Is the City Assembly of Zagreb Going to Openly War Against Uber?

The first day of December in Zagreb is reserved for the 34th session of the City Assembly of Zagreb. Numerous amendments to various previous decisions will be made based on the proposals of representatives and their clubs, but only one needs to be adopted in an urgent procedure – that concerning taxi transport.

The Proposal for the Decision on Amendments and Supplements to the Decision on Taxi Transport contains several changes related to this activity, but two are particularly striking, reports tportal.

Article 3 of the proposed amendments states:
‘In Article 28, after paragraph 2, paragraph 3 is added, which reads: The price for the start of the ride must not include the right to ride free of charge.’
Article 5 of the same proposal for amendments is also interesting, and it states:
‘The public call for submitting applications for the issuance of permits for taxi transport will not be published until June 30, 2017, after which it will be published every four years.’

The two mentioned amendments seem tailor-made for an open war by the City Assembly against the notorious Uber. Namely, although Uber users in Zagreb pay eight kuna for the start of the ride, and an additional four kuna per kilometer traveled plus 0.5 kuna per minute of driving, by inviting other users to register, both you and they will receive free rides worth 35 kuna. The amendment to Article 3 of the Decision on Taxi Transport will eliminate such a possibility.

Similarly, the amendment to the proposal for the Decision in the aforementioned Article 5 eliminates the possibility of further registration of drivers who, for some reason, wish to drive for Uber, at least until June 30, 2017. The mentioned amendments were proposed by the Club of City Representatives of HSLS and HSS, as stated on the pages of the City Assembly.