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A law professor points out that the new legislation unduly harms classic taxis compared to Uber
© WHAT / HERBERT PFARRHOFER
Local taxi drivers who continue to oppose the planned amendment to the Occasional Traffic Act are now receiving expert support; they see it as the “death sentence for the industry.”
The new set of rules will apply from 2021 and will allow more competition and more flexible prices: keyword Uber. Now the taxi drivers received legal support from a law professor. According to this, the law disproportionately harms classic taxis and is unconstitutional.
An expert sees the amendment to the law as a risk of usury and wage dumping
“The recently submitted 2020 amendment to the Occasional Traffic Law creates two different types of exercise within the existing merged trade, each with different framework conditions: on the one hand, the ‘classic’ taxi, which is parked at the stop or ordered waving and where the price is determined for taximeter purposes, on the other hand, that taxi, whose services are booked through a communication service (that is, by ordering through an application, telephone, etc.) and which does not it is subject to fixed fees and doesn’t use fee screens, “explained Konrad Lachmayer, a university professor of public law and European law at the Sigmund Freud Private University School of Law. Thursday in a broadcast by the Chamber of Commerce (WKÖ).
The lawyer sees in the amendment the danger of wage dumping and exorbitant prices. There is no obligation to transport and instead of the binding rate there is a link to a price broker that can be set by the governor by ordinance. If no minimum price is set, the bill provides for a subsidiary minimum price of three or five euros. If, in turn, a maximum price is not set, exorbitant prices for customers cannot be ruled out.
Unequal treatment of taxis vs. Uber and company
Lachmayer imagines unjustified unequal treatment from taxis and car rental companies like Uber or Bolt. Because although the latter can freely set their fare, the classic taxi company is still tied to fares and, therefore, is not competitive. “The planned reform of the Occasional Traffic Law leads to extreme distortions of competition,” said the expert. The collective agreement proves to be a disproportionate usurpation of the freedom of employment of classic taxi drivers. Another point of criticism: there are no transition periods, so taxis have no way of installing the proper communication infrastructures.
Taxis want to stop in front of the VfGH
“If necessary, the industry will not shy away from going to the Constitutional Court,” threatened Erwin Leitner, president of taxis at the Chamber of Commerce.
On Wednesday there was a huge taxi demonstration in Vienna against the new rules.
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