2024-02-14 17:40:00
Uber is launching in Wallonia from this Wednesday. The UberTaxi platform is now available in Liège, Mons and Namur, and allows licensed professional taxi drivers to use the application to offer their services to passengers looking for a ride.
By launching the Uber application, customers have access to the yellow cars which represent the Uber Taxi option. After specifying their destination, they are put in contact with the nearest taxi, as with the LVC option (car rental with driver) available in other regions in Belgium or in other countries. The price of the journey is set by the taximeter and payment is made directly via the application, once the journey is completed.
The objective of the service is to facilitate the connection of professional taxi drivers with additional customers in Liège, Mons and Namur. It also responds to a demand from passengers but also from drivers, explains Laurent Slits, head of Uber operations in Belgium. “Several thousand people opened the application and immediately closed it because the service was not available in Wallonia.
And we spoke with the drivers in these three Walloon towns, we were well received. The platform generates income for drivers, we bring passengers and an application that works. It’s additional business.” Several dozen taxi drivers in Liège, Namur and Mons have decided to join Uber for the moment. The platform hopes to attract more in the coming months and has the ambition to expand in other cities in Wallonia. “We expect that quite a few drivers will also be added in the coming days and weeks,” adds Laurent Slits.
“Some are waiting to see, they will join us if it goes well and if their colleagues recommend it.” The application is already available in Brussels and in many cities in Flanders. Regulations differ depending on the region and current Walloon legislation only allows this service to be offered with “traditional” taxi licenses, therefore not with LVC licenses.
Last September, Wallonia passed a draft decree to reform its legislation on taxis and integrate online reservation platforms, but the text expected by the sector was the subject of criticism. “We see this decree and this modernization of regulations in a positive light,” comments Laurent Slits. “But it contains elements which seem to us to be quite negative for the development of the sector, whether it is a ‘numerus clausus’ which will probably be too low, prices which will perhaps be set too high and above all licenses issued by municipality.” The launch of UberTaxi in the three Walloon cities is, however, independent of future legislative changes, he indicates.
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