Taxi drivers see chaos if the changes are accepted in the original version
Probably only 4 days will live the experience of transport applications such as that of “Hubert” for example to return to the market in Bulgaria.
On Friday, Democratic Bulgaria lawmakers Hristo Ivanov and Atanas Atanasov introduced amendments to the Road Transport Act in parliament. According to the proposed texts, taxis that can only be ordered through applications
they will not be
obliged to be
painted in
yellow color and yes
have designations
In addition, they are not allowed to pick up passengers from the street or from a parking lot and are required to be licensed in order to work.
On Monday, however, one of the Union Taxi organizations met with MPs Ivaylo Mirchev and Antoaneta Tsoneva at the headquarters of Democratic Bulgaria. It was also agreed that the bill should not be withdrawn, but that Hubert’s cars and other applications should have “Taxi” plates and have tariffs announced in a prominent place. The party confirmed the information.
Hubert appeared in Bulgaria in 2014, but the offering of the services was banned by the CPC less than a year later. The company appealed the ban, but the court upheld the CPC’s decision.
And the ideas of the two deputies for a change in the law and the return of “Hubert” provoked a stormy negative reaction among the taxi carriers.
The Union Taxi Drivers in Bulgaria issued an official statement saying that if the changes were not withdrawn, there would be a protest. There were even signals that the bus carriers would support them.
Other carriers suspected that there were lobbying interests behind the proposed changes by Ivanov and Atanasov. A facsimile began to be spread on Facebook, according to which the proposed texts contained words with the Russian letter ьi, which indicated that the correction was made in favor of the Russian taxi app “Maxim”, which is in Russian.
Later it turned out that this was fake news, and when the text was reformatted, the letters were changed and there was no Russian lobbying.
Following a lawsuit by the Association of Professional Taxi Drivers in Barcelona, the European Court of Justice ruled that services such as Hubert should be subject to regulation.
Regarding the word “grow up” in the motives of H. Ivanov’s bill, the mistake is in our TV. When converting a pdf file to text, the computer makes such mistakes. We apologize! ”, Wrote in a number of posts on Facebook pages of taxi drivers’ associations.
According to Kalin Kokosharov, CEO of Yellow, Hubert has changed its policy with the change of CEO in 2017 and their collapse in China. They are now looking for contacts with licensed carriers in the countries where they work.
According to acquaintances
from the company
had conversations
and in Bulgarian
taxi
carriers
for joint
activity
Regarding the changes introduced by Ivanov and Atanasov, Kokosharov commented: “If a law is passed, the state gentlemen should know that they will not be able to collect taxes from drivers or big lawyers, and a yard will be demolished. We, as always, have helped the state to have a legitimate taxi, which is several times cheaper than tariffs in other European countries. He believes that they have helped an unregulated business to become a good person, with quality cars, educated drivers, correct tariffs, good software and at the same time with a price of nearly 30 euro cents per kilometer.
“We have the car’s official number, registration number, which driver is driving, tariffs. The taxi transport is clearly regulated and marked, everything else is in the twilight zone “, Kokosharov points out on the proposal that the taxis, which are called through applications, should not have markings.
According to the carrier, another proposal is outdated – to measure the distance via GPS and tablets, and not by taximeters. His company works with tablets, they also have GPS, but they use cash registers to determine the tariffs, as required by law.
Emil Ignatov, manager of Radio CV Taxi, said that
for years
the industry does
efforts to score
market in order
He points out that the last change in the Road Transport Act, which raised the initial call fee, was in February, after several years of negotiations.
“It is interesting how a project appears on the second day of the new parliament, which in our opinion makes all efforts to have order in the industry – to know who is responsible, to know the right companies, drivers to have all the necessary documents – criminal record, reference from the Traffic Police for violations. With the proposed changes
there will be one
out of control
driving on
customers,
says Ignatov.
With the advent of platforms like Hubert and Maxim, even if the carrier wants to, it will not be able to control things. Drivers aged 18-19 would appear, without experience, without driver’s licenses, without knowledge of Sofia, without a psycho-test. And the lack of markings meant that the State Automobile Inspectorate and the Traffic Police would not be able to control.
Ignatov also points out that there will be a problem with the collection of patent tax, and from it the municipalities received about BGN 21 million annually.
returns, but with a plate
“Taxi” and tariff
Taxis are against the changes in the law because they would create chaos in the market.
Rosen Zhelyazkov, Minister
The good dialogue with business is put to the test
The bill tabled by colleagues concerns two groups of issues. The first is the attempts to regulate public relations, which are currently a fact and have been implemented in practice (for example, the inter-register data exchange between the Automobile Administration Executive Agency, the National Revenue Agency and the Ministry of Interior). The second group is an attempt to reorganize public relations, which received unanimous support from the previous parliament. The voted amendments to the Road Transport Act were supported by all stakeholders, which is the only guarantee for their sustainability.
Without challenging the right of everyone who has the right of legislative initiative to submit proposals, including without public discussion, the question arises as to whether the current justifies the need for urgent legislative changes in legal norms adopted unanimously in the 44th National Assembly. and fully supported by the industry.
Not only is there no public discussion, but the position of the National Association of Municipalities in Bulgaria has not been taken into account, testing the constructive dialogue with business and its trust in public administration.
The company operates in over 600 cities, in Europe there are regulations after a decision of the EU court
Hubert already operates in more than 600 cities around the world, and as it began to enter many markets in Europe, protests against the company’s services began. And the Association of Professional Taxi Drivers in Barcelona has filed a lawsuit in the European Court of Justice for unfair competition.
In 2017, magistrates ruled that the Hubert shared travel platform was a transportation company, not a digital service. The decision means that the company’s activities are subject to regulations and must meet various requirements, such as a license or registration, depending on the laws of the individual EU countries. In Europe, Hubert’s services are offered in 22 capitals, including Athens, Brussels, Belarus, Copenhagen, Madrid, Paris, and Prague. But the company is facing a lot of difficulties in its operations.
In London, authorities repeatedly refused to renew Hubert’s license, but the company won lawsuits against its suspension. However, the company has to work with temporary licenses for a certain period, after which it must renew them.
Hubert has suspended operations in Norway following a fine for violating transport laws. He resumed his services in Finland, but only in the capital Helsinki after a one-year break.
The company is trying to return to Denmark, but still unsuccessfully. In Norway and Sweden, legal problems have led to the closure of Hubert Pop, a cheaper service for the company that does not require a driver’s license.
In Germany, Hubert currently offers only taxi services and car rental with a driver in two cities – Berlin and Munich. The reason – other services were banned in 2014 because the law requires all transport companies to use licensed drivers.
For these trips, the company hires only professional drivers from licensed car rental companies. The price of the trip is determined at the time of placing the order and does not depend on the duration or the kilometers traveled to the final destination.
In Austria, Hubert was forced to adhere to the requirements for carriers and not be able to work as a car rental company.
The Flemish Commercial Court in Brussels has ruled that Hubert’s service is illegal and should be banned in the capital. The court rejected the company’s defense that it does not provide taxi services, but shared transportation. The complaint was lodged by the Brussels Association of Taxi Drivers, alleging that Hubert was engaged in unfair competition.
In Serbia and Croatia, Hubert works, but there have been protests by taxi drivers. A Zagreb court recently fined Hubert twice for violating public transport rules.
Outside Europe, its activities are not going smoothly either. A package of measures to limit the mobile passenger sector has been adopted in New York. The aim was to cool the market, including by not issuing new licenses to Hubert for a period of one year.
In Egypt, a court ordered Hubert’s licenses revoked in response to a lawsuit filed by local taxi drivers alleging the company violated transportation law.
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