New bill set to slam brakes on liberalized taxi market
The Transport Ministry is drafting long-overdue legislation to ostensibly regulate the operation of ride-hailing services such as Uber, but it will also affect professional services like homegrown Beat (formerly Taxibeat) and other private transport companies.
Kathimerini understands that the bill, which is slated to go to Parliament in the fall, will require all companies offering ride services to have a license to do so and to carry out business with licensed vehicles, effectively rendering the services provided by companies like Uber that use non-professional drivers and private vehicles illegal. Sources also say it stipulates that these companies will have to employ their professional drivers for a minimum period of three years.
The bill, in effect, reintroduces regulations scrapped by previous legislation to liberalize the taxi market and allow consumers to hire the services of a privately owned vehicle operated by drivers from tourist agencies, car rental companies, etc.
