Controversy application used to apply for a “taxi” has come to Lisbon – The Associated Press

             

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application of Uber used to rent a car and driver – a kind of taxi, though not necessarily driven by a taxi driver – arrived on Friday to Lisbon. The Portuguese capital is the country’s first city to host the service of the U.S. company, which has caused so much controversy in Europe. But at least for now, entry into Portugal seems peaceful.

                 

                     The service seems simple. The customer installs the free app on your phone smartphone , and access to, your location is detected by GPS, and it indicated the vehicle that is closest. Made the service request, the Uber – which functions as a kind of central taxis – contact the driver, whose name and details of the car are available on the mobile client as well as the estimated cost of the trip. Is also provided for the possibility to share the car with another user.

“We want to make certain that the customer gets a car in less than five minutes,” says Alexandre Droulers Publico, responsible for expanding the Uber Western Europe. Arriving at the destination, the fare is automatically charged to the credit card user without notes and coins to the mix. The base rate is two euros, to which add 30 cents per minute and € 1.10 per kilometer. Each trip has a minimum price of eight euros, the same amount payable if the client wishes to cancel the order.

According to the estimated price available on the website of the company, a journey from Liberty Avenue to Cascais costs 47 euros. Chiado to the Campo Pequeno, the rate is nine euros

Another objective of the company, besides speed, is to provide “the best service” to customers, who will have personalized attention -. Since the opening of the door car to offer a bottle of water – a vehicle upscale, like Mercedes E Class

Behind the wheel, drivers will only licensed and license for commercial passenger transport. This category includes drivers of private passenger transport companies, such as serving on hotels, for example. Drivers get 80% commission on what is raised on each trip, the Uber raises the remaining 20%.

The company was established in 2009 in San Francisco, California (USA) and currently is present in 140 cities of 40 countries. “We always wanted to come to Portugal. Lisbon has great opportunities and now we are here, we are very focused on growing them. We are creating a local team, [to] ensure that we trained and experienced drivers,” said Alexandre Droulers Lusa on the sidelines of the launch of the application session held on Friday in Lisbon.

At PUBLIC, Droulers not revealed how many vehicles are already registered in the platform Uber in Lisbon, nor give details of the company’s plans in respect of any bet other Portuguese cities.

Protests in Europe
Lisbon is 140. ª city in the world to have this service mobility. In Europe, the company is present in the major cities of countries such as Spain, Italy, France, England, Germany, among others. But the idea was not well received everywhere. In mid-June, the taxi drivers in London, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Rome, Milan and Berlin demonstrated in the streets against the service, which they see as unfair competition is not subject to the same rules.

In Portugal, the first reaction of taxi firms were also negative. In June, the National Association of Road Carriers in Light Vehicles (Antral) and the Portuguese Federation of Taxi (FPT) denounced the situation as illegal, considering that this would have negative consequences for the sector.

However, after application launch on Friday, the president of Antral, Florencio de Almeida, was less pessimistic. “This platform is different from what they were applied in Europe. Here, Uber will get services that will be delivered to companies [and drivers] licensed, and therefore nothing prevents. It’s like more of a central taxis, “said the PUBLIC.

According to this official, the defense in Europe has to do with the allocation of service cars without license for the commercial transport of passengers, that Portuguese law does not allow. “But we will also contest in Lisbon if so” caveat

Florencio de Almeida finds no competition in tariffs by Uber:. “A Trip [a car request by Uber] from Lisbon to Oporto costs 700 euros , a taxi costs half. “argues

In turn, the head of the Uber Western Europe devalues ​​the defense:” There is room for all “

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