Transport Minister Wants To Regulate Uber

Transport Minister Dan Tok wants to prepare with the parties represented in the Chamber of Deputies a wider amendment to the law on taxi services to solve the situation around alternative taxi services of the Uber type.

He originally planned that restrictive measures against alternative taxi services be adopted fast due to the protests of Prague taxi drivers.

At today’s meeting with the parties, Tok failed to push through discussion on the amendment in accelerated proceedings.

Tok wanted to achieve in the first stage that only drivers who have a licence for providing taxi services can provide such services.

In the second stage, he wanted to hold talks about easier access of modern technologies to taxi services so that it would be possible to call a taxi with the help of mobile and Internet applications.

After the meeting with the parties in the Chamber of Deputies, Tok has opted for drawing up a comprehensive amendment to change the situation.

The new rules will be valid for everyone and all drivers will have to pay taxes from their income.

The situation cannot be solved in a few months, Tok said. “In the end, I am glad that we will not solve it in two steps but in the most possible complex way,” he declared.

Not only the loudest ones have to be heard, the environment needs to get balanced, Tok added.

The parties in the Chamber of Deputies also agreed that discussion on the amendment could be shorter but they reject its approval already in the first reading.

Jakub Michalek, head of the Pirates deputies club, said that the comprehensive legislation could be approved in roughly a year.

The taxi drivers will discuss further course of action, they will certainly meet this week already, their representatives said. They threaten to protest again.

The protesting taxi drivers talked about the problem last week also with Prime Minister Andrej Babis and with Tok. After talks with their representatives, both politicians promised to take relevant steps.