Uber Pop blocked throughout the Italian territory. The main service offered by the San Francisco app, that of car rental with driver (so-called "ride-sharing"), was stopped today - in Italy - by Court of Milan which ordered the block with inhibition of the provision of the service. The judges thus accepted the appeal presented by the taxi drivers' trade associations for "unfair competition".
The knot, which led to the appeal and the consequent decision of the magistrates, is always that of licenses. The activity carried out by Uber through Uber-Pop was in fact judged "interfering with the taxi service organized by the companies, carried out by the holders of licences", writes Judge Marangoni in the order. The request "for transport transmitted by the user via the Uber-Pop app - the document continues - in addition to being a technical method already used by taxi driver cooperatives, it appears in fact completely comparable to the radio taxi service. But the lack of permits by Uber-Pop drivers, as provided for by the laws on transport services, involves an effective competitive advantage for the Uber group and an undue diversion of customers".
The judge also added that, without the "costs inherent in the taxi service", Uber-Pop drivers can apply "significantly lower rates than those of the public service". So the taxi drivers sing victory, and Italy is not the first country where this happens: the app with a multi-billion dollar valuation is encountering obstacles all over the world, mainly due to the resistance of taxi driver associations, but also due to the legitimate perplexities of the consumers themselves. In fact, the service, which could cost significantly less, is not always so cheap and precisely by virtue of the freedom to exercise the customer is not always adequately protected. Recently the American press has reported various abuses, which have contributed to the decision to suspend Uber in some states: in Nevada and Eugene, Oregon, the suspension is already definitive, while in Alaska, Texas, Alberta and Florida it is a battle, with the app temporarily blocked.
Not to mention the first doubts about the actual capacity of the app created in 2009 in California to create jobs at truly advantageous conditions: a recent survey by Wall Street Journal mercilessly revealed that an Uber driver, in addition to not having a minimum of protection and having to have his own car (in some cases even a luxury car), achieves an average earnings from part-time work in the United States , a far cry from the $90 annual average income Uber predicted a few months ago for its New York drivers. It is also recent news that in some locations (starting with San Francisco and San Diego) Uber is experimenting with a commission increase on each journey made: in the beginning it was 20%, then in some cities – also depending on the traffic carried out – it rose to 25%, now it is thought of as 30%. Almost a third of the earnings, excluding the costs to be paid by the driver, go back to the "parent company".
However, Uber does not only meet resistance in the USA: in Europe, Italy is now joining a Spain, France and Germany, where it has been a battle for months with appeals and counter-appeals, while the service has been suspended (but in some cases continues to operate illegally) in countries such as Brazil, India, Australia, South Africa, Korea, Thailand and in the city of Fukuoka, in Japan. And while in Italy the Codacons cries of scandal (“Enormous damage for consumers”), in reality the users themselves, going wild on social networks and in some surveys launched by online newspapers, are somewhat divided: Uber is a great opportunity, but by now many are asking for clarity and transparency in the management of the exercise. Even the political world splits: the tenor of the reactions is summarized by the post by Linda Lanzillotta (Pd), vice president of the Senate, on her Twitter profile: “Uber Pop not it's the devil. Ok to regulate but not to limit citizens' freedom of choice”. The answer, as anticipated a few weeks ago by Financial Times, should arrive shortly from the EU Commission.
