Hungary, Talk Real

Budapest: Hundreds of taxi drivers protest against Uber

Taxi drivers are demanding that the same regulations apply to Uber as to them.
budapest_taxi_1
Photography by: Orsi Pósfai

After a several-day protest held in downtown Budapest in January, taxi drivers once again moved to protest against Uber and unfair regulations. On Tuesday more than 200 cars took the streets in a march to demand the adoption of new regulations that would close the gap between Uber and traditional taxi drivers. Budapest taxi drivers are subject to very strict regulations in exchange for which the authorities guarantee higher unified prices across all taxi companies. Uber, which is not bound by these regulations, however, can offer much lower prices, while not adhering to the security prescriptions for personal transport. Taxi drivers are thus frustrated by the conditions of unfair competition. They demand that the government adopt regulations for Uber drivers to make them register and pay taxes.

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Text by Szilárd István Pap
Photography and video by Orsi Pósfai

Bio

Krytyka Polityczna

Krytyka Polityczna (Political Critique) is the largest Eastern European liberal network of institutions and activists. It consists of the online daily Dziennik Opinii, a quarterly magazine, publishing house, cultural centres in Warsaw, Łódź, Gdańsk and Cieszyn, activist clubs in a dozen cities in Poland (and also in Kiev and Berlin), as well as a research centre: the Institute for Advanced Study in Warsaw.