What’s new in the taxi world? Our bilingual ‘update’ summarises the international news of the last days and hours. As some of the links are in foreign languages, we recommend using a website translator.
International News
A bad week for Uber: In our last update, we reported hot from the press on the UberPOP (UberX) ban throughout Germany just two hours after the court pronounced its decision. Here are the reactions of those involved.
http://www.taxiintelligence.com/uberpop-banned-in-germany/
Taxi companies sought as partners: The Incentives for Cleaner Vehicles in Urban Europe (I-CVUE) project is actively looking for European fleet owners interested in receiving a free business analysis and usage assessment for adopting electric vehicles (EVs).
https://www.taxi-times.com/en/i-cvue-aims-to-boost-use-e-vehicles-in-large-fleets/
Quote of the day
“If the free trade agreement with the U.S. goes through […], Uber will also be permitted.” Reader opinion on netz-trends.de
Automobile news
China boosts fleet of electric, hybrid vehicles: The Transport Ministry announced Wednesday that officials were aiming to add 200,000 buses and 100,000 taxis powered by alternative fuels to the fleet by 2020.
http://www.autoblog.com/2015/03/20/china-boosts-fleet-of-electric-hybrid-vehicles/
News from Germany
Payment via smartphone: The German newspaper Berliner Morgenpost has provided a detailed report on the field test of the taxi.eu app, which allows up to 5,700 taxis to accept cashless payments via smartphone.
http://www.morgenpost.de/berlin/article138523247/Mit-dem-Taxi-ohne-Bargeld-durch-Berlin.html
20% higher fees for patient transport: Statutory health insurance providers and the state association for the taxi and hire vehicle industry in Schleswig-Holstein (T&M) have come to a new payment agreement.
Taxis dying out in Potsdam: Due to the minimum wage, there are fewer taxis on the streets than before, especially at night, reports the German newspaper ‘Potsdamer Neuesten Nachrichten’. This may lead to longer waiting times when hailing a taxi.
http://www.pnn.de/potsdam/947954/
News from Austria
One-sided journalism: An article from the Austrian news site ‘OE 24’ quotes the amount spent on taxi rides by the Austrian ministries and has referred to the taxi users as ‘refusing to take public transport’. At least one reader comment puts these figures in the right perspective.
http://www.oe24.at/oesterreich/politik/Regierung-faehrt-um-230-000-Euro-Taxi/180848999
autonomous drive
Step by step towards autonomous driving: The participants of a congress held by the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) are not the only ones to have come to this conclusion. A regular column on this topic will appear in the Taxi Times Update from now on.
http://www.auto-medienportal.net/artikel/detail/30161/
Our last words
Technological equals: External ride-hailing providers still manage to convince everyone that their app solutions are an advance in technology. But the taxi trade has already been implementing its own hailing apps for years. The providers of taxi.eu, eCab and the IRU with its Global Taxi Network need to be more assertive in communicating this message in the media.
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