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Protesting taxi drivers partially release Andrassy, Bajcsy-Zsilinszky – Photos
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Budapest, January 18 (MTI) – Taxi drivers demonstrating against car dispatcher Uber in central Budapest have opened a lane in Andrassy Avenue and one in Bajcsy Zsilinszky Road, respectively, on Monday afternoon.
The protesters had completely blocked traffic in both directions of the two major routes earlier on Monday. The Budapest police warned the demonstrators that a complete blockade was illegal, and called on them to free one lane for traffic.
Zsolt Gelencser, representing the taxi drivers, said that the demonstration was planned to go on till 8am on Tuesday. He said earlier that the move was in response to authorities ignoring their approaches for talks earlier in the day. The drivers wanted to know from the transport authority, the economy ministry, the tax office NAV and Uber’s offices when their demands would be met, he said. State secretary at the Development Ministry Janos Fonagy only said that his “heart” was with the taxi drivers, but could do nothing else, Gelencser said.
Later in the day, Fonagy met representatives of the protesters, and the ministry said in a statement that the government would “continue to do its utmost to ensure the security of passengers and ensure and environment in which taxi drivers can work and make a living”.
The government supports law-abiding and tax-paying taxi drivers, the statement added.
Meanwhile, taxi trade union MTSZ said in a statement that Uber’s operations were not in line with legal regulations. According to the statement, while taxis were required to meet stringent technical requirements, “Uber’s cars are not checked and nobody is interested in their technical condition”. They also said that whereas obtaining a taxi licence required considerable investment, starting an Uber business involved no more than a “passing idea”. The statement also pointed out that taxi drivers had a mandatory tariff system, which Uber did not, and could offer lower fares.
Frankly, I think taxi’s are too expensive. When I found UBER, we started using that service where we rarely if ever had used a taxi (airport transfer is all). It’s a cost and convenience issue for me. I can order an uber car with a click, get a great competitive rate, and know the route taken was the fairest way to go.