Brussels taxi federation advises against Uber app

Brussels, (Brussels Morning)- The American tech company Uber opens the app to all drivers in the taxi market, whether they drive with a licence for taxis or passenger transport. Due to the new ordinance, Uber has a shortage of drivers. The American company hopes that every taxi driver will use the app by 2025. If it is up to the Brussels taxi federation, that will not work.

Uber states that the app is nothing more or less than an extra way to pick up customers. “Anyone can use the app, whether it’s street taxis or stand taxis,” Uber Belgium chief executive Laurent Slits told BRUZZ . The stand taxis are the classic taxis and with street taxis Slits refers to independent drivers who drive for Uber or other platforms.

In Flanders, too, the app was previously opened to the entire sector, just like in other countries and cities abroad, such as Italy, Hong Kong, Madrid, New York and San Francisco. “With the new ‘Taxi’ feature, more drivers will have access to the flexible earning opportunities that the Uber app offers,” said Laurent Slits, Belgium director at Uber during the launch earlier this week.

Bundling all forms of taxis together in a handy app, that is the ambition that Uber realised after the Brussels parliament approved the new Taxi plan. The new ordinance lays down the rules for the taxi and passenger transport sector. There are also fixed agreements about prices.

Shortage of Uber drivers

But the app is also convenient for Uber itself. Because the ordinance means that Flemish or Walloon drivers are no longer allowed to drive in Brussels, unless they purchase a Brussels permit. According to Slits, Uber loses about half of the drivers in Brussels as a result. By also displaying ‘regular’ taxis on the app, it partly fills that gap, and the app remains relevant. Uber dreams that every Brussels taxi driver will use their app by 2025.

But if it is up to Sam Bouchal of the Brussels taxi federation, that will not happen. “It looks like Uber is doing us a favour, but they need the taxis,” he analyzes. Less than a year ago , Uber’s app had to be shut down after a ruling by the Brussels Court of Appeal. Only thanks to the ‘patch ordinance’ could the drivers continue to drive.