Taxi Times International - October 2015 - English

OCTOBER 2015 6,80€ 

www.taxi-times.com 

INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE 

EUROPEAN E-LEARNING 

PROGRAMME 

TAXISTARS IN 

ATHENS 

Mac Urata (ITF): 

‘IMPROVE TAXI DRIVERS’ 

WORKING CONDITIONS!’ 

Intelligent Mobility 3.0 shows 

LINES BETWEEN MOBILITY 

PROVIDERS ARE BLURRING 

Russian taxi conference: 

‘LET’S CONCENTRATE ON 

LEGAL SOLUTIONS!’

Simply show the translation 

The Taxi Language 

Phrasebook 

Charm offensive – in over 70 languages! 

● 21 essential phrases 

every taxi driver needs. 

● Be able to communicate 

in 74 languages. 

● Simply point and 

let the passenger read, 

they need only to nod 

or shake their head. 

This language guide enables a taxi driver to communicate more easily or at least at 

all with foreign passengers. The brochure contains all the phrases used in a taxi from 

“Please fasten your seat belt” to “Do you wish to pay by credit card?”. 

All the important phrases are included, from Japanese to Spanish, from Finnish to 

Russian, from Farsi to Urdu. Communicate in 74 languages without having a command 

of them. 

Simply tap on it (point) and let the passenger read it. To reply, all he needs to do is nod 

or shake his head. 

DEAR TAXI-FRIENDS, 

One of the main elements in the competition with ‘techapps’ 

is that taxis are providing an inferior service to these 

app-based services. Or, before you bombard us with critical 

emails saying we are wrong, that at least the perception 

of the taxi’s service is negative. Even when there’s 

nothing wrong with the service provided, taxis are often 

seen as lacking in certain quality areas. 

Apps are also often seen as trendy. A trendiness which 

is lacking from the taxi product, which has nothing to do 

with the taxi’s quality in itself. Every service provider needs 

to be critical of its own service and aware of changes in it. 

Not just the taxi industry. That’s why a pan-European 

e-learning programme like Taxistars, which provides a 

much-needed upgrade of the drivers’ service, is a great idea. 

That sits very comfortably with Mac Urata’s demand 

(in the main interview) for an improvement in the drivers’ 

working conditions. Because they, with many other contributing 

factors, also influence the level of quality the 

customer enjoys. 

- the editors - 

DATES 

CONTENT 

TRAINING 

8–9 Taxistars from Athens: a ‘first’ for the taxi 

industry, developing a European e-learning 

programme 

INTERVIEW 

10–12 ITF-secretary Mac Urata about the 

unions’ new activities in the taxi sector 

CONFERENCES 

13–14 The Dutch Taxi Expo discussed many 

different themes 

15–16 Intelligent Mobility 3.0: Are the lines 

between mobility providers blurring? 

16–18 Russia’s taxi conference wants legal 

solutions in the trade 

GLOBAL TAXI NETWORK 

20–21 Greek-European integration: 

What role Taxi.eu is playing in the 

changing taxi landscape in Athens 

SHOWS 

22–23 Taxi-Highlights from the IAA car show 

DEMO 

25 The European taxi industry demonstrates in 

Brussels 

WELCOME, 

WILLKOMMEN, 

BIENVENUE! 

Welcoming International 

Guests to your Cab. 

The Taxi Driver‘s Phrasebook. 

by Gabriele Kröber 

Making hospitality 

quick and easy! 

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Phone: 089/215 48 30 75 

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19.80 € 

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COVER PHOTO: Fotolia / Carsten Bachmeyer 

Eurocab 2015 fms usergroup meeting 

October 14–16, 2015, 

Ramada Plaza Antwerp, Belgium 

www.eurocab.info 

2015 Annual Convention & Trade Show 

October 26-30, Ceasars Palace, 

Las Vegas, USA 

www.tlpa.org 

7. Taxitreff 2015 

Including Taxi Times workshop 

October 29–31, 2015, Mallorca, Spain 

www.taxitreff.de 

Taxiworld Turkey 

February, 4-6, 2016, Istanbul, Turkey 

www.taxiworldturkey.com 

Organising an event in the mobility sector? 

Please let us know: info@taxi-times.com 

TAXI OCTOBER / 2015 

3 

OPINION 

06 More quality should be obligatory 

REGULAR ITEMS 

4, 7, 19 News 

24 Figures and statistics about Greece

PEOPLE 

CLAUDIO SKUBLA 

SUCCEEDS PER 

JUTH AT SWEDISH TAXI 

ASSOCIATION 

At RMC 

Van Beek (r.) 

hands over 

to Tommel. 

On September 1, Head of Communications 

Claudio Skubla (53) took over 

from Per Juth, who retired, as acting 

Federal Director of the Swedish Taxi 

Association. Per Juth left the association 

“to use the opportunity to move 

abroad before retiring. My time at the 

Taxi Association has only left me with 

positive experiences and memories.” 

Claudio Skubla is a marketing 

economist and has worked as Head of 

Communications of the association 

since 2011. “Claudio knows how to 

run industry issues and has a good 

network of contacts in different organisations 

and in government offices. I 

look forward to working with him to 

further drive the development of the 

taxi industry” commented Bo Bylund, 

Chairman of the Federation. wf NEW CEO FOR ROTTERDAM’S RMC 

REDUCED TAXI ROLE 

Not all taxis in Athens look as good as this one. The recent 

extension of the public transport network and the economic 

crisis have reduced the role of the taxi as the Athenians’ favourite 

means of transport. The locals no longer quickly hop in a 

(shared) taxi – not even to go to work, as they used to - but tend 

to walk longer distances to take bus and metro instead. 

Not only the quality of the vehicles has suffered. The same goes 

for the quality of the drivers’ service, which is very hit and 

miss. So it was only fitting that Taxistars, the new European 

e-learning programme to train and educate taxi drivers, would 

be launched here and made Athens the European taxi capital 

for a day. 

Skubla temporarily takes over 

from Juth (r.). 

Cees Tommel (49), from railoperator Keyrail, 

is the new director of the Rotterdamse 

Mobiliteit Centrale (RMC), a joint- venture 

created in 2003 between Rotterdam public 

transport company RET and the Rotterdam 

radio-circuit RTC. RMC is one of 

the largest dispatching centres in The 

Netherlands, dispatching jobs for RTC but 

also for numerous external clients in the 

entire country. 

Henk van Beek (65), its present CEO 

will be leaving in a few months. Through 

his rail-background Tommel has built 

up a large network of contacts in Rotterdam’s 

port and various logistics companies. 

 

wf 

SWISS TV HOST 

BECOMES 

TAXI DRIVER 

Röbi Koller is a journalist, TV host and 

book author. In autumn of next year, the 

Zurich native intends to publish a new 

book about taxis. Aiming for authenticity, 

Koller recently acquired the passenger 

transportation licence for the city of 

Zurich, was hired by the taxi company 

Zitrans and will now been working as a 

“normal” taxi driver in Zurich for several 

months. “In autumn of 2016, I am planning 

on publishing a book about my experiences: 

stories from passengers or from 

other taxi drivers, but also the political, 

economic and social developments affecting 

the taxi industry,” Röbi Koller writes 

in an e-mail to Taxi Times. The very popular 

TV host in Switzerland became aware 

of our magazine while working for the taxi 

company and asked us to send him some 

older and future copies. 

We are happy to oblige and we are looking 

forward to the stories and impressions of 

the taxi industry Mr. Koller gains during 

his time as a taxi driver. Have a safe drive 

in Zurich, Mr. Koller! 

jh 

IRU APPOINTS 

NEW TEAM LEADER 

IN ISTANBUL 

IRU appointed Kadri Özen as new IRU 

General Delegate in its Istanbul office. 

Özen replaces Haydar Özkan, who has 

held the position of IRU General Delegate 

to the Middle East and Region 

since May 2005 and now wishes to continue 

his career in the private sector. 

Kadri Özen has a proven track record 

in the establishment of partnerships, 

media relations, and financial and leadership 

communications through his 

experience in sustainability, advocacy 

and stakeholder management. And as 

Turkey plays a key role in the IRU’s 

expansion at the crossroads between 

Europe, Asia, the CIS and the Middle 

East, IRU says it is confident that Mr 

Özen’s leadership will expedite the 

implementation of the IRU’s strategic 

objectives. 

wf 

PHOTOS: Philippe Rossier, Swedish Taxi Association, Awe Krijger/RMC 

PHOTO: Wim Faber 

4

OUR COMMENT 

NEWS 

Wim Faber (left) and 

Jürgen Hartmann. 

HILTON AND 

LUFTHANSA 

EXPAND 

THEIR TRAVEL 

NETWORKS 

WITHOUT THE 

TAXI INDUSTRY 

View a map of 

top venues most 

frequented by Uber 

riders with ‘Local 

Scene’ 

BETTER QUALITY 

MUST BE MADE MANDATORY 

European learning software for taxi drivers is available for the first 

time and has the potential to raise the standard of training. The taxi 

trade must now urgently find the answer to the next question: Should 

quality measures be made mandatory? 

Within the scope of a remarkable global 

cooperation, the European taxi trade has 

developed a modularly structured eLearning 

software (Taxistars) that teaches the 

main elements of the profession to newcomers 

to the taxi trade, and can also bring 

new perspectives to experienced colleagues 

– or at least refresh some of their 

basic knowledge. 

STRONG ALLIES 

Well-trained taxi drivers not only 

increase the quality of taxis as a 

service, but they also instil new 

confidence in the sector. The driver 

is the one in direct contact with the 

customer. The more confident the 

driver is, the more secure the passenger 

feels, and the easier it is for him 

to decide to push the taxi button next 

time (instead of ‘Uber’). It is therefore 

a good thing that the unions start to 

show renewed interest in the taxi trade. 

Find out more in our in-depth interview 

with Mac Urata, Section Secretary of 

the International Transport Workers’ 

Federation (ITF). 

The program is available in seven languages 

and can be accessed on the computer or 

via app. Now the national associations are 

faced with the enormous task of ensuring 

the widespread and swift distribution of 

the software and convincing companies, 

taxi radio circuits, associations and training 

institutes to integrate this learning 

content into their (already existing) quality 

measures. The fact that the software is 

free, thanks largely to the financial support 

of the European Union, should make this 

task easier. 

The initiator and driver of this project 

was a Greek company, which is why the 

symbolic kick-off of Taxistars took place in 

Athens, a city where nearly 14,000 taxis 

are only able to earn €60 to €80 in 14-hour 

shifts and where every single driver struggles 

each day to secure a living. Some drivers 

do resort to dishonest measures, and 

nearly every participant at the Taxistars 

event knew of cases in which taxi prices 

were inflated, or knowledge of the streets 

was sorely lacking – in addition to communication 

problems, given that few drivers 

in Athens speak English. 

During the discussion, the question 

quickly came up as to whether the learning 

program and other quality measures 

should be offered on a voluntary basis or 

introduced as mandatory. We need to have 

this debate, however controversial, and 

pursue it to its final conclusion. 

It is certainly true that raising the barriers 

to entry makes it harder to find staff. 

But if the taxi trade wants to remain a reasonable 

regional, national and global alternative 

means of passenger transport in 

this fast-paced, ever-changing digital 

world, it must define a significantly higher 

quality standard in the short term and 

implement it over the mid term. 

Implementation should therefore start 

with newcomers to the taxi trade. Those 

new to the trade must have the capacity 

and willingness to perform their job as a 

taxi driver in a professional manner, which 

goes far beyond simply knowing their way 

around the city. Taxi associations and circuits 

must have the courage to make this 

a mandatory requirement, whether legally 

or on their own initiative. 

Jürgen Hartmann 

EDITOR 

Wim Faber 

EDITOR 

PHOTO: Gudrun Hartmann 

PHOTOS: business wire; Wim Faber 

The international hotel chain Hilton and the major German airline 

Lufthansa recently announced two noteworthy collaborative ventures. 

Lufthansa will offer fixed-price limousine shuttle service 

to passengers flying into and out of Düsseldorf Airport. Rides will 

be booked and provided through the “myDriver” application, a 

subsidiary of the international car rental company Sixt. The service, 

which according to Lufthansa will be available at a price 

comparable to that of a taxi, offers trained drivers, pickup at the 

passenger’s home or the airport arrivals area, and a luggage service. 

In case of flight delays, myDriver automatically takes those 

into account and waits for the passenger at no extra cost. If the 

trial run in Düsseldorf proves successful, Lufthansa and myDriver 

want to offer this service in other European cities. 

This really bad news for the taxi industry was topped a few 

days later by another notification: The controversial transportation 

network company 

Uber announced a collaboration 

with the 

Hilton hotel chain. 

According to a press 

release, “Hilton Worldwide and Uber 

are now partners and want to make a new travel 

experience available to guests.” A feature allowing customers to 

order an Uber car was added to the Hilton HHonors-App, which 

customers could already use to book rooms, check in, and enter 

their rooms with a digital key. Interestingly, additional features 

should facilitate the announced travel experience in some American 

cities. These include a reminder to order cars on time and 

insiders’ tips about the trendiest spots. The most popular recent 

destinations of Uber passengers will be shown. 

jh 

MIEDEMA: 

“NS ZONETAXI NEEDS MORE VOLUME” 

Although the national Dutch NS Zonetaxi system –developed by 

Dutch railways NS and the taxi association KNV Taxi – now serves 

more railway stations (138) than the popular shared Traintaxi 

ever did in its heyday, it’s definitely not as popular as its 

predecessor. 

“There is growth, but we need more volume”, conceeds NS 

Zonetaxi manager Kees Miedema at NS Stations. “Compared to 

our starting phase there’s quiet a bit of growth. We’re gaining 

hundreds of users every week. We’re moving in the right direction, 

but it takes time before a product like this is settled properly.” 

The systems’s evaluation is planned for 2017-2018. 

Three years ago NS Zonetaxi started with 24 stations, quickly 

added another 24 and grew to 138. NS is eager to add another 31 

locations to the tally this year. Miedema adds: “We feel that NS 

Zonetaxi is a well-functioning and qualitative taxi product, which 

functions impeccably. Regular users are very happy with it.” 

The next step is a dedicated NS Zonetaxi-app, to be launched 

in the last quarter of this year. At the moment users have to register 

and order via the system’s website. Rates start at € 6 for the 

first zone of two kilometres and € 3 is 

added for every next zone up to a maximum 

of 30 kilometres. “That makes it 

slightly cheaper than ordinary taxis”, 

adds Miedema. 

With quite a few taxi companies not 

being very enthusiastic about the service 

and using it as a ‘filler’ for ordinary 

taxi work, the system’s financing has 

also needed some adapting: the fixed 

yearly amount is gone. Now there’s an 

entry fee of € 750 and a percentage per 

trip. Every cab company respecting the 

national quality standards can participate. 

Hence the entry check on quality 

aspects remains. There is no NS Zonetaxi 

‘look’: taxi companies prefer to 

keep their cabs neutral and not use system 

stickers. 

wf 

Miedema: “NS Zonetaxi 

needs more time and 

more volume.” 

6 TAXI OCTOBER / 2015 

7

TRAINING 

TRAINING 

TAXI DRIVING 

IS ALL 

IN THE MIND 

were not only scattered across various geographies, they were 

also specialists. The Taxistars consortium consisted of a complementary 

mix of professional and institutional partners whose 

common denominators lay in the professional training and further 

education in the traffic and/or IT sector, all of whom also had indepth 

experience in developing EU projects. 

The tutorial can be accessed online on any computer or laptop. 

An app version was also developed, which can be downloaded free 

of charge for both iPhones and Android smartphones. Initial test 

runs showed high acceptance among prospective taxi drivers. “It 

lets me choose when and where to use the learning software”, 

said a Hamburg taxi newcomer. “If I was to rate this programme, 

I would give it five stars out of five.” So there really are stars elsewhere 

than in the sky. 

jh 

Thymios 

Lymperopoulos 

GREEK TAXI ASSOCIATION 

JOINS THE IRU 

Various European taxi associations have 

developed a joint taxi eLearning programme. 

It is modularly structured and can be 

accessed online or via app free of charge. 

Who says that there are stars only in the sky?” This is 

the slogan used in the launch of a project three years 

ago under the leadership of the Greek consulting 

firm Militos for developing a standardised training concept for 

taxi drivers. The European Union covered 75 per cent of the project 

costs; the rest was financed by the partners. The goal was to 

help make the transport system throughout the EU safer, more 

efficient, more competitive, and to increase its quality by improving 

training and further education in the taxi sector and, in doing 

so, to address the ever-changing demands and working conditions 

inherent in the 24-hour job of ‘taxi driver’. 

The new star in the taxi world is a friendly, smiling comic strip 

character who wears a blue and white checked shirt, a blue tie 

and blue trousers with a smart black belt. His eyes are watchful 

and his hair is neatly parted on the side. His proportions are 

deliberately off, leaving him with a head twice as big as his thin 

legs, and his hands lack fingers, as if to indicate that the job of 

today’s taxi driver consists of much more than knowing how to 

use the pedals and steering wheel correctly. Professional taxi 

driving is all in the mind; it is a matter of knowledge. In-depth 

knowledge lead to the required professionalism. 

So it is not surprising that the learning content, presented by 

our comic strip character in eight different modules, covers a 

broad range of topics. In addition to standard subjects for profes- 

sional drivers such as an ergonomic sitting position, stress management 

and defensive driving, the content also includes 

passenger-specific subjects such as conflict management, serviceminded 

behaviour and dealing with disabled passengers. The 

modular structure allows the learning content to be approached 

in manageable sections. 

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS 

The information is presented in a fun, easy format. There are no 

long-winded explanations; the information is brief and concise 

with a lot of multiple choice questions which engage the learner 

proactively. There is of course a lot of general information and 

some content that, at first glance, does not appear to apply exclusively 

to professional drivers (for example, how caffeine influences 

concentration), but due to the global nature of the project, 

everyone involved understood from the beginning that national 

specificities and regulations could not be taken into account. 

Instead, the focus is on the development of a modern communication 

basis. The nine project partners from eight countries 

HOW TO ACCESS THE 

TAXISTARS TUTORIAL: 

… also 

available 

as App. 

For the presentation of the Taxistars 

project, the consortium invited everyone 

to Athens, where representatives presented 

the background of the project to 

the individual project partners and were 

available afterwards for a Q&A session. 

In the afternoon, speakers from the U.S. 

and the Netherlands presented similar 

eLearning projects for training taxi drivers 

in their respective countries. 

During his welcome speech, Thymios 

Lymperopoulos, president of the Greek 

Taxi Association, announced that his 

association would soon join the IRU 

taxi section. Hopefully this will provide 

support in the fight against Uber. 

The information 

is presented in an 

easy format … 

COMPUTER/LAPTOP: www.taxistars.eu, 

click on the eLearning platform button, 

then set the language preferences. 

SMARTPHONE/TABLET: Search for 

TaxiTraining in the Apple App Store or 

the Google Play Store, download the 

‘Taxistars’ app from Militos Consulting 

S.A. in the language of your choice. Data 

volume: approx. 120 MB; 

ON PAPER: The learning content will 

be available as a PDF file (approx. 130 

pages) starting at the end of October. 

PHOTOS + ILLUSTRATIONS: Militos, Wim Faber 


9

INTERVIEW 

INTERVIEW 

MAC URATA (ITF): 

“WE WANT TO IMPROVE 

THE QUALITY OF THE 

DRIVERS’ CONDITIONS” 

Mac Urata, Section Secretary, Inland 

Transport Sections, International Transport 

Workers’ Federation, is a busy man 

since the start of Uber: suddenly the taxi 

trade is back in the union’s spotlight. 

Urata’s brief is not only quite wide, it 

is also very diverse: at the ITF London 

headquarters he covers the two sections 

of railways and road transportation. The 

latter includes truck, bus and taxi drivers. 

Although he nicely sidesteps the question 

which group is his preferred, it is 

clear to see that the taxi sector takes up 

quite a bit of time at the moment. 

“The taxi industry is not even a national 

industry. It is often city based, unlike 

transport by sea and civil aviation for instance. 

Ironically Uber made the taxi industry 

very global. And it also made us 

focus more on the taxi sector.” 

TAXI TIMES: But your presence in the 

taxi sector is quite patchy. 

MAC URATA: “In countries like the US 

and in some European countries we were 

hit very hard after waves of deregulation. 

For example in the US and Sweden 

it has been an uphill struggle to organise 

and to re-organise taxi workers, particularly 

because their employment status 

changed to bogus self-employed. These 

developments also happened over different 

periods. From 1998 onwards we had 

some activist people in the US who, particularly 

in New York, redeveloped the 

taxi unions. By 2003, 2004 they were getting 

quite strong.” 

» Ironically Uber 

made the taxi 

industry very global. 

And it also made us 

focus more on the 

taxi sector« 

Uber’s come at the right time to galvanise 

your unions back into action? 

“You were right by saying the union presence 

in the taxi industry is quite patchy. 

If we take a quick tour around the world, 

we see that the taxi unions were quite successful 

in Japan and in South Korea. In 

Japan too they were hit hard by deregulation, 

although there were efforts to organise 

taxi workers on a company level making 

sure they would at least get a minimum 

salary. This unfortunately disappeared by 

deregulation.” 

“In the Philippines, we assisted unions 

to organise the Jeepney-workers, and in 

Indonesia 

we had 

s o m e 

degrees of 

success. In 

India it was more 

complex with a very 

fragmented national 

industry and many different 

modes. There we helped taxi 

workers to promote their own associations 

for mutual benefit. In Nepal we managed, 

15 years ago, to set up a new union 

for taxi drivers. In Australia and New Zealand 

we are not well represented like 

Japan. Although I noticed there was a good 

Uber protest in Perth some weeks ago.” 

Urata sums up from memory and clearly 

doesn’t need the help of the folder in 

front of him, simply marked ‘Uber’ and 

stuffed full of copies of articles. From time 

to time he takes one out and passes it to 

the journalist as background. He has the 

world’s union overview in his head: “In 

Africa it is difficult to distinguish between 

countries”, he continues. “There are taxi 

workers unions in South Africa, Nigeria 

and Kenya. In Kenya we have an affiliate 

that unionised the Maputo-drivers.” In 

Buenos Aires and Bogota, the union is 

strong, Urata says, but in other countries 

of Latin America, the picture is patchy. 


“But everywhere there is protest against 

Uber. A very strong protest recently ignited 

in Brazil”, Urata remembers. 

“Recently the union in New York, the 

New York Taxi Workers Alliance, led by 

Bhairavi Desai, developed into a national 

union and it’s now active in San Francisco, 

Philadelphia, Austin and Montgomery, 

Maryland. The idea was to form a national 

taxi workers alliance, which was accepted 

as member by the national movement 

AFL/CIO. The first union, the one in New 

York, largely represented independent 

contractors. In Canada there are a couple 

of national unions that represent some taxi 

workers in the Provinces.” 

And in Europe? 

“In 

t h e 

UK there 

are a few strong 

transport unions, like 

Unite and the GMB which 

are also very active in the London 

taxi and private hire world. Oh yes, and to 

a certain extent the rail workers union 

RMT.” 

Urata tells the example of Sweden 

where before deregulation 45% of the workers 

in the taxi trade were members of the 

union. Post-deregulation that number 

dwindled rapidly and drivers became selfemployed 

and lost a fixed income and many 

benefits. “Taxi workers used to say: ‘before 

deregulation the passenger robbed the 

driver, after deregulation the driver robbed 

the passenger”, Urata says with a smile. 

Other countries, like Belgium where 

26% of taxi workers are members of one of 

the 3 unions, have a more structured system. 

“In many cases these people are company 

employees and the unions work well 

with the employers.” In Germany the 

unions are not doing ‘terribly 

well’, according to Urata, similarly 

in France where some taxi drivers 

are members of the CGT. The Middle 

East is a big blind spot for the unions.” 

Uber has not only galvanised the 

unions into action, but also forced 

them to coordinate their efforts? 

“We had a strategy meeting in September 

last year where 13 countries, including 

Europe, the US, Canada and India were 

represented. That was the kick-off for the 

Uber-campaign. We exchange newspaper 

clippings and other email-information 

between the various unions and help each 

other as much as possible. Following that 

meeting there was an ITF ‘action week’ 

which was held in many countries where 

some unions organised an ‘Uber-protest 

day’. For instance in the US, Canada, UK, 

Belgium, the Phillippines, India and Thailand. 

Of course we also used those events 

to promote ourselves. The Belgian colleagues, 

Frank Moreels and Roberto Parrillo, 

introduced us to the International 

Road Transport Union in Brussels and we 

found that we had much in common.” 

Has the ITF ever had contacts with 

Uber? 

“No, never”, Urata says. “We see them as 

quite anti-union. Uber is the new leader 


11

INTERVIEW 

CONFERENCE 

and the most aggressive leader of the pack. 

We sometimes call it ‘Walmart on wheels’, 

after the bad social conditions for its drivers. 

But Uber is not alone. Take the US, Lyft 

is a strong competitor and equally important. 

We also strongly focus on them.” 

Urata remarks on the new type of work: 

a collection of part time jobs. At the Annual 

Conference of the Transportation 

Research Board in Washington, in January 

this year, he heard a representative from 

Lyft say that most of their drivers only 

work 18 hours a week. “For that we would 

very much like a different form of regulation.” 

“What I find amazing is that Uber, a 

large company and reputedly worth 50 billion 

dollars, doesn’t even have a Corporate 

Social Responsibility statement on its website. 

It is nowhere to be found! Obviously 

Uber doesn’t care about its social responsibility 

to society.” 

But should you treat Uber as any normal 

taxi company? 

“No, it’s clearly an app platform based company. 

Not a traditional taxi operator. But 

that doesn’t mean it can be exempted from 

any regulation. What is most irritating are 

the hiked fares when there is a higher 

demand. Surge pricing. Fares go up at 

Christmas and New Year. Yet, when there 

is a transport strike, they could rake it in 

and then they offer 50% discount. It’s not 

always easy to follow Uber’s company 

logic.” 

Urata is also curious why its namesake, 

the ‘other’ ITF (International Transport 

Forum in Paris), accepted Uber as a member 

of its Corporate Partnership Board 

(CPB). He heard it has something to do 

with the Leipzig ITF-conference getting 

bigger and bigger and no more additional 

funds coming from governments. “I do not 

know what the actual CPB criteria are.” 

Is ITF a member of ITF? 

“No, I don’t think so. But four or five years 

ago we were invited to take part in a panel 

discussion in Leipzig.” 

» Uber is the new 

leader and the 

most aggressive 

leader of the pack. 

We sometimes 

call it ›Walmart 

on wheels‹, after 

the bad social 

conditions for its 

drivers« 

Aren’t the unions living a bit in the 

past with their defence of the status 

quo in the taxi world? 

Urata reiterates several times that the 

unions are not against innovation. “We 

would very much like to improve the quality 

of the industry. Young kids like apps. 

It gives them instant contact. It lets them 

track their car. But an improvement in the 

industry’s quality can only be achieved 

with a level playing field. We are very 

much in favour of regulation. Perhaps even 

regulating and limiting the size of taxi 

fleets in larger cities so that the drivers 

don’t have to fight over each ride and 

there’s always enough supply. In Japan the 

number of vehicles skyrocketed after 

deregulation. Income was reduced to such 

an extent that it was sometimes better to 

go on welfare benefit than to keep working 

as a taxi driver. Things have improved in 

the meantime, but still…” 

Why is the taxi sector such a lone 

transport mode? 

Urata agrees that the taxi sector can rarely 

be found in cooperation with other transport 

modes, even though they could very 

much benefit from each other. “It is very 

much an urban city problem. Yet there are 

other transport modes who could benefit 

from working with the taxi industry and 

vice versa. Think of the paratransit mode, 

of transporting people with a mobility 

handicap. The elderly, the on-demand 

transport. But those services are only available 

if there are subsidies.” 

Even in the union’s achievements the 

picture is patchy as unions are organised 

on a national scale. Urata mentions examples 

of union activity which lead to 

improvements. “Because what we want 

first and foremost is the improvement in 

the quality of the drivers’ conditions. Regulation 

should be aimed at that. That’s why 

we feel fleets should also be regulated. 

Fleets should be limited and should adhere 

to the same rules. And we are fully aware 

that technology has changed. So you need 

to update the rules and apply them to everyone 

including Uber. First and foremost 

we need to stabilise the industry.” 

How do you feel about the recent California 

court case where Uber was told 

it should treat its drivers as employees? 

“We welcomed that news. We do feel that 

the driver must be able to make a choice, 

whether to work for a wage or go for his 

dream and be an entrepreneur and go for 

creating a bigger company. A choice 

between being an employee and guaranteed 

income and security and being in 

independent operator should always exist. 

But that should be the drivers’ freedom of 

choice, not something that the operator 

imposes.” 

Interviewer: Wim Faber 

THE ITF 

The International Transport 

Workers’ Federation (ITF) 

represents over 4.5 million 

transport workers from some 

150 countries in its 700 affiliates. 

It is one of several Global 

Federation Unions allied 

with the International Trade 

Union Confederation (ITUC). 

Founded in 1896, it has its 

headquarters in London, with 

its regional offices in Nairobi, 

New Delhi, Rio de Janeiro, 

Amman and Brussels (ETF). 

PHOTOS: Wim Faber 

InnoTrans was one of the newcomers to Taxi Expo, presenting 

a new system to secure wheelchairs in the minibuses. 

‘OLD-FASHIONED’ DUTCH 

TAXI EXPO OFFERS 

MANY DIFFERENT VIEWS 

An old-fashioned Taxi Expo in The Netherlands. In these 

difficult times for the Dutch trade the show went back to the 

Expo Houten centre where it started. 

According to organizers TaxiPro 

there were about a 1,000 visitors 

and 50 exhibitors. Despite the 

worrying economic situation in the industry, 

the Expo’s atmosphere was far from 

depressing. Especially the contract sector 

(75% of annual turnover) is under threat 

from government cuts. 

The new priorities in the taxi industry 

were also reflected in this Expo: no huge 

stands for most exhibitors - even main 

sponsor Mercedes-Benz had a fairly modest 

stand. Gone were the huge stands of 

the on-board computer providers. Two of 

them had already decided not to exhibit at 

the Taxi Expo. There were more relatively 

small stands and various (partially new) 

providers in the area of employment and 

personnel - in addition to the Social Fund 

Taxi (trade + unions) and Tax Authoritystands 

- plus quite a few IT and app specialists. 

MANY VEHICLE SUPPLIERS 

The large number of small and large vehicle 

manufacturers was striking – and not 

all classic taxi suppliers in The Netherlands: 

besides Mercedes-Benz, BYD, Audi, 

Ford, Volkswagen, Renault, Skoda and Nissan 

had turned up. Plus (mini)bus specialists 

VDL Bus & Coach, Expo-sponsor Tribus 

(with its very notable new Civitas minibus), 

Flex-i-Trans and newcomers 

InnoTrans (with new wheelchair locking 

system) and Auto Cuby from Belgium. BP 

and Expo-sponsor OrangeGas were the fuel 

providers. 

Noteworthy was 

the large number 

of commercial and 

non-commercial 

workshops 

Back with a vengeance: Toplight supplier 

Barclay (no longer part of Taxitronic Nederland) 

and the Sanders family, who incidentally 

also saw a Belgian supplier of taxi 

rooflights at the Taxi Expo: Voxdale from 

Antwerp. 

Noteworthy was the large number of commercial 

and non-commercial workshops in 

the beautiful dome in the midst of the Expo 

and in the separate workshop area just off the 

Barclay Toplights – no longer part of Taxitronic 

Nederland – was back with a vengeance. 

show floor. The level of contributions varied 

widely, but most could count on quite a lot of 

interest. 

NEAT SUMMARY 

For most participants the annual contract 

transport conference - except perhaps for 

the many representatives of municipalities 

and other public authorities (40%) – provided 

no new insights. Five speakers were 

given ample time and space to make their 

point giving a thorough overview of the 

current state of affairs. The first part was 

about the future of taxi tenders and possible 

innovation. The second part looked 

to award major contracts in social transportation 

in a more innovative fashion. 

Unfortunately Dutch KNV Taxi chairman 

Bertho Eckhardt was stuck in traffic, 

otherwise the conference structure would 

have been perfect. Eckhardt said that the 

taxi sector finds itself in very heavy weather 

and the important area of transport contracts 

-now the mainstay of the taxi 

industry in the Netherlands- is probably 

going to be a niche market within a few 

years. The taxi (trade) must, according to 

Eckhardt, again be seen as the main part- 


13

CONFERENCE 

CONFERENCE 

INTELLIGENT 

MOBILITY 

3.0: LINES 

The Contract Transport Congress dealt with 

the woes and the opportunities in the social 

transportation area. 

ner in the transportation sector. Besides 

that, the cut-throat competition for contract 

work must end and the price for these 

services must be the right one – not just 

the lowest one. 

FRAGILITY 

The city of Rotterdam hired consultant 

Jeroen Veenendaal to do the kickoff to an 

revamped integrated social transport contract. 

He seeks a different approach, different 

from contracts ‘just’ awarded on the 

basis of winning the tender. He is looking 

forward to a dialogue with the market, with 

the transport companies. This will require 

‘Market Meetings’ with a dialogue on trade 

and competitive issues between taxi companies. 

His big question: does the organization 

and coordination of this work add 

something to these types of transport? Far 

too often things are made more complicated 

than necessary. 

Importantly, the fragility of the transported 

clients means that small mistakes 

can have major consequences. Therefore 

the customer should always be centre stage 

and the service must be punctual taking 

into account the client’s vulnerability. Yes, 

this is a completely different taxi market 

compared to many other countries. 

ORGANIZE THEMSELVES 

Marcel Slotema from consultants Forseti, 

concluded with the story of the transportation 

centre Flevoland. Not a unique thought 

by this consultancy, but a practice borrowed 

from the Nordic countries. It seems 

the flavour of the month, but so far no such 

centre has shown it actually operates more 

efficiently and saves money. The story 

hinges on how the municipalities in this 

model are willing to work together and how 

reliable firewalls can be built between 

operations and dispatching. wf 

BETWEEN 

MOBILITY 

PROVIDERS 

BLURRING 

Not a day passes without 

speculation about the future of 

passenger transport. And when 

taxis will be replaced by 

autonomous ones. 

Carlos Ghosn, the big boss of Renault-Nissan, sees taxis 

disappear within 20 years. Often the taxi driver is completely 

overlooked – he or she apparently provides no 

added value, for example for people with reduced mobility or caredependent 

elderly people. 

Yet profound social changes are on the way, concluded the 

annual conference Intelligent Mobility 3.0, organized in London 

by consultants Frost & Sullivan. About 300 specialists heard how 

connectivity (everyone is connected to everyone and everything 

Sarwant Singh 

(Frost & Sullivan) 

each year 

presents the new 

Mega trends. 



What mobility provider does not have to deal with the new 

developments? The panels were full of high-level specialists. 

is connected to everything else, the Internet of Things) and urbanization 

are some of the megatrends which will shape the agenda 

for the next years. 

MEGATREND URBANIZATION 

The megatrends, including urbanization -the increasing migration 

of the world’s population to urban areas – are both opportunities 

and threats to public transport and taxis. These trends have their 

effects on both. With the advent of the autonomous car both sectors 

will increasingly be intertwined. Transportation professionals 

will have to tackle new challenges and opportunities. Sarwant 

Singh (Senior Partner Frost & Sullivan): “Megatrends such as 

urbanization, connectivity and e-commerce means creating new 

opportunities, such as smart parking management, new approaches 

for automobile manufacturers and home delivery logistics companies.“ 

Last year Singh in his book ‘New Megatrends - Implications 

for our Future’ took the participants on a journey through the 

megatrends that shape today‘s horizon and change the face of 

tomorrow‘s mobility. Also for the taxi industry. Singh identified 

11 megatrends which affect mobility at the micro level. This year, 

he elaborated on these themes. 

SMART INFRASTRUCTURE 

This world’s resources are tight. Financial, physical and social 

resources. The manufacturers who are clever in the design and 

manufacture of mobility solutions will be the ones who benefit. 

‚Smart‘ is green and efficient, and the seamless response to the 

networked society. In today‘s increasingly urbanized cities ‚smart‘ 

is also a prerequisite for success. Smart urban infrastructure and 

planning mean that physical and e-mobility will play an increasingly 

important role. Today the demand for mobility is more and 

more based on the prevention of congestion and pollution by easy 

mobility solutions. Another megatrend is the greater emphasis 

on good value for money. And in this society where people are 

generally getting older, wellness and wellbeing will be top of the 

agenda. 

‘SHIFTS‘ 

Singh gave some ‚shifts‘ too, away from traditional models, such 

as new business models based on car sharing, peer-to-peer sharing 

and corporate sharing - more integrated mobility. There will 

also new ridesharing models, like BlaBlaCar (sharing the costs, 

not profit). Uber will develop more into a logistics company in 

some markets. 

The integration of mobility in turn means the development of 

integrated platforms in which the customer can order the mobi- 

Hailed as a leading example of ultimate 

mobility platform: Marcus Spickermann of 

Daimler’s Moovel. 

lity he needs. These platforms also provide space for innovative 

taxi companies, like London’s One Transport has for 

years combined various forms of taxi, coach and other mobility 

features. Cities themselves will also become customers 

for all sorts of integrated mobility, including taxi-mobility. 

This especially to meet the needs of the ageing population, 

which in some cases will not just need a door-to-door 

approach, but also a bed-to-bed solution. 

»Business and leisure 

mobility are 

increasingly happening 

at the same time« 

Another shift: business and leisure mobility are increasingly 

happening at the same time. The number of women 

drivers will increase and women are more likely to prefer 

Uber over taxis. Aggregators will increasingly combine various 

modes of transport in their apps. 

The framework Singh had described, was then coloured 

in by a series of specialist speakers. More and more companies 

turn to ridesharing, while others are hesitant for safety 

and security reasons. A huge challenge for reservation 

systems like Amadeus and specialist business travel agencies 

like Carlsson-Wagonlit. Amadeus is working on a special 

department that is purely concerned with new forms of 

shared and integrated mobility. The question is what the 

commercial side of the business will look like. As ridesharing 

doesn’t always fit well in reservation systems. But in 

future business travellers may well go to Uber and AirBnb 

for lack of alternative. 

In the future divisions between B2B, B2C and P2P are 

disappearing, just like the lines between modes of mobility 

are blurring. Providers of mobility products are moving 

closer together. 

wf 

TAXI OCTOBER / 2015 

15

CONFERENCE 

CONFERENCE 

worst, whilst saying “credit card, credit card”, with a big smile 

the driver produced a brand-new Verifone payment terminal from 

under his seat. No problem there. But not everything is what it 

seems in the Russian Federation’s taxi world. 

Many taxi companies 

apply very visible 

– sometimes garish – 

colours and designs 

plus roof signs advertising 

their own and 

other (commercial) 

products. 

ILLEGAL TAXIS 

The International Eurasian Taxi Forum is held every year in 

August – so far only in St. Petersburg - and attracts about 600 

representatives from all over Russia. It is held in a hotel and 

includes a trade show – part vehicles and part other equipment 

(about 40 exhibitors) - and a lengthy conference part, which easily 

stretches into the evening. Some debates were quite fierce 

and easily ran over time, but all bore the imprint of good cameraderie 

and clearly had the intention to improve the Russian 

taxi trade. Most conference attendees were from the taxi industry, 

with also quite a few suppliers, politicians and local regulators. 

So in that respect it was quite close to a traditional European or 

American conference and trade show. 

Illegal taxis? Or competition by new (illegal) parties? A rapidly 

growing landscape in apps? Insufficient or dated laws? Every 

country has its own taxi-problems and solutions. But, as I said, 

these days there are many themes which are identical in many 

countries. In Russia, like everywhere else, there’s also a strong 

demand for ‘a level playing field’ with equal rights and duties for 

Above: Many politicians, operators, regulators, suppliers 

and drivers from all over the Russian Federation had 

flocked to the Forum Taxi. 

Below: For a conference with 600 attendees the Trade 

Show was rather limited. 

TAXI FORUM ST. PETERSBURG 

DEMANDS ‘CLEARER 

AND TIGHTER REGULATION’ 

About 600 attendees discussed a large variety in taxi-topics 

at the two-day International Eurasian Forum Taxi in Sankt Petersburg 

(August 6–7). Their main demand: an end to illegal taxis and 

proper regulation. 

In the beginning of the ‘90’s, when I made my first presentation 

to the Annual Meeting of the American taxi-association 

TLPA, I claimed that in its basic structures the taxi industry 

is the same the world over. My remark was met with (some) laughter 

from the disbelieving taxi operators in the audience, but that 

could (also) easily have been because in my presentation I showed 

a slide of the Mercedes E200 – a luxury car in the US - as Europe’s 

main taxi model. It took about ten years before the American 

operators were also convinced that there is a great similarity 

between taxi operations worldwide. Yet, we can all still learn a lot 

from each other. 

But after a recent visit to the Russian Federation, I began to 

doubt my own words. When I attended the International Eurasian 

Taxi Forum in St. Petersburg, Russia, August 6 and 7, I saw few 

similarities. True, the taxi drivers at the airport arrivals hall, trying 

to find customers (an international phenomenon, surely?) 

whilst saying ‘Official taxi, official taxi’, wore badges with a slight 

variation on the international taxi checker band logo. 

Yet, when the pre-ordered taxi driver dropped me at the hotel, 

I searched in vain for a taxi meter in his Kia taxicab. There was 

a wide array of electronic equipment on his dashboard (including 

the ubiquitous dash cam widely used in Russia for insurance 

purposes and a number of smartphones for dispatching and communication 

plus a navigation system), but no meter. Instead the 

driver pointed at one smartphone fixed to the windscreen where 

I recognised an amount in ruble. I later learned that the trip length 

and fare in Russia are measured with GPS-data in the dispatch 

centre and then sent on to the driver’s smartphone. Fearing the 



TAXI COOPERATION IMPROVES COMPETITION IN ST. PETERSBURG 

A taxi conference is nothing without a 

visit to a ‘live’ taxi company or dispatching 

centre. St. Petersburg taxi 

company ‘Semerochka’, created by 

director general Alexei Gusev, provides 

a good example. He and his commercial 

director Alexandr Olhov, explained to 

Taxi Times how every day the drivers 

are medically checked in their facility, 

which is part of a large Kia dealership. 

Small wonder then that all cars are Kia’s 

too. But there is a large variety on offer 

for the drivers, both large and small Kia 

models. Another area where drivers are 

checked is in the behaviour on the road 

and when it comes to providing service. 

In each case there is a ranking and being 

on top of the Top 10 of speeding cabbies 

is frowned upon. Gusev has not only 

developed an app for taxis, but also a 

new fleet, ‘Taxi Seven’: he is sure the cab 

trade can beat the likes of Yandex, Uber 

and Get Taxi. It should also be easier, 

using the app, to share trips between the 

42 partner companies. The development 

programme has taken 2 years and cost 

the company 10 million rubles, which it 

hopes to recoup in two to three years’ companies participating in the project 

time. 

TaxiSeven. The company sets its own 

Semerochka is a member of the IRU’s rate for that: “As a rule, it is from 5 to 

Global Taxi Network and works with 35%” says Gusev. 

eCab to promote international taxi travel. Gusev is sure that this is the only way to 

The application has been live in St. Petersburg 

for two months and, according taxi apps. “If we do not rebuild under 

compete with the increasingly popular 

to Gusev, the profitability of the taxi has the new format, in a couple of years 

increased by 10%. “Our solution makes it the owners of taxis may be left without 

possible to unite all taxi companies of St. orders at all”, says Alexei Gusev. 

Petersburg, reduce costs, improve 

service for passengers 

and create healthy competition” 

says Gusev. TaxiSeven 

includes applications for 

client and driver, as well as 

an online resource for the 

exchange of orders between 

taxi companies. 

Even competing taxi companies 

get work, to ensure that 

the app system keeps busy 

all the time. Semerochka 

gets 10% of the orders given 

Gusev (left) and Olhov are convinced their business 

to another taxi company. 

model is the only way forward for the taxi trade. 

Partners may also transfer 

trips and clients to other taxi 


17

CONFERENCE 

APPS 

CHINESE-AMERICAN 

COOPERATION 

This company – looking for European 

expansion – developed a system 

of psychological assessment for 

employing staff members in aviation, 

public transport and taxis. 

Everyone knows Uber by now, but 

Lyft, another ride hailing service 

using non-professional drivers, has 

long been established in the U.S. The 

company has not yet expanded beyond 

the U.S., but has now announced a 

noteworthy cooperation. It will be possible 

in the future to hail a vehicle in 

China with the Lyft app. You then 

become a customer of Didi Kuaidi, the 

leading taxi app in China, which also 

hails at least some taxis. It is supposed 

to work the other way around as well: 

If you use Didi to hail a ‘taxi’ from 

China in the U.S., you get a Lyft driver. 

Didi Kuaidi is a merger of the former 

biggest taxi and for hire vehicle companies 

in China. Like Uber, the company 

constantly receives capital from 

investors and is now participating in 

many applications in the Asian 

region including GrabTaxi, which 

offers its service in 26 cities in six 

different countries in Southeast Asia. 

The Chinese also invested 100 million 

dollars in Lyft back in March. Not the 

least because the media are speculating 

as to whether GrabTaxi will soon 

join the newly established network. 

 

jh 

Lyft: A ridiculous distinguishing feature, but a 

competitor to be taken seriously in the passenger 

transport market thanks to Chinese support. 

There is a large choice in 

taxi vehicles (most of them 

assembled in St. Petersburg) 

with many Nissan and Kiavehicles 

in the local streets. 

But no taxi meter … 

every party offering transport on the taxi market – either by app 

or in the more traditional way. The large number of illegal taxi 

drivers and illegal providers of taxi services (apps, call-centres) 

plus the lack of proper policing of the few rules which exist, clearly 

anger the Russian colleagues. 

There’s a lot still to do in Russia when it comes to proper taxi 

regulation. Not just nationally, but especially regionally and locally. 

A large number of politicians and regulators had come to the 

Taxi Forum to discuss just that. The largest problem is the continuing 

competition of illegal taxi drivers. No real surprise in a 

country where sharing the scarce vehicles (for payment) was the 

norm for decades. Why do illegal taxis still exist? An official taxi 

licence doesn’t cost anything and is easily obtained. Stranger still: 

it does not have to be handed in to the authorities when the operator 

stops operating his taxi business. So even illegal taxi drivers 

have the proper paperwork. There are many more licences in circulation 

than actual taxis. And policing of the taxi trade is patchy, 

depending on the region. 

The many speakers and the audience repeatedly demanded 

proper licensing and regular policing of licences, preferably with 

a central (regional) database of legal taxi drivers and licences still 

in circulation and being operated. Under the heading of ‘illegal 

taxis’ come the drivers, but also the many booking centres and 

dubious apps. Both booking centres and apps can be started and 

closed at will, without any authority knowing about it. Often a 

taxi company is not what is seems in Russia. 

‘BEST PRACTICES’ 

The list of speakers was impressive. Most areas in the taxi world 

were represented. Representatives from various ministries urged 

the taxi industry to opt for more regional regulation, as the national 

laws with regard to taxi transportation are relatively weak and 

sketchy. The detailed legal work has to be done in the region with 

the help of the federal framework. Taxi operators from certain 

areas pointed out that by strengthening laws and by working 

together with the authorities, the number of illegal taxis had been 

reduced to nearly 0%. Some specialists in the audience also pointed 

at developments in other countries, Russia could learn from. 

For every presentation there was a long and protracted, but also 

very enthusiastic discussion. A pattern which lasted for two days 

and came back in every topic. In Russia, there is a great thirst for 

information and technology. Another strongly worded demand: 

learning from ‘best practices’, as some other regions have no special 

policies to reduce the number of illegal taxis, call-centres and 

apps. It doesn’t help that fines for trespassers are ridiculously low. 

Having followed the discussion for a while, it is hard not to 

think of the Russian taxi industry as the ‘Wild East’: for instance 

access to airport ranks is often unregulated and badly organised, 

the fare structure is only clear to seasoned users, the licencing 

system badly needs an overhaul, taxation is often unclear and 

there is a strong need for professional training of taxi drivers. In 

that area the IRU Taxi Group promoted its ‘Taxi Stars’-programme, 

a few weeks before it was launched officially in Athens on September 

25 (see page 8). 

One clear difference between ‘our’ taxi industry and the Russian 

taxi sector: the large number of women in management and 

other leading positions. Most themes dealt with in the conference 

were similar to topics here: new forms of payment, credit cards, 

development of apps, IT-problems and types of vehicles. Most dealt 

with street-hail taxi – contract work seems to be in its infancy in 

Russia, paratransit by taxi companies almost non-existent. 

This image was reflected in the trade show: there was no taxi 

meter to be found anywhere, but there were quite a few IT- and 

app stands. Financial solutions and roof signs (with all sorts of 

video messages) were also quite popular. Very different: a stand 

with medical equipment (some taxi companies give drivers a quick 

check-up every day) and a stand with a system of psychological 

assessment for employing staff members. Strange: few classic car 

brands from the West. Vehicles galore, but rather different ones: 

from the Mercedes E220 and Sprinter to many Kia, Nissan, Citroën 

and Lada models next to one Chinese brand. 

wf 


PHOTOS: flickr/Alfredo Mendez, Fotolia / Konstantin Yolshin Fotolia / william87 

Moscow’s taxi market is 

estimated at $1 billion. 

RUSSIA’S YANDEX 

TAXI-APP BEATS UBER 

In 2011 Russia’s Google, the main search engine Yandex, started running a 

taxi-app that many now call ‘Russia’s Uber’. Where Uber has its own way in 

many markets, it seems to have met its match in Russia. Latest figures suggest 

between 15.000 and 20.000 taxis written up for the Yandex platform, whereas 

Uber has between 3.000 and 5.000 taxicabs – less than Gett, with 10.000 taxis 

in Moscow alone. Yandex is thinking of foreign expansion, starting in former 

Russian states and Turkey. 

The Yandex taxi app works like an aggregator. It doesn’t care which company 

the cab is from, it finds the cab closest to the person needing a ride and 

connects them. Some 200 to 300 cab companies have already opted for the 

service. 

This year Yandex Taxi plans to expand to 25 Russian cities starting from 

Moscow and St. Petersburg. Investment sources think this move could bring 

total sales for Yandex Taxi to 10 billion rubles (about $ 154 million). Moscow’s 

taxi market alone is estimated at $1 billion. 

wf 

NEWSTICKER 

NEW APP FOR 

7,000 NEW YORK TAXIS 

Since Uber expanded its activities to New 

York, the local taxi trade has suffered substantial 

losses. Many taxis stand vacant 

because the previous drivers have now 

been hired by the competition. Even more 

serious is the fact that the value of a New 

York taxi licence (medallion) has fallen 

from one million to 500,000 dollars. The 

taxi trade is now trying to regain lost territory 

by developing the ‘Arro’ app. Unlike 

the Uber app, the passenger does not have 

to pay a two-dollar hailing fee. The app is 

linked directly to the payment terminal in 

the taxi, enabling cashless payments. The 

passenger can also be sure that price will 

not be raised indiscriminately during peak 

traffic times (surge pricing). At the 

moment, Arro users can ‘only’ hail around 

7,000 yellow and green cabs in New York 

(where Uber has already deployed 20,000 

vehicles), but expansion to other cities in 

the U.S. is planned. 

jh 

Arro: New York taxis now have their own app. 


19

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Société SNGt - rcS Nanterre B 324 379 866. 

TAXI_1506186_Aff_Metro_Visu_56x77.indd 1 20/08/2015 14:22 



Christos Anagnostopoulos of 

NextTaxi: a decent balance 

between the number of passenger 

requests and available 

vehicles. 

NEWSTICKER 

ECAB PROVIDES 

TAXIS FOR DOWN- 

TOWN VANCOUVER 

GREEK-EUROPEAN 

TAXI INTEGRATION 

An Athens-based taxi fleet has joined taxi.eu and the GTN network 

as a consequence of massive changes in the Athens taxi trade. And it 

proves that nothing can stand in the way of integration. 

Around 2,9 million people live in 

Athens and the Attica region 

served by 13,772 taxis. In 1980, 

these taxis made around 60 trips a day and 

were sometimes double booked on these 

trips. Back then, taxis were the most popular 

mode of transport. They were cheap, and 

TAXI.EU VS. TAXIBEAT 

other means of public transport were not 

developed as well. 

But then came the major economic crisis 

that forced the entire country under the 

protection of the EU and radically transformed 

the taxi trade. Since the expansion 

of bus lines and the doubling of taxi prices 

Hailing a Taxi in Athens 

NextTaxi is the premium partner of 

taxi-eu in Athens and Greece. Since the 

fleet is still quite small, the orders are 

taken mainly in the city centre and the 

port of Athens for the time being. In a 

city where taxis for decades used to be 

hailed mainly in the street, customers 

need to be gradually won over by the 

advantages of a hailing app: dependable 

drivers and reliable quality. 

To communicate this to the public, 

NextTaxi has invested a lot in advertising. 

They distribute flyers and go to see 

many customers in person. They even 

take out front page newspaper ads. 

taxi.eu stickers have also been placed 

on the taxis. In a country where tourism 

is a major revenue source, communicating 

the European scope and familiar 

name of the app is a key success factor 

and highlights its advantage over the 

competing app taxibeat. 

The company, backed by a great deal 

of venture capital, has already been on 

the market since 2011 and is estimated 

to cover around 80 per cent of the app 

orders, but the app only allows taxis to 

be hailed in Athens and in some South 

American countries. 

jh 

between the turn of the century and 2010, 

many residents have increased their use 

of bus and rail transport and now rely less 

on taxis. 

The taxi trade initially had nothing 

against this transformation. For one thing, 

the established structures did not change. 

Even today there are only a few taxi radio 

circuits in Athens – around three quarters 

of all taxis operate without them. The permit 

holders are mainly buyers and sellers 

of vehicles who are only interested in renting 

licenced vehicles to taxi drivers for 24 

hours. It is then up to the driver as to how 

he gets his customers and how much 

money he makes. 

Finding new ways to get work 

Only in the last few years this situation 

has changed somewhat. The radio circuits 

have increased the number of customers 

through targeted advertising and have 

been competing for a few years with the 

‘taxibeat’ app, which connects passengers 

directly with taxi drivers. 

Christos Anagnostopoulos, managing 

director of NextTaxi in Athens, is also finding 

new ways to get work. He is continually 

developing his customer base in the 

city centre and at the port of Athens 

(Piraeus). He receives and distributes 

orders mainly via the taxi.eu app. Last year 

the decision was made to partner with the 

PHOTOS: Taxi Times, Wim Faber 

PHOTO: taxi.eu, Taxi G7 

European app. Since then, a lot of work has 

gone into development. In order to display 

the orders in Greek using their alphabet, 

the entire software had to be converted to 

UTF 8, a coding standard that enables the 

use of nearly all international characters. 

The hailing system also required additional 

individual adjustments to specific 

procedures at NextTaxi. The company 

provides its customers with mainly viral 

channels – you can order online, via Autobooker 

or app. The driver and customer 

must be able to communicate directly with 

each other in order for this to work. This 

also happens in more than one language. 

“For example, when a passenger in Germany 

requests a vehicle in Athens using 

the taxi.eu app, he enters his location based 

on the German version of Google Maps“, 

explains Robert Abel from taxi.eu. “These 

data are translated into Greek with geocoding 

and reach the driver in his own language. 

Now if he wants to tell the customer 

that he will arrive five minutes late, he uses 

a predefined text message that the passenger 

then receives in German.” 

This is how the ‘European server’ provided 

by taxi.eu operator FMS Systems to its customers 

overcomes language barriers and 

makes a closer integration with the taxi 

trade technically possible – without high 

investment costs, since neither the radio 

circuit nor the drivers need to buy or 

install special hardware devices. 

These were the determining factors that 

influenced Anagnostopoulos’ decision to 

go with taxi.eu. The web and app-based 

hailing system has been in use in around 

200 vehicles in his fleet since May. Only 

200? “We have a long waiting list”, Christos 

told the Taxi Times. He says that the plan 

is to acquire additional customers before 

integrating more vehicles in order to 

ensure a decent balance between the number 

of passenger requests and available 

vehicles. Drivers need to earn a good living, 

ideally as they did before the crisis, 

back when the Athens taxi trade was totally 

different. . 

jh 

Hermann Waldner, founder of taxi.eu, greeted the new partner in person in Athens. 

eCab, one of the founding fathers of 

the IRU Global Taxi Network (GTN), 

will soon be providing taxi booking 

services throughout all 4 downtown 

Vancouver fleets: Yellow Cab, Blacktop 

& Checker Cabs, Vancouver Taxi 

and MacLure‘s Cabs. Users will 

experience the best availability in 

town along with various options and 

value-added services. eCab is integrated 

to MTData and DDS, the two 

dispatch systems covering the city, 

and eCab has built a pre-dispatch 

engine to determine the closest taxi. 

WINNING BACK THE 

YOUNGER SEGMENT 

Since the first of September, the 

Paris radio circuit TAXIS G7 is offering 

20% discount to young customers 

at night. The offer is on every 

Thursday, Friday and Saturday 

night from 10 pm to 5 am for everyone 

aged under 26. 

The campaign aims at winning 

back the younger segment and to 

have more drivers on the road at 

night. TAXIS G7 distributes cool 

sunglasses and condoms as part of 

the promotion carrying the slogan 

“Ce soir, vous êtes sûr de choper au 

moins un taxi” loosely translated to 

“Tonight you will be sure to catch at 

least a taxi”. 

15 06 186 • affiche metro • 560 x 770 mm • visible : 540 x 750 mm • EXE : 1/2 : 280 x 385 mm • visible : 270 x 375 mm • visu • Remise: 18 juin thy - BAt 

-20% avec NightCab 

vous avez la nuit devant vous. 

Vous avez bien fait de choisir 

Vous avez moins de 26 ans ? 

Bénéficiez de 20%de réduction 

les jeudis, vendredis et samedis entre 22 h et 5 h du matin 

en commandant votre taxi depuis l’application taxiS G7. 

The look of G7’s advertising 

campaign. 


21

CARS 

CARS 

A pleasurable moment 

out of the rain: The Café 

Taxi was accessible without 

entry to the IAA. 

The future of the car: The new Toyota Prius+ for the short-term, the Mirai with fuel cells for the mid-term. 

LINKED DRIVER APP, 

SHARED TAXI 

The absence of taxis at the IAA International Motor Show is almost 

like a tradition. One of the few noteworthy exceptions were Mercedes 

and a taxi-app that will not leave the taxi circuits and associations out 

in the cold. 

In September of every odd-numbered year, the German Association 

of the Automotive Industry (VDA) organises the International 

Motor Show (IAA) for cars at the exhibition site in 

Frankfurt. This year, the 66th IAA was held with the theme “Mobility 

Connects”. Ten years ago, navigation devices were still the most 

advanced element in the dashboard. But these days, cars are computers 

on wheels. 

This was clearly evident in the latest Mercedes models. Daimler 

AG was the only automaker with a separate taxi exhibition 

that was presented at the trade show – before the IAA, to be precise. 

The idea was to get away from the trade show so that anyone 

without a ticket could visit the “Taxi” café pavilion. There were 

various Mercedes-Benz cars in their special exhibit “The Taxi” in 

the outdoor area in front of the west entrance. Mercedes taxis and 

private hire vehicles range from compact models to vans, with B, 

C, E and S-class models and the more spacious V-class models, 

Vito Tourer and Citan. Included in the range are the B and E-class 

models with natural gas engines. The new E-class is scheduled 

for market launch in spring 2016 and will also be available as a 

taxi starting in autumn 2016. 

The software and hardware supplier FMS from Graz was also 

represented in the taxi pavilion. Mercedes-Benz has developed a 

fully integrated hailing system in cooperation with the Austrian 

company. “We programmed a link connection with Mercedes that 

projects the driver app on the Mercedes display and can be completely 

controlled using the Mercedes system”, says Stefan Stipsits 

from FMS. The system can be operated via the vehicle controller; 

an additional display, cables and holes are no longer necessary. 

The application does require the circuit to have an FMS solution 

for the operators and that it uses to select the drivers. “The point 

is for the apps to be operable using the display in the vehicles”, 

says Stipsits. The system will be available starting in January 2016. 

TOYOTA CONTINUES TO UPGRADE 

Toyota’s redesigned Lexus GS 300h had its European premiere 

at the IAA. The hybrid limousine has a consumption of 4.7 litres, 

is powered by a 164 kW (223 PS) 2.5-litre petrol engine with a 

high-performance electric engine, and is Toyota’s taxi model for 

the luxury class. In addition to the GS 300h, the Japanese automaker 

also offers the hybrids Auris Touring Sports, Prius and Prius 

Plus, and the diesel models Verso and Avensis Touring Sports 

with a taxi package. Toyota’s focus is on alternative engines, as 

is clear from the selection of taxi models. “We are very pleased 

that taxi drivers like the Prius Plus. Every taxi ride is also a test 

drive”, says Toyota´s Olga Baumgarten. The electric mode lets 

you drive without consuming fuel, without emissions and nearly 

silently. Baumgarten says that the “comfort of the Lexus combined 

with the fuel economy of the hybrid models” makes it very popular. 

“We are surprised and pleased with its success”, says the 

Toyota marketing specialist about the car’s success in the sector. 

Toyota is taking another step into the future with the Mirai, 

which it presented at the IAA. With the Mirai, Japanese automak- 

PHOTOS: Florian Osrainik 

PHOTOS: Florian Osrainik 

Enjoying “undivided” attention: Employees 

at the Shäre-a-Taxi trade show booth. 

ers are offering the first mass-produced fuel cell saloon and 

bypassing the limitations of battery-powered electric cars. The 

Mirai, whose name comes from the Japanese word for “future”, 

can drive a distance of 500 kilometres after three minutes of 

charging time and emits only steam. The supply of hydrogen, the 

most promising technology of the future, is virtually endless; it 

can be made from waste and many natural base materials and is 

easy to store and transport. There will be 50 hydrogen filling stations 

in Germany by the end of 2015, and 400 are planned for 

2023. Toyota chairman Takechi Uchiyamada believes that, in the 

future, “hydrogen will be what petrol was to the automotive industry 

during the first hundred years.” 

Nothing is impossible: FMS will soon enable a direct data transfer to 

the Mercedes-Benz display. 

THE “TAXI SHARING APP” 

The future of car engines could be hydrogen. But what changes 

will the taxi trade be facing? Are there new business areas in 

addition to new engine types? We found an answer to this question 

on the first floor in hall three. This is where the “New Mobility 

World” was located. Shäre-a-Taxi, a Munich-based start-up, 

was also taking part. The app was launched on the market in 

Munich in January, has been available in Frankfurt since September, 

and is cooperating with local taxi circuits. Three to four additional 

major cities in Germany will follow until the end of the year 

and there are plans to check out major cities elsewhere in Europe 

over the next few years – London und Paris in particular. 

Unlike apps such as mytaxi or gettaxi, Shäre-a-Taxi does not 

require the driver to have an app on his device. The advantage 

for the trade is that taxis will be less expensive for the customer, 

since the passengers split the cost, while the company and drivers 

receive the full price. The price and route are calculated by 

the app, so there is no need for discussion between the driver and 

the passengers, or among the passengers. 

The customers have to enter their destination and order a taxi 

for the same time. After the customers (Captain) hail the taxi and 

begin the journey, the app calculates whether it is worth it to 

share the journey with other requested travel routes. For example, 

the app might suggest a detour of three minutes to the customer 

that will save €15. If the customer shares the taxi with 

another passenger, the latter must be picked up at the agreed 

place. If the additional passenger is dropped off along the way or 

if both passengers have the same destination, the app calculates 

the fair price for each. A cashless payment is charged by the taxi 

circuit. This is a successful example of how taxi driving can be 

less expensive without resorting to legally disputed discount 

promotions. 

fo 


23

NUMBERS 

DEMONSTRATION 

GREEK 

STATISTICS 

2 

SCHICHT- 

BETRIEB 

Left: International 

taxi solidarity in the 

streets of Brussels. 

Middle: The main 

target of the demo. 

The major economic crisis in 

Greece also affected the taxi trade, 

particularly in Athens. 

DOUBLE 

OCCUPANCY 

50% of the Athens taxis 

operate double shifts 

Talking tactics: 

the colleagues 

from Paris. 

Right: The EU Commission 

was the 

final stop of the taxi 

protest. 

SHORT TRIPS IN ATHENS 

Average value of a taxi trip in Athens: €5 

Average daily revenue: €60–80 

Decline in average earnings of taxi drivers 

from 2010 to 2015: 70% 

POVERTY LINE 

Annual income in euros that 

an individual living alone must 

earn in order to remain above 

the poverty line: €5,910 

5.910 € 

TAXI 

UNEMPLOYMENT 

RATE IN GREECE: 

25,6% 

(as of March 2015) 

CONCENTRATION 

IN THE CAPITAL 

Number of taxi licences in Greece: 30.000 

Number of taxi licences in the greater Athens area: 13.772 

LONG 

WAITING 

TIMES 

Up to 5,000 taxis wait at 

night at the Athens airport 

to pick up a passenger 

for the city during the day 

(€38 fixed price). 

60 

50 

37 

10 

1980 1990 2000 2015 

600% LESS 

Average trips made by a taxi in Athens 

in 24 hours (t/24h) 

A STATE 

LIVING ON 

CREDIT 

National debt (estimated) 

in 2014: €317.3 billion 

STATE ON 

CREDIT 

PHOTO: Sven Hoppe / dpa 


TAXI SECTOR TAKES 

INTERNATIONAL 

PROTEST TO EU 

On Wednesday September 16 around 500 taxis 

from Brussels and other Belgian cities plus 

delegations from France, Spain, Portugal and 

even London demonstrated against Uber in the 

European capital. 

For several hours they blocked the 

Brussels inner ring and Schuman 

Square in front of the European 

Commission. Incidentally South Station 

and the road to the airport were blocked 

as well. Compared to the demonstration of 

European farmers, a few days earlier, the 

taxi trade demonstrated quite peacefully. 

The Sunday before Brussels taxis had 

offered their services for 50% of the 

metered fare – indicating that this 50% is 

the part of the fare Uber doesn’t pay in 

social premiums, insurance and tax. 

STRICTER CONTROLS 

Interestingly, following the demonstration 

and a meeting with the communal front of 

taxi associations and trade unions, Belgian 

minister Tommelein (Fraude) announced 

there would be stricter controls on the payment 

of social premiums and tax by Uber. 

A study which Tommelein commissioned 

has just proved that Uber-drivers are independent 

operators and not employees. The 

Belgian trade unions – following the latest 

California Uber judgement – see Uber-drivers 

as employees. 

Two days later Uber suddenly announced 

it would automatically check the VAT-numbers 

of its Belgian drivers and work with 

the tax office to counter tax fraud. Those 

not following the rules would be ‘deactivated’, 

according to the app. The ‘technology 

firm’ may be more interested in 

Driven all the way from 

London – a member 

of trade union Unite. 

working with the authorities because the 

Brussels Secretary for Mobility, Smet, is 

studying ways of legalising the Uber-services 

and the EU has just started a research 

project into platforms like Uber and 

AirBnB, which could lead to EU-wide regulation. 

Just before the demonstration Smet 

was seen having lunch with Uber top-brass 

Davif Plouffe. Reason why the demonstrators 

delivered fresh rolls to Smet’s office. 

For the Belgian taxi operators the outcome 

of the day was rather meagre. After 

over a year of governmental ‘non-action’, 

they would liked to have seen some more 

decisive action by the authorities – referring 

to measures banning UberPOP in Germany 

and The Netherlands. wf 


25

NEWS 

THE TINY TOWN 

WHERE EVERYONE 

TAKES TAXIS 

Whilst cabs are busy in 

Bethel, Alaska, 

here in Boston (and in 

many places in the US) 

the largest local cab 

companies have trouble 

finding drivers to fill 

shifts. This photo was 

taken at 11.00 in the 

morning! 

PUBLICATION INFORMATION 

PHOTOS: Peter Schenkman 

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In the town of Bethel, Alaska, private 

cars are prohibitively expensive, 

just like petrol. There’s no public 

transport – so most of the 6.000 inhabitants 

take taxis all the time. 

Yes, taxis! Bethel has the highest 

number of taxis per capita. A curious 

story dug up by The Atlantic tells the 

story of a small town with only two shuttle 

buses. Ask just about anyone in town 

if they’ve ever taken the bus, and they 

laugh in your face. 

There are no major roads in and out 

of Bethel, so bringing in cars makes 

them twice as expensive as elsewhere. 

Even used cars are expensive. Petrol is 

just as expensive as in Europe. And 

that’s high. But thankfully there are 

about 70 taxi drivers in Bethel, one for 

every 85 people, making it the city in 

America with the most taxis per capita. 

“In one sense, our cabs are our public 

transit,” Leif Albertson, the vice-mayor, 

told The Atlantic. 

But a surfeit of taxis does not mean 

that transportation is affordable, either. 

A ride in town costs $5 per person ($ 1= 

€ 0,88), no matter how short the trip. A 

ride to the airport, or to the suburbs, 

costs $7. A stop en-route costs $1, plus 

$1 per minute after three minutes. That 

starts to add up in a town where 23 percent 

of the population is below the poverty 

line. That’s why many people walk. 

Cabs came to Bethel in 1975 – when 

two brothers came to town together with 

many government jobs. They started a 

cab company, Kusko Cab. The cab companies 

also diversified Bethel. Looking 

for employees who had clean driving 

records and the capital to lease a taxi, 

companies started to recruit family and 

friends from overseas. Kusko is now 

known around town as the ‘Albanian’ 

cab company because it employs mostly 

drivers from Albania and Macedonia. 

The other three cab companies employ 

mostly Koreans. 

Driving a cab in Bethel used to be 

lucrative. Less so now. Taxi drivers are 

rumoured to make $ 100.000 or more. 

Asked about that, Joe Yoon, a Korean 

taxi driver, scoffed. “Not even close,” he 

said. Yoon estimates that he carries 

about 80 people a day around Bethel. 

Insurance costs $7,000 a year, and he 

has to pay the cab company $250 a 

week, as well as pay for fuel and maintenance 

costs for his cab. The roads in 

Bethel, which are all dirt save one, are 

pretty unforgiving for cars. 

But to earn some extra cash, some 

cab drivers have become involved in 

Bethel’s notorious bootlegging industry, 

a development the local government is 

trying to quash. Get into many cabs in 

Bethel, and ask for alcohol, and the 

driver will take you to a bootlegger. 

Other drivers charge a specific amount 

to drive people around while they 

drink, Mark Springer, a city councilman, 

said. Springer recently introduced 

a bill that would revoke the license of 

drivers who are found to be selling alcohol 

from their cabs. 

 

wf 

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