A fragile truce has been agreed on the
\nRomanian market of taxi services. The changes made by the government to the law
\nregulating this sector have come into effect. Adopted in the wake of vocal
\nprotests by the so-called professional taxi drivers, the changes in question eliminate the phrasing repeatedly, which the police said prevented them from
\napplying real penalties to the motorists illegally providing taxi services,
\nwith or without mobile phone apps. From now on, every motorist who provides
\npaid people transport services but who does not have the conventional taxi
\ndriver licence is liable to fines and banned from using his or her car for half
\na year. The spokesperson for the Bucharest traffic police Andra Arsintescu, told
\nRadio Romania:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Persons who fail to
\nproduce a transport licence will receive fines ranging from 25,000 lei to 50,000 lei, and if the licence is not valid, the
\nfines range from 1,000 lei to 5,000 lei. These
\npenalties are accompanied by a ban to use the vehicle, with number plates being
\nconfiscated for a period of six months.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The government has given assurances
\nthat it will issue a new piece of legislation regulating the alternative
\ntransport market, including services such as Uber and Clever. The transport
\nministry is still working on the bill and says the delay was caused by the
\nsearch for legal solutions to ensure non-discriminatory treatment on the
\nmarket. The representatives of alternative taxi service apps say they won’t
\nshut down their businesses, but that it is up to drivers if they still want to
\ntake rides. The harsh penalties for the users of digital ride sharing platforms
\nhave been imposed after months of pressures from conventional taxi companies.
\nThousands of their employees accompanied by their cars frequently picketed the
\ngovernment demanding the elimination of the competition, which they described
\nas unfair. They said that what they generically termed as Uber drivers did
\nnot have similar legal obligations as they did, and, worse still, their incomes
\nwere not subject to tax. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The war of taxi services providers also caused
\ndivisions among clients. Many complain that conventional taxi drivers are badly
\nbehaved and that they themselves are guilty of tax evasion as they often don’t
\ngive a receipt. Their tricks to charge more for a ride are also infamous, from
\ntaking roundabout routes to hacking into their board meters to increase the
\ncost of the ride artificially. (Trans: C. Mateescu)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The governments changes to the law regulating taxi services have come into force.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":81819,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[39667],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-81818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-taxi"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n