You could say, for Richard Leipold, the money was on the road. But since a few years it will be less. The taxi driver competes increasingly with other driving services to guests. His latest rival in the Eastern districts of Berlin is Berlkönig, a Shuttle Service of the Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG). “We have as much chance of Survival as a snowball in hell,” says Leipold, who is also the spokesman of the Berlin Taxi Association.
The Shuttles are always more. Uber, Lyft, Moia and Via – in many cities around the world, the services of a thread, in addition to the public buses and trams in the road. With some dramatic side effects: In New York, several Cab Driver killed in the past two years. The following Protest of the taxi drivers against the new services was enormous.
if you Ask in the Senate Department for transport, which is in Berlin, no reason for a conflict between taxi drivers and Berlkönigen. The authority has the shared Shuttle and the West Berlin counterpart, the smart Shuttle, to Test for a maximum of four years to be approved. How many people climb into their own car? What effect does this have on the taxi business, transport and the environment? To these questions, the Agency wants to find answers. Target – how the mobility law has been written – less cars in the city.
a taxi driver Richard Leipold is afraid because of the new services the future of Berlin’s Taxis.Photo: dpaFoto: Anne Pollmann/dpa
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the administration, however, brings more vehicles on the road. A total of 130 of the diesel – and electric-powered Tester mix currently in the traffic of the city. Black Berlkönige with the BVG usual blue-and-red-and-black Tarnprint and green smart shuttles. Via the App, the place is booked. Which displays a virtual stop, the passengers are collected.
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to order, unlike that of the Taxi, the passengers do not sit alone, but with others in the car. On the way to or dropped out. Cost: 1.50 Euro per Kilometer, at least four Euro – the transport service is cheaper than a Taxi.
Concerns about streets full of Berlkönige, empty cars, and the unemployed, taxi driver, the LPP is not the first. “The Berlkönig is a Supplementary service to buses and trains. The Taxi speaks to other people,“ says a spokeswoman.
As buses and trains, the Berlkönig is a subsidy business. “Ticket prices do not cover the costs for a long time”, says the BVG spokeswoman. Nevertheless, it is operated at the traffic in jubilant mood. The offer would be accepted, “extremely good”, 120,000 users have downloaded the App, 190.000 trips had been booked. “We are surprised”.
The algorithm and the vehicle fleet ViaVan – a cooperation between Daimler and the US provides American Start-up Via. According to the Joint Venture with its range in more than 40 cities around the world on the road to success.
more and more companies seem to want to set foot in the new market
Daimler is the project not alone, more and more companies seem to want to put together with public enterprises set foot on the new market. Money behind the clever Shuttle is, in turn, the Deutsche Bahn. And in Hamburg, Volkswagen in April, is launching in cooperation with the Hamburg transport Association, the Shuttle service Moia. Also in the German capital Moia wanted to bring 500 yellow electric buses on the road, but was rejected by the Senate Department for transport.
cab speaker Leipold is not the euphoria of the LPP on the success of the Berlkönigs. The shared Shuttle is not grüben only the taxi drivers, the guests, but also buses and Railways and destroyed the existing public TRANSPORT offer. A taxi driver would suddenly be in competition with Mercedes-Benz and the public administration, which are in their price policy much more flexible. As the winner of the big companies would end up alone, the data on the driving behavior of taps.
the lawyer Alexandra Decker looks at the new players the basic supply of public TRANSPORT is threatened. Private companies made decisions on whether a business worthwhile. “Taxi drivers have by law a duty to Transport the passenger,” says Decker. That is exactly why they protect the passenger transport act. “For the practical testing of new types of transport or means of transport” could be exemptions granted, it is said in the law. With such a run Berlkönig and smart Shuttle. (dpa)
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Ridesharing BVG and Daimler Shuttle-service
Henrik Mortsiefer
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