Transport App Bill Would Remove 70 Percent of Drivers From São Paulo’s Streets

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Bill (PL) 419/18, which creates additional regulations for transport apps in the city of São Paulo, would take 70 percent of drivers off the streets, estimate Uber and 99.

The City Council was expected to vote on the text on Thursday, December 19th, after having deferred the discussion scheduled for last Wednesday, but late Thursday evening the vote on the controversial matter was postponed until March 11, 2020.

The estimate relates to the number of cars that would no longer circulate due to the project’s proposal to limit the number of vehicles linked to apps, to the number of taxi licenses in the city (currently 40,000).

This in itself would decrease the number of service providers to these companies by 150,000. According to Uber, with the limitation, approximately 1.9 million users will no longer be served monthly.

Other limitations in the text, authored by city councilor Adilson Amadeu, require the driver to be the owner of the vehicle used to provide the service, licensed in the city of São Paulo and with a maximum of eight years of manufacture.

Currently, about 65 percent of drivers rent the cars they use to work – traditional rental companies see this niche as an important source of revenue (about 20 percent of the fleet) and there are startups focused only on renting to those working for Uber, 99 or Cabify. The cars registered outside the city represent 65 percent of the fleet.

“Bill no. 419/18 creates bureaucratic barriers to prevent drivers from generating income for their families and brings no benefit to passengers,” countered 99 in a statement.

“On the contrary, it puts an end to competition by fixing prices, reduces service availability in the city by limiting the number of drivers. It’s a retrograde project, which attempts to reproduce the taxi legislation, in a worsened manner, which is already more than 50 years old,” it noted.

What the project intends

In 2018, federal legislation granted municipalities the power to regulate urban mobility within the requirements established at a national level.

For the author of the project, there is “insecurity in the proposed model” by the transport apps and “several studies in large cities point to a wholly anarchic model that has been placing urban mobility in jeopardy in the city”.

Source: Infomoney