People hit back in Uber’s defence

JANELSA OUMA

Recent attacks on Uber drivers in Brisbane has caused an outpouring of anger and support from the users of the ride-sharing app.

Ride-share app user Anna Banhazi said that she believed that the apps would do little to hinder Uber’s continued popularity.

“I’m even more scared now to step into a cab after reading the sort of violence that is being propagated within the company,” she said.

“I’d love to see cab companies use some creativity to come up with better ways to engage with the market rather than fear campaigning and  bashing the public,” Ms Banhazi said.

A spokesperson for Uber Queensland said that the the attacks and the continued fear campaign from the taxi industry were concerning.

“The safety of our driver partners and riders is our priority and we will be doing whatever we can to support them and help the authorities with their investigation,” the spokesperson said.

“The taxi lobby and its associates have long used fear, misinformation and intimidation in its campaign against ride-sharing and it would be a very worrying turn of events if these alleged assaults happened as a result of this campaign,” they said.

The Palaszczuk government has announced that its review into ensuring a fair balance between established taxi services and ride-sharing services like Uber would take another year to complete.

“Hundreds of thousands of Queenslanders are choosing ride-sharing to get around their cities and over 4,000 rely on it for a flexible income; these people deserve some certainty that their choices are respected by the Government,” Uber said.

Uber is urging Queensland to follow the example set by the ACT, to change ‘the status quo’ and and create laws for the service to operate without contempt.

“We therefore call on the Minister to follow the lead of the ACT and exercise her power to implement sensible interim ride-sharing regulations in advance of legislation being introduced after the review concludes in 2016.”