Home
Apps
Apps News
Europe Protests Against Luxury Taxi Service Uber

Europe Protests Against Luxury Taxi Service Uber

By NDTV Correspondent | Updated: 21 May 2014 18:51 IST

Milan's taxis have been idle for five days to protest the ride-hailing app Uber, the latest European challenge to a technological advance against old business models.

Uber, a San Francisco startup, has been banned in Brussels and is under court scrutiny in Berlin. Milan's 5,000 taxi drivers are seeking similar curbs when representatives meet with Italy's transport minister Wednesday.

Alfonso Faccioli, one of the leaders of the wildcat protests, says Uber represents unfair competition to taxi drivers who pay at least 160,000 euros ($220,000) for a license. Drivers, he said, "are fighting to defend our livelihoods."

EU Commission vice president sees it otherwise. Neelie Kroes has expressed outrage at the Brussels court decision to ban Uber and impose 10,000-euro fines for offenders, saying it protects "a cartel."

Earlier in May, Uber was reportedly in talks to secure a new round of financing from private equity investors that may value the company at more than $10 billion. Uber's last round of financing pegged the fast-growing startup's value at $3.5 billion. The company pairs people looking for rides with drivers in major cities and is part of a crop of startups such as AirBnB now profiting off an expanding "sharing economy."

Uber, which is backed by investors including Benchmark Capital, TPG Capital and Google Ventures, was not immediately available for comment.

Written with agency inputs

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.