Uber asks banks for loans: the ride provider is currently negotiating with banks for a loan of one billion dollars. Experts see this as preparation for flotation on the stock exchange.
MyTaxi discount campaign – banned in Germany, extended in Austria:
At the beginning of May, passengers who ordered their rides via MyTaxi and paid by credit card were reimbursed for half of the taxi fare. While first courts banned the campaign in Germany, the campaign period was extended by two weeks in Austria.
Germany: http://www.zdnet.de/88235473/taxiverband-erwirkt-einstweilige-verfuegung-gegen-mytaxi-app/
Quote of the day
“We want to prevent continued misleading advertising of 50% discount on taxi journeys nationwide.”
Thomas Grätz, Lawyer and Managing Director of the German taxi association BZP, explains why legal action was taken against MyTaxi.
Automobile news
The grant for driving on natural gas is extended in Germany: this was confirmed by politicians at the natural gas symposium in Berlin last week. . At the same event it became clear that Volkswagen is planning a natural gas variant for the new Caddy and the new T6.
Kia bietet in Deutschland Taximodelle an: Weil in der Taxibranche das Interesse an Kia-Modellen wachse, hat der Hersteller nun ein Taxiprogramm für die Modelle Carens, Cee`d, Optima und Sportage gestartet. Die Umbauarbeiten übernimmt das Unternehmen Elmar Pütting. Kia ist damit der erste Importeur, der seine Taximodelle für Deutschland nicht über Intax umrüsten lässt.
http://www.fuhrpark.de/taxi-offensive-bei-kia/150/1799/87726/
News from Germany
Interesting insights: why does a Berlin taxi driver provide journeys for three providers at once (Taxi Berlin, myTaxi and Uber)? And what did the MyTaxi discount campaign cost the Hamburg company? You can find the answers to these questions in an interesting article in the newspaper “Die Welt”.
Hobby and wheelchair taxis: does a city like Düsseldorf really need a Bentley with 12 cylinders and 625 HP for €260,000 as a taxi? The Caddy with a wheelchair ramp seems much more sensible. Both models are introduced as “curious taxis” in an article in the Rheinischen Post.
http://www.rp-online.de/nrw/staedte/duesseldorf/ein-bentley-und-andere-kuriose-taxis-aid-1.5111774
News from Switzerland
Taxi competition in the canton of Aargau: the district of Frick has rented a further stopping place at the train station. This means that two taxi operations are now in direct competition with each other.
http://www.aargauerzeitung.ch/aargau/fricktal/entbrennt-in-frick-ein-taxi-streit-129167803
Our last words
Embarrassing mistake: at this point in our updates, we often like to amuse ourselves (often with a wink) about the mistakes of others. This time we have to take a look at ourselves. The London colleague, whose rainbow taxi we reported on in our last update, is of course not FOR but rather AGAINST homophobia. We apologize for this faux pas.
About this update: Our bilingual ‘update’ summarises the international news of the last days and hours. As some of the links are in foreign languages, we recommend using a website translator.
