|
 Uber Technologies Inc responded by offering free rides to customers
to help alleviate transport issues on what it called a "difficult
day for getting around."
The company has come under fire in countries around the world, with
local taxi drivers complaining that Uber drivers are not properly
regulated and have fewer overhead costs, which makes them unfairly
competitive.
Lawmakers in Sao Paulo, Brazil's biggest city, and capital city
Brasilia have already voted to ban Uber after protests by local taxi
drivers. The bills still require executive approval before taking
force.
In Rio, cabbies parked their yellow taxis in a chain stretching for
5 kilometers (3 miles) along one of the city's main thoroughfares
that connects the affluent south zone with the central business
district. Taxi drivers honked their horns and chanted.
"We want to combat the illegal (drivers). We are the official ones,
we have a responsibility, we are professionals who have families,"
said Alexander Campos, a taxi driver from Belo Horizonte who drove
the 400 kilometers (248 miles) to Rio for the protest.
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In a statement, Uber said it defends customer choice and that
"innovation is crucial" in a city like Rio, "which has a population
in need of more options and receives millions of tourists a year."
The company also offered people in Rio two free rides up to the
value of 50 reais ($15) each from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. local time, with
an accompanying Twitter hashtag #RIONAOPARA or "Rio doesn't stop."
($1 = 3.32 reais)
(Reporting by Reuters TV in Rio de Janeiro and Stephen Eisenhammer
in Brasilia; Editing by Dan Grebler)
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