Uber not taxi service, says manager

Budapest, February 18 (MTI) – Uber is not a taxi service but an IT company that operates an online marketplace for passenger transport and car sharing, the company’s operations manager in Hungary said on Thursday.

All payments are made electronically and transparently, Zoltán Fekete told a press conference. The central system generates an electronic invoice for every journey and all Uber drivers must have a business tax number. Further, every journey is insured up to 1.5 billion forints (EUR 4.8m), he added.

Uber based its electronic invoice on tax office (NAV) requirements, he said. Changes will be made by early March to comply with NAV’s insistence that passenger addresses should be shown, he added.

No details of registered Uber drivers have been requested by any authority in Hungary, Fekete said in response to a question.

A total of 1,200 Uber drivers work in Budapest, and this could grow to 2,000 by the end of the year, he said. All drivers hold the necessary licences for passenger transport or the acquisition of the licence is under way. When a driver registers in the Uber system, he or she must possess a certificate of good standing and no criminal record, plus a document showing that the driver caused no accident in the past three years.

Commenting on a decision according to which the licence plate can be removed from cars whose drivers do not hold a licence for passenger transport, he said Uber would provide legal help to affected drivers. Talks are still ongoing with government representatives and they have demonstrated a receptive attitude to support an innovative business like Uber, he said.

Fekete said a total of 110,000 people have registered in Hungary as users.

Edit:

Uber published a full-page advertisement in the pro-government newspaper Magyar Idők. They would have an offer, hvg.hu said.

Uber – which is sharply criticized by taxi drivers – began to collect online signatures last Saturday, and now it has a result. The service provider asks the government to treat freely the market in the name of 1200 Uber drivers and 110 thousand Hungarian passengers in the newspaper called Magyar Idők.

Photo: Somogyi Zoltán / Facebook

According to hvg.hu, they have an offer as well: they would help the government to develop the digital income declaration system, like in their Estonian proposal. Under the agreement, Uber participates in the development of the digital tax declaration system which can be used by the Estonian private entrepreneurs.

Photo: MTI

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters