Korea’s KBS reported that Uber, a rideshare and taxi service that is operated by a smartphone app, was banned in multiple countries. On the 8th, the Holland had already officially banned the use of Uber and the Spanish government was reported to have done the same on the 9th. Other governments are also reported to be considering whether they should continue to allow the use of this service.
In the case of Spain, the nation’s union for taxi drivers in Madrid had filed a suit against Uber on the basis that it hinders fair competition in the market. The Spanish Supreme Court had decided to accept these claims and have taken measures to ban the use of Uber. The Spanish government even made movements to place restrictions on telecom companies and phone companies so they could not have clients download the Uber application on their smartphones.
France has gone through a similar phenomenon. The Court in Paris will be announcing their decision regarding the company. The decision will be announced on the 12th of December, Meanwhile, other major European countries including Denmark and Norway have also illegalized Uber in their markets.
Uber is a taxi service that was first launched in March, 2008. The company uses a smartphone application that clients can use to request a ride from Uber drivers that may be nearby. Uber, with its headquarters in San Francisco, has quickly expanded into many major international cities throughout the world.
Any driver with a qualifying vehicle could be hired into the company, and because of a lack of real regulation, Uber is able to charge lower prices for its users. However, this has also resulted in great protests from conventional taxi drivers and companies. Right now, protests against Uber are going on in Germany, Thailand, and even Spain.
