|
 Aside from the fleet limit, the plan seen by Reuters aims to enforce
a minimum car value of 250,000 pesos ($15,909) on Uber and companies
like it, a big worry for the ride-hailing service that is coming
under increasing pressure from regulators.
The San Francisco-based company said the minimum value would hit
hard Uber X, its cheapest and most popular service used by 90
percent of drivers. The start-up cost to most drivers using the
service was about 150,000 pesos, Uber said.
"This would imply the end of Uber X," the company said in a
statement. "This would dramatically increase the cost and decrease
availability for Mexican riders."
A Mexico City government official working on the regulation
confirmed the details of the plan, which was drafted on Thursday and
is expected to be finished next week. The official noted that
details of the draft are still being negotiated.
The draft does not specify the exact car limit. Regulation by Mexico
City would be the first for Uber in Latin America.
All cars in Mexico City worth over 250,000 pesos are subject to an
annual tax, meaning the proposed regulation carries a potential
double-whammy for the services.
No city in the world has yet imposed a cap on the number of Uber
cars in circulation, Uber's public policy chief Corey Owens said
this week in an interview.
Ruben Alcantara, a taxi union leader, said he would demand that
Uber's cars cost at least 400,000 pesos when he meets with the
government to discuss the regulation on Monday.
[to top of second column] |
Uber, which has been valued at over $40 billion, opened in Mexico
City in 2013 and says it is one of its fastest-growing markets with
500,000 customers and over 10,000 drivers, some of whom share cars.
Its competitor Cabify, which says it has 300,000 users in the city,
said a limit on its number of vehicles made "no sense" because many
of its drivers worked part-time.
The planned regulation would also require Uber's drivers to have
permits and to pay a percentage of its revenue to a city transport
fund, as shown by an earlier draft.
A city official said on Tuesday the permits were expected to cost
1,599 pesos a year and the revenue levy would be 1.5 percent, a
figure that Owens put at the "high end" of what the company pays in
other major cities.
The figures could still change, officials say.
($1 = 15.7143 Mexican pesos)
(Reporting by Max de Haldevang; Editing by Dave Graham, Bernard Orr)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
