ISTANBUL – Uber faces being banned in Turkey after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the ride-hailing app was “finished” on Saturday following an intense lobbying campaign from Istanbul taxi drivers.

Erdogan’s comments, in a late-night speech Friday in Istanbul, came after the government agreed to new rules that are expected to severely complicate Uber’s operations in Turkey.

Drivers of Istanbul’s yellow taxis have over the last months waged an intense campaign to have Uber banned, saying the company is eating into their business without having a proper legal basis for work.

“This thing emerged called Uber or Muber or whatever,” said Erdogan. “But this issue is now finished. It’s over now.”

“Our Prime Minister (Binali Yildirim) made the announcement. We have our system of taxis,” he added.

Yildirim’s government last month issued a directive sharply hiking fines and threatened blacklisting for companies whose vehicles illegally work as taxis.

The official taxi drivers association said at the time the measure would be a major threat to Uber, if it was properly enforced by the traffic police.

Erdogan said that while Uber may be popular in some European countries, Turkey was different.

“Why did it (Uber) emerge? Because it was in Europe. But what is Europe to me? We will take the decision ourselves.”

His comments come three weeks ahead of keenly contested presidential and parliamentary elections. Many Istanbul taxi drivers — though not all — are strong Erdogan supporters and the main taxi associations back him.

Pirate carrier

After Erdogan spoke, dozens of taxi drivers rallied to support him outside of his private residence in the Uskudar district of Istanbul, the Dogan news agency said.

Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu backed up Erdogan’s comments, describing Uber as a “unauthorised carrier, in other words a pirate carrier“.

“Turkey is a state of law. We don’t need to say sorry for this. It (Uber) has not been given the authorisation to carry out taxi services,” he was quoted by the state-run Anadolu news agency as saying.

The 17,400 official yellow taxis in Istanbul are a pillar of the city’s often patchy transport system, but critics say that poor service and overcharging opened up an opportunity for Uber.

However the taxi drivers slam Uber as “pirates” who are swallowing their incomes in an already tight market. 

Uber drivers have been physically attacked and even fired at, but taxi drivers reject being involved in a harassment campaign.

Uber said this week it is committed to working in Turkey “to the end” and has insisted it is operating within the law. 

It has expanded rapidly in Turkey and according to Turkish press reports there are more than 10,000 Uber vehicles in Istanbul.

The company did not comment on the situation on Saturday.

The tension in Turkey is one of a number of headaches for Uber and its new chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi, who took over last August after founder Travis Kalanick was ousted following a series of scandals.

It has lost its license in London, although it is still operating there pending appeal, while its self-driving car programme in the United States suffered a blow with a deadly accident.

AFP

Minibus taxi services in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, will be suspended indefinitely starting on Monday, following a breakdown in negotiations between taxi bosses and the City of Cape Town.

Congress of Democratic Taxi Associations (Codeta) spokesperson Besuthu Ndungane said that commuters travelling from Khayelitsha to Cape Town should find alternative transport.

“We are suspending our own taxis because we have a right to withhold services. The City of Cape Town clearly doesn’t value our contribution to the economy,” he said.

READ: Maritzburg taxi shooting was like a scene from an action movie

Codeta has distanced itself from any suggestion of violence as a result of the suspension, however, it does acknowledge the possibility.

“We have told our members that the intention of the suspension is not to engage in malicious behaviour. Our members remain disciplined. But suspended services mean no money. The City has created an angry taxi industry and they must be the ones to control it,” Ndungane said.

This suspension is in reaction to the extension of an operating contract, the N2 Express Joint Venture.

City negotiated ‘in bad faith’

This contract regulates the operation of MyCiti buses between Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha and the Civic Centre station since 2014.

The N2 Express Joint Venture includes Golden Arrow Bus Service and minibus taxi associations Codeta in Khayelitsha and Route 6 Taxi Association in Mitchells Plain.

Annual negotiations for the extension of the contract fell apart when Codeta refused to support it.

“We believe that the City has negotiated with us in bad faith, with the purpose of enriching [certain parties],” Ndungane told News24.

“We cannot sign the contract because there were obligations that were supposed to be met by the City of Cape Town and none of them were actioned. We used a lot of resources to review the contract in 2017 and presented it to the City and it was dismissed.”

Another point of contention in the contract is the rollout of MyCiti bus services to Phase 2A in the Metro South-east, Wynberg and Claremont in future.

4 000 commuters stranded

“These services should not be amalgamated because it will affect the operators in Wynberg and Claremont. These services were introduced as a top-up, but it has changed form over the years,” Ndungane said.

Mayoral committee member for transport Brett Herron has urged all shareholders to come to an agreement.

“Up to 4 000 commuters from Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha rely on the N2 express service to get to work and back every day,” he said.

“I, therefore, again, request the JV (N2 Express Joint Venture) partners and shareholders to please work together so that we can keep on providing the same world-class service to our commuters. We remain committed to addressing their concerns and to finding lasting solutions.”

Codeta submitted a list of six demands to the City and has committed itself to suspending all services until all parties come to an agreement.

“We would like the decision-makers to be involved with negotiations. We cannot negotiate without the department of transport at the table,” Ndungane said.