International News
Staff change at Uber communications: Rachel Whetstone, former Head of Communication at Google, has taken on the same position now at Uber. She replaces David Plouffe, former consultant to Barack Obama, who has now moved over to Uber’s board of directors and is in charge of long-term strategies.
Incidentally: David Plouffe will give a talk at the International Transport Forum in Germany.
http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Googles-Kommunikations-Chefin-wechselt-zu-Uber-2650194.html
100 million dollars for Uber competitors: A controversial investor has invested in U.S. company Lyft.
http://www.theverge.com/2015/5/15/8611633/lyft-carl-icahn-invests-100-million
Quote of the day
“All these venture capital investors who have poured millions of dollars into the company have bought a pig in a poke.”
Harold Lichten, law partner of Shannon Liss-Riordan from Boston, U.S.A. The law firm is currently winning lawsuits against Uber and Lyft, based on the fact that its concept of freelance drivers is in violation of the labour law.
http://fusion.net/story/118401/meet-the-lawyer-taking-on-uber-and-the-on-demand-economy/
Automobile news
Environmentally friendly for the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC): 120 Toyota Hybrid taxis and six Tesla electric taxis are operating in Vienna as official ESC taxis. The taxis can be hailed through the Vienna taxi circuit ’40100’. The event supplier for the major event is the app ‘taxi.eu’.
News from Germany
Double success for the Stuttgart taxi circuit: First Uber stopped offering ridesharing Stuttgart, then MyTaxi was forced to discontinue its 50% discount promotion. The Stuttgart taxi radio circuit ‘TAZ’ has twice defended itself successfully against unfair competition.
The minimum wage also applies in principle to sick leave: This was the decision made by the German Federal Labour Court last week.
http://www.juraforum.de/arbeitsrecht/mindestlohn-gilt-auch-bei-krankheit-und-an-feiertagen-517380
News from Austria
Tesla marketing: Environmentally friendly hybrid and electric taxis have been well received in Vienna. While the Vienna taxi circuit ‘40100’ and ‘taxi.eu’ launch a veritable marketing coup with their ESC taxis (see vehicle announcement), competing circuit ‘31300’ is going on a PR offensive with its first electric taxi.
http://www.pressemeldungen.com/2015/05/06/taxi-31300-vermittelt-beeindruckendes-fahrgefuehl-1096251/
Financial support for environmentally friendly taxis and private hire cars: Austria has launched a plan to promote the acquisition of alternatively fuelled taxis and private hire cars. The professional association has developed a brochure in cooperation with the sponsoring partners.
Our last words
Thanks to Michael Sagawe: A Berlin taxi operator has given just the right response to a comment made by a journalist who called for an end to the taxi monopoly. A must-read.
http://www.swp.de/ulm/nachrichten/wirtschaft/Kommentar-Monopol-beenden;art4325,3219228
About this update: 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.
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