“This is very bad news.” Uber’s arrival in Lugano is already creating discontent among the members of the city’s Taximeters Association, as a representative who prefers to remain anonymous told ‘laRegione’. A job, that of taxi drivers, is not the easiest and in Lugano there has been some tension recently and with the arrival of the San Francisco company it may not improve.
‘Only private individuals work’
Uber, we recall, specified in its press release today that “this expansion offers an economic opportunity to local taxi drivers”, but it does not seem so for our interlocutor: «I have been waiting for over two hours at the station waiting for a customer. For the moment, no one has contacted us in category A (taxi drivers who ‘collaborate’ with the Municipality thanks to the permission to stop in certain designated spaces, ed.). Uber has only spoken to companies that have websites, which in most cases are private taxi drivers». The situation for this group of professionals – who until now were seen as ‘privileged’ by those in category B, i.e. those who do not have this possibility of picking up customers in public spaces – therefore seems to be getting complicated. «It is still too early to make an initial assessment, but what happened today is significant: we usually receive a few calls. Today, however, the phone did not ring, while independent colleagues worked much more. The impact on our category therefore already seems significant. We will remain stationary to wait for customers in the assigned parking spaces, while people will book the ride from the application and it will be loaded before our eyes”.
Valenzano Rossi: ‘We’ll talk about it in the Town Hall’
However, there seems to be some hope on the horizon for category A too. «The City was informed that Uber would also be arriving in Lugano – the head of the Security and Urban Spaces department tells us Karin Valenzano Rossi – with a willingness to dialogue. Now we need to understand what impact it will have on the current setup. Naturally, I hope for good formulas for a correct service to the user. Currently, there is an ordinance that provides conditions for the exercise by authorized taxi drivers who also have the possibility of stopping in the spaces on public land specifically designated for taxis. We will therefore need to understand what the methods will be and what impact it will have on the current situation with respect to the ordinance. We will have the opportunity to talk about it soon in the Town Hall too».
