Uber, Taxify under the spotlight at hearings

UBER and Taxify management did not own taxis and should not have made submission on behalf of e-hailing public transport service at the Competition Commission public hearing last week.

The operators questioned why the two service providers made presentations to the ongoing inquiry by the commission into the land-based public passenger transport.

“Uber and Taxify management do not own taxis, so why do you allow them to present here? Who are they representing when they do not have taxis? Whoever comes here must be an operator, which they are not,” the SA Taxi Association’s Reuben Mzayiya told the commission.

“They are not the ones dying. It is the poor black operators who are being killed out there. It is only when you bring operators to testify that you’ll understand why there are fights between us. The management don’t know what’s happening on the ground. Management only care about the 25% they make from each trip made by operators.”

Mzayiya said Uber was introduced in 2013, metered-taxi operators complained about its pricing.

“The claim that the Uber business is creating jobs is utter rubbish. They are creating slaves, not jobs. The low pricing is created to phase us out of business. Once we are out of business, they will increase their prices,” he said.

The hearings are being held countrywide.

The move followed numerous complaints from various stakeholders, including users of the land-based public passenger transport – which include buses, taxis, minibuses and trains – regarding various business practices alleged to harm competition and consumers.

Allegations that bus operators providing long-distance services charged excessive prices during peak seasons were among the complaints.

In their submission, Uber management said their service was in demand because they charged at a lower cost and were always available. They said they created jobs in the country as they had a lot of driver-partners operating under Uber.

However, an Uber driver, who asked to remain anonymous, yesterday said they were not aware of the hearings.

“If we had known we would have made our own presentation. Uber management does not have a good relationship with drivers. What are they presenting anyway, because they don’t know what is happening on the ground.”

Oupa Skosana, spokesperson for the Gauteng Metered Taxi Alliance, said they had accepted that they needed to embrace technology as times had changed. He said they were creating an online app as well.

Skosana said Uber was concerned about the National Land Transport Amendment Bill, which sought to align land transport services.

“Uber wants its operators to operate without permits. It doesn’t agree with the bill because it is eager to make money.”

The metered-taxi operators said Uber and Taxify needed to play on the same level field as them, including on pricing and areas of operations.