UBER
An illustration picture shows the logo of car-sharing service app Uber on a smartphone next to the picture of an official German taxi sign in Frankfurt, September 15, 2014. A Frankfurt high court will hold a hearing on a recent lawsuit brought against Uberpop by Taxi Deutschland on Tuesday. San Francisco-based Uber, which allows users to summon taxi-like services on their smartphones, offers two main services, Uber, its classic low-cost, limousine pick-up service, and Uberpop, a newer ride-sharing service, which connects private drivers to passengers - an established practice in Germany that nonetheless operates in a legal grey area of rules governing commercial transportation. The company has faced regulatory scrutiny and court injunctions from its early days, even as it has expanded rapidly into roughly 150 cities around the world. Reuters/Kai Pfaffenbach

Uber Australia boss David Rohrsheim has raised questions on the compensation deal that NSW government has proposed for taxi license owners. The doubt arose following the permission granted to the ride-sharing company to operate legally in New South Wales.

Rohrsheim seemed surprised to know about the introduction of one dollar levy to be imposed on Uber as well as traditional cabs and hire cars. “The idea of a levy though does sound a bit surprising. People are looking for affordable ways to get from A to B and we do find it a bit strange a government would willingly raise those fares,” the Uber chief told AM.

“I find it strange that the [NSW] Government would get in the middle of that and willingly raise fares which makes this transportation less attractive.”

The NSW government has made Uber rides legal from Friday along with allowing taxi owners to get a compensation worth up to $250 million due to the declining value of licences. The government has initiated a package for the purpose, which will be funded by $1 levy on all journeys and is supposed to generate extra revenue of $50 million for five years. NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance said he believes that the taxi fares will decrease as the authorities have removed many costs on the industry.

Rohrsheim also questioned the announcement made by the government on Thursday, which stated compensating current taxi license owners in NSW to make sure they get returns on their devaluing investments. The Uber chief criticised payment of compensation worth $20,000 per plate to a limit of two platters as one of the most vital issues that needed careful examination.

“These taxi plates have been, in some cases, granted free of charge and some people have held them for many, many decades and have enjoyed a very, very healthy return, so I think they’ve had a very, very good run,” he argued.

Rohrsheim claimed that a review is going on across Australia to come to a valid conclusion regarding the compensation deal, and therefore, NSW authorities should also show some leadership by waiting for the completion of the reviews before taking any decision.

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