“Until today, they haven't brought Uber in, because it doesn't suit our society and the level of responsibility we expect,” explains Yehuda Bar-Or, 70, who has chaired the Taxi Drivers' Union for the past two decades. “It’s a decision about fearing who will take you, it’s about fearing being in an accident.”
Bar-Or also criticizes the retirement conditions offered by the Ministry of Transport to drivers. "In the end, these changes will affect older people. So the Ministry comes and says, they’ll also destroy our profession, and provide an unsuitable amount of compensation that doesn't allow us to make a living? There are people for whom this is their future, and who have relied on it being so.”
Last week, the Ministry of Transport announced that it has begun a process to try to bring the ride-share company 'Uber' to Israel, a move that in most countries has largely replaced the taxi industry. The announcement comes almost a decade after the last time Uber tried to enter the country and was blocked due to Regulation 84a in the Traffic Ordinance, which prohibits a person without a state license from transporting people for payment. The regulation was formulated to protect consumer safety. To transport people in Israel, a course of at least three months is required, for both bus drivers and taxi drivers. However, now the Ministry of Transport is considering changing the rules to allow for Uber's business model to work within Israel’s regulations, subsequently enabling the transportation giant to enter the Israeli market.
"This will destroy the industry. How can a person who has to deal with oversight, commissions, and insurance, compete with a kid with a car?" asks Bar-Or. "It's also dangerous. Ultimately, it means I don't know who is driving me, I don't know if he's a dangerous person, or a tired soldier returning from the army. It's removing supervision."
Uber's business model is essentially similar to that of the Gett Taxi app; the app connects drivers and customers with rides and takes a commission from the connection. However, unlike Gett Taxi, where only licensed and state-supervised taxi drivers can work, Uber aims to allow any driver who has completed a short registration process to take rides, thereby greatly increasing the number of available drivers. Its main cost saving is the price of oversight.
Bar-Or warns that this is a security and traffic threat. From a security perspective, the plan published by the Ministry of Transportation states that, unlike abroad, a police certificate of good conduct will be required to register as a driver. However, Bar-Or is skeptical. “What if the father is perfectly fine, but his son isn't, and he takes the vehicle? What if he is a dangerous driver but doesn't get caught?”
Bar-Or is not alone in his concern. Beyond the practical aspect of preventing attacks, there are also those who point to a serious issue of trust. Even during times of high tension in Jewish-Arab relations, it seems that the average Israeli Jew is accustomed to encountering Arab workers in everyday life, in taxis and hospitals, and to place basic trust in them, and vice versa. It is not certain that this trust is maintained when it comes to getting into the car of an ordinary citizen, even if he presumably holds a certificate of good conduct.
Safety provides another problem. Taxi drivers in Israel undergo training and are supervised, including regulations on taxi models, vehicle age, inspections, driver training, mandatory insurance, and more. The Ministry of Transportation hopes that a basic check and deterrent punishment will be enough to protect consumers and ensure that Uber drivers do not drive neglected or dangerous vehicles. But Bar-Or is skeptical about this as well. "How will they supervise? Who will supervise? Today there are eighteen inspectors trying to supervise 25,000 drivers and they are not succeeding. Will they be able to supervise 250,000 drivers?
“It's a question for everyone to ask themselves: who will drive my daughter? Who will drive my children? Who will drive my wife? Why would you want to be in a situation where you're afraid to trust your driver? It's not in the nature of our society. Everywhere Uber entered, there were lawsuits, harassment, fear, and in the end, also a monopoly.”
“People paid 280,000 shekels for a license, and they want to give them 'compensation' of 200,000 shekels”
Bar-Or speaks in a pained and concerned tone about the profession, but his voice breaks when he starts talking about the state's offer. “People put their whole lives, money, and time, into building a profession. They thought they would grow old with it. In the end, they are told that they will get a 'compensation' of 200,000 shekels. People paid 280,000 shekels for a license, for a profession, and they will give them 200,000 shekels in compensation? We don't have another profession. I thought this would be my pension. I'm not the only one."
As part of the proposed framework provided by the Ministry of Transport, it was suggested that any taxi driver who wishes to leave the profession due to Uber's entry could sell back their license for a 'compensation' of 200,000 shekels. A driver who wants to stay in the field and compete in the new market against drivers who did not invest 280,000 shekels in a license could receive a bonus incentive of 50,000 shekels. “Is this compensation? A taxi driver invested 280,000 shekels in this career. And very few of the drivers I know feel they will succeed if they stay in this profession after Uber enters; they feel they have no chance. We won't let this happen, we will fight by any means necessary.”
Bar-Or sees the compensation offered to drivers as an affront to their dignity as workers. “As an Israeli, I think Uber is bad, it doesn't suit our society, it breaks things apart. But if the public already wants Uber, how can they treat us like this? They take our profession, which people relied on for their retirement, and then throw us out with less than what we invested in it?”
In his opinion, it is possible to act differently. "Why risk the drivers and passengers just to save a few shekels? Eventually, prices will rise, and a monopoly will form." Bar-Or's statements are based on real cases. Although in most places where Uber entered the market taxi prices dropped significantly, in most countries prices eventually rose again, even surpassing their levels before Uber's entry. This is similar to the power of many apps, like Wolt and Gett Taxi, which become the "default" choice, or even synonymous with the service they provide.
“There is currently no shortage of taxis in Israel. On the contrary, there are more taxis per capita than in the Western world. So, they want to lower the price a bit? After all, prices in Israel are regulated; you must use a meter, and so on. So they want to remove the oversight so people can be exploited? If they eased the burden on the driver – by offering lower vehicle taxes, lower insurance, and lower fees – they could have lowered the fare even further."
Translated by Benji Sharp