Spain: Taxi drivers unite against Uber and regulators

Uber’s return to Spain after their initial failed attempt has also now seen the revival of protests against the mobile cab hailing app. The company will return with it’s UberX business, which comply with existing legislation by employing only drivers with a ‘VTC’ license, allowing them to transport passengers.

Platforms such as Uber were recently bolstered by Spain’s National Commission for Markets and Competition (CNMC), which earlier this year issued a request to the Ministry of Foment to eliminate restrictions on passenger transport services and hired drivers, recommending greater liberalization of the Taxi sector.

In response, the Spanish Taxi Federation (FEDETAXI) has called for a protest outside the CNMC’s headquarters on February 18th. “The call, going out to all of Spain’s taxi drivers, is for an opposition to multinationals and pressure lobbies that are trying to use the CNMC as a battering ram to destabilize and choke an industry that employs 70,000 people in Spain.”, stated FEDETAXI.

Uber has defended it’s position and will continue to push for greater openness in Spain’s taxi sector. “While we fully accept the compromise with the administration to operate under the current legal framework, we will not drop our attention from the existing limitations in the Transport Law. Both EU institutions and the CNMC have said it: Spain’s transport laws are some of the most restrictive in Europe”.

Full content: Internautas

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