Hungarian taxi drivers’ crusade against Bolt continues

Bolt has received a declaration of war from the traditional transport companies in Hungary. Best Taxi, City Taxi, Go Taxi and Taxi4, with other private taxi operators behind them, have attacked the domestic operator, which is linked to an Estonian company. They cited the European Court of Justice ruling. This has opened up another battlefield in the great taxi war in Budapest.

As we reported back in July, the Hungarian taxi drivers are on a mission to sabotage the Estonian Bolt in order to make them leave Hungary. The National Taxi Association has sent a petition to the Municipality of Budapest, calling for a level playing field with traditional taxi companies. However, the proposal is aimed at squeezing out the Estonian-backed technology company, Index first reported in early July. Now, another battlefield opened in the war.

The capital’s taxi companies, Best Taxi, City Taxi, Go Taxi, Taxi4 and operators issued a joint statement on Wednesday afternoon regarding Bolt’s ride-sharing activities, Index reports. They say:

“The judgment of the European Court of Justice (Curia) of 3 December 2020, C 62/19, “Preliminary ruling”, which has just come into our possession, excludes taxi services from the scope of “cross-border information society services” and clearly classifies taxi services as transport services, with binding effect for the Member States.”

According to the companies concerned, therefore, “the public statement of Bolt’s managing director, Mr [László] Sabjányi, and the content of the contracts concluded with the drivers, which mention the above-mentioned services by name, clearly indicate a service which is excluded from the taxi service according to the judgment.”

The traditional transport operators wanted to point out that “it is already obvious to all concerned and to the authorities that the real service is provided by the Estonian company without a dispatcher’s licence, i.e. an activity requiring a licence is being transferred to the Hungarian company by circumventing the legislation. The contracts between the Hungarian and the Estonian company cannot or should not effectively circumvent EU directives and the laws and regulations governing the domestic taxi market, yet this is what is happening.”

They also pointed out that in 2016, the Hungarian government legislated to shut down Uber’s ride-sharing operations, precisely because of tax anomalies and tax avoidance.

They stressed that at the moment Uber’s activities are carried out by Bolt. The only difference is that at least the drivers comply with the rules and regulations, including tax laws, but not the company itself, Estonian or Hungarian. This is also indicated, in their view, by the fact that on all public platforms and phone apps, Bolt describes itself as a travel agent, not a taxi. This is also confirmed by the Estonian company’s company accounts, which do not mention taxi services anywhere.

Read also:

• Bolt may leave Hungary – Hungarian taxi drivers sabotage the company
• Taxi drivers ripping off foreign tourists in Budapest during World Athletics Championships