the company can’t work with drivers who don’t have a licence. licensed taxi drivers and drivers who don’t seek payment can still drive for the service.
Uber has always faced a tough market in Germany, where the standard taxi cab is a Mercedes-Benz luxury sedan. And in September, courts in Berlin and Hamburg ruled the company did not comply with German laws and officially banned the service from using unlicensed taxi drivers.
Toronto authorities argued last month that Uber is “jeopardising public safety” and is getting ready to fight the ride-sharing service in court.
As a result, Uber, which operates in 250 cities worldwide, dropped its UberPop prices in Germany to comply with local rules that say people can share rides but not for a profit.
Since that led to fewer drivers being willing to take riders, Uber recently decided to allow regular taxi drivers to book fares on its app.
To face the challenges ahead, Uber is flush with $1.2 billion raised from investors in June, including Google Ventures and Black Rock Inc. among others. The Financial Times last week reported that it was in early talks to raise another $1 billion.
The company’s deep pockets allow it to recruit top lobbyists. In September, it named Mark MacGann, the former head of Government affairs for NYSE Euronext, as its representative in Brussels, and US President Barack Obama’s former campaign manager David Plouffe is on the payroll in Washington DC.
On Monday, Thailand ordered Uber to cease operations. The Southeast Asian nation’s Department of land Transport said drivers picking up fare-paying passengers via Uber’s app were neither registered nor insured to drive commercial vehicles, and that Uber’s credit-card payment system did not comply with regulations.
“They have to stop operations immediately,” Director-General Thiraphong Rodprasert told reporters after meeting officials from Uber and rival cab-hailing apps GrabTaxi and EasyTaxi to discuss regulating Internet taxi services.
The meeting was arranged before a passenger in New Delhi reported she had been raped by a driver contracted to Uber.
Taxi booking apps have irked drivers at traditional taxi firms across the globe. Consumers are increasingly using the smartphone software to find people willing to drive them, rather than booking a cab by phone.
In Thailand, Uber’s app acts as a matchmaker between owners of private vehicles and passengers, and has its own fare structure. GrabTaxi and EasyTaxi work with traditional taxi firms, using regular meters to calculate fares.
Effective immediately, drivers who use personal vehicles for commercial use could be fined 2,000 baht ($61), and the transport department is working to implement higher penalties, Thiraphong said.
In neighbouring Vietnam, Uber was to discuss means of regulating its service with transport ministry officials on Monday, but cancelled the talks citing “important circumstances”.
Transport Minister Dinh la Thang called for regulation after public criticism that followed a Deputy Transport Minister calling Uber’s operations illegal. Uber told local media it works with transport companies so its drivers were licensed and insured. Uber also provides passenger insurance, media reported.
In Indonesia, private drivers using apps such as Uber to pick up fare-paying passengers are acting illegally, though the law has never been enforced, said Izzul Waro, an adviser to Jakarta’s Transportation Agency.
“Many taxi companies don’t have a formal permit to operate. They operate by themselves. This is usual in Indonesia,” Waro said. Uber does not have a permit, he said.