LAMEZIA TERME (CATANZARO) – Apparently the private rental service of the American giant Uber (recently presented to the regional citadel by the president Roberto Occhiuto and the general manager of Uber Italy, Lorenzo Pireddu) needs a running-in period. In fact, there have been several complaints in these first days of the service starting up in Calabria (in particular from the airport of Lamezia Terme, the airport where passengers mostly use rental services, including taxis) which has already had to overcome obstacles such as appeals to the Constitutional Court and protests from the unions of taxi drivers and rental companies with drivers who have also recently gone on strike.
In fact, the Uber Black and Uber Van mobility services have started (with the famous black sedans of Uber Black and the more capacious Uber Van, both operated by car owners and holders of rental authorizations with Calabrian drivers) in airports and in the main tourist areas . There are already 50 operators in service as announced. It’s a shame that more than someone complained (in addition to the Usb Taxi Calabria union which returned to office again after the strike of recent days). «Try to book a ride with Uber from Lamezia Terme airport to Lamezia Centro – RC says on social media – wait and hope that it will then come true. Dear President Occhiuto, it was certainly an interesting opportunity but he forgot that we are in Calabria and the mentality still remains prehistoric.” At that point he is asked: “That is, they didn’t give you availability?”. RC replies: «Practically worse, but I avoid writing it».
Contacted by the Quotidiano del Sud, RC confirms what was written on social media explaining what happened: «After getting off the plane at Lamezia Terme airport, I called Uber with the application to reach the center of Lamezia Terme, the booking was successful but after a few minutes, Uber contacts me telling me that they couldn’t reach me as we had established at the first contact and ends the call without further explanations. I contacted Uber again until 1pm but to no avail. So I ask myself, what is the point of this service if there is no availability?”.
A “false start”, then. Maybe. Certainly the landing in Calabria of the multinational Uber has not pleased the union Usb Taxi Calabria that has long contested the arrival in Calabria of Uber. “Why focus – asks Saverio Bartoluzzi of Usb Taxi Calabria – on a multinational and not improve the fight against illegal vehicles, vans without licenses or drivers who are not registered with the order?”. He adds that this “is a fact”, that of “attacking taxis that pay taxes in Italy and offer the service to the public at a cost 25/30% lower, improperly calling them lobbies in a derogatory sense”. It is reiterated that as Usb Taxi Calabria “months ago we asked to be received with a delegation of taxi drivers from Lamezia Terme who offer the service at the airport of Lamezia Terme to discuss the differences between Uber and local public taxis”.
Usb goes further and asks if President Occhiuto «is aware that Uber’s billion-dollar turnover ends up in the Dutch tax haven? And he knows that Uber has transferred its intellectual property rights from Bermuda to the Netherlands, where it has found a more favorable tax regime». And that «according to Cictar, the multinational Uber has used around 50 Dutch shell companies to reduce its global tax burden». Usb Taxi Calabria is aware that «this form of relocation from Bermuda to the Netherlands convinced Uber to transfer its intellectual property rights in 2019, allowing the multinational based in San Francisco to declare a loss of 4.5 billion dollars despite having earned 5.8 billion in global revenue in 2019». And again: «According to what was revealed by Business Insider, Uber transferred its intellectual property through a “loan” of 16 billion dollars from one of its subsidiaries in Singapore which, in turn, owns one of Uber’s Dutch shell companies. A maneuver that grants the company a tax break of one billion dollars every year for the next 20 years, say the researchers at Cictar.
