Ministry of Finance and Economy Shall Investigate If Radio Taxi 141 Infringed Freedom of Competition Rules
Five drivers were penalized for ten days after using the applications available on the Internet
The Commission for the Defence of Competition –an organ which is dependent on the Ministry of Finance and Economy- will analyse an ex officio investigation to determine if the Centre for Owners of Cars with Taximeter in Uruguay (CPATU) and Radio Taxi 141 incurred in practices that infringe the freedom of competition by penalizing taxi drivers using internet applications such as Easy Taxi and SaferTaxi, as well as impeding its use in general.
As official sources explained to El Observador, if the decision of Radio Taxi 141 of not allowing the use of internet applications to order a cab is confirmed, it does not only imply an “abuse of dominant position, but it is also a practice carried out through a trade association to limit the competition. It is clearly an illegal practice,” source stated.
Five taxi drivers were suspended without pay during 10 days by Radio Taxi 141 for using Easy Taxi and Safer Taxi applications, informed Oscar Dourado from the CPATU to 180 web portal. In fact, the penalty is applicable to the car, so it affects all those driving it, whether users or not of the application.
For instance, the cars could not work with the radio system last Sunday. A driver registered at Easy Taxi and owner of several cars associated to Radio Taxi 141 told El Observador that at least two colleagues were penalized although they had complied with the decision of the meeting and had not accepted any ride through the application after the approval of the measure. One of the drivers sought for advice in the Ministry of Employment but, as a he is an owner, he was recommended to file a civil complaint. The term of suspension of the use of the radio increases according to the relapse.
Despite the Ministry of Finance and Economy did not receive any complaint by the companies or workers affected by this matter, the Commission for the Defence of Competition intends to “act ex-officio” to deal with this matter throughout this week. The sources consider that there “are merits” to analyse “possible illegal behaviours in the Radio Taxi 141 and Radio Taxi”.
Controversy
Last Friday, El Observador informed that the Radio Taxi 141 decided to suspend those taxi drivers using internet applications such as Easy Taxi and SaferTaxi. Around 2,000 drivers are registered in these companies, amount which is more than half of the fleet of taxis available in Montevideo. The plausible extinction of the radio operators, which employ 300 workers, is what both the Sole Trade Association of Cars with Taxi Drivers and Telephone Operators (SUATT) and Radio Taxi 141 are afraid of.
The drivers and owners of taxis increasingly use the Internet as it is also more convenient in economic terms. While Radio Taxi charges $1700 per car each month to gain access to the radio system, applications are free and just demand Internet connection with the car.
In fact, upon this situation, Radio Taxi 141 announced that it would develop its own Internet application to book trips. The president of the association, Oscar Dourado, had revealed to El Observador that a new application with Android technology will be created for “all the workers” and which will “cover the whole country”. “It will be free for the taxi driver and for the user,” he explained. The company will start using the new application next June 15th.
“We bought 3,000 telephones to Antel,” stated Dourado and added that the state entity shall offer “communication and technological support”. The CPATU that registered seven new names of applications intends to “protect the job positions of 453 telephone operators across the whole country,” Dourado said. The application created by students of the School of Engineering and ORT University seeks to be approved by the Municipality of Montevideo.
Pioneers
Easy Taxi was launched last December in Uruguay and already has 1500 taxis registered in Montevideo. The application was developed in Brazil but now-a-days it operates in countries as Nigeria or Philippines. It is free and works for Android and iOS and it also has its web version. SaferTaxi, on the other hand, has 500 taxis in Montevideo and was developed by two Harvard graduates. It has 25,000 taxi drivers and 1,400 million clients registered across Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil and Chile.
