Israel: failing to comply with transportation law, Tel Aviv court orders Uber to partially stop its taxi ordering services

Monday, November 27, 2017

Today, Israeli district court of Tel Aviv ordered US-based taxi booking application Uber to stop its UberDAY and UberNIGHT pilot services from Wednesday. Chief Justice Eitan Orenstein said the drivers registered for those services lacked business license or insurance needed for the passengers, which was against Israeli transportation law.

“If they [drivers] won’t get insurance, I won’t let them drive a metre”

The case, which was filed by another taxi ordering application Gett Taxi, and Tel Aviv union of taxi drivers, for Uber breaching the safety regulation rules. Uber, who has been functioning in Israel since September 2016, released a statement which said, “We are committed to continuing to cooperate with the authorities, to examine how our technology can provide reliable, cost-effective and safe transportation options”.

Almost six weeks ago, UberDAY and UberNIGHT services, which are currently in test phase, were made available 24×7. Speaking the The Jerusalem Post, Uber Israel CEO Yoni Greifman said, “The transportation regulations were drafted in the 1960s and they haven’t been updated, before cell phones and technology […] We are trying to operate within the correct regulation, but in a regulatory world that doesn’t suit the current reality… It is going to be absurd if we are start-up nation and we are at the forefront of automotive technologies but we cant get Uber.” Public transit is not available at night hours and on Saturday, which is national holy rest day, which the Israelis call Shabbat.

Those services — UberDAY and UberNIGHT — allows anyone with a car, who has registered with Uber to drive a passenger expecting a “reimbursement” for vehicle maintenance and and fuel expense in return. However, these drivers do not have a valid business license to operate or even a proper insurance for passengers. Uber has been following this “non-profit” business model of UberDAY and UberNIGHT in various cities across the world, charging the private drivers 25% of the reimbursement.

Per the Israeli transport law, drivers need a proper operating license and insurance to ask passengers for money in return. In May, Transportation Ministry personnel investigated and discovered Uber allowed people without operation license to drive the customers. Chief Justice Eitan Orenstein said, “If they [drivers] won’t get insurance, I won’t let them drive a metre” in his ruling. However, this ban would not cease Uber’s regular taxi booking services as those drivers possess valid operating license and insurance for customers.

Uber has been involved in various court cases, allegations of sexism in the company, and incidents of sexual assault by the drivers. Last week, Uber’s CEO Dara Khosrowshahi revealed a security breach that took place last year, which involved 57 million people’s personal information being compromised. In the statement published on Uber’s official website, the CEO said he came to know about this breach “recently”. Uber paid US$100,000 to two people to delete the information who downloaded it from Amazon.com’s Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Uber was banned from operating in England’s capital London after September, failing to comply with security regulations. In the official statement on their website, Transport for London said Uber London Limited was “not fit and proper to hold a private hire operator license”. Uber was banned from Bulgaria and Denmark, and faces regulatory issues in France, Italy, Hungary, Spain and various states in its home country, the United States.

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