Uber's Advent Angers Croatian Taxi Drivers

The US company Uber is coming to Zagreb, Belgrade and other bigger cities in the region - but the application that enables people to get cheap rides is causing dismay among local taxi drivers.

The application enables ordinary people to register as drivers who are then contacted by the nearest passengers seeking transport.

Uber drivers need no special licences or taxi metres, while the service is paid through the application by direct payment.

The president of Radio Taxi Zagreb, Jozo Kovacevic, said his team of licensed drivers are worried about the future, describing the Uber service as part of the "grey" economy.

"I cannot find more suitable expression to use without calling it a catastrophe for us, for the state and for Zagreb," he said. "With all the problems we have with an over-saturated market in the taxi business, this comes as an additional shock," Kovacevic told BIRN.

Unlike drivers in the Uber system, his regular taxi drivers need to get a degree from traffic high school, have three years of driving experience, pass a special taxi test (in driving skills and knowledge of the roadmap), pass a specialized test with the chamber of economy, take a physical exam and possess a certificate guaranteeing they they have no criminal record.

"Who will regulate what kind of cars are driven on such a wild market covered by the Uber system?" he asked, adding that such cars ought to have to meet defined technical requirements, such as having airbags and air-conditioning, with minimum dimensions for the vehicle and its trunk.

Kovacevic noted that Zagreb already has one taxi driver per 540 citizens, while in Germany there is one taxi driver per 1,000 citizens.

"We will be informing our clients through the media, and I...