Story by
Paul Sawers
Paul Sawers was a reporter with The Next Web in various roles from May 2011 to November 2014. Follow Paul on Twitter: @psawers or check h Paul Sawers was a reporter with The Next Web in various roles from May 2011 to November 2014. Follow Paul on Twitter: @psawers or check him out on Google+.
First Uber was effectively banned in Germany, then sign-ups surged in the wake of this news, then the ban was suspended in Berlin. Now, Uber is cutting prices in the German capital to comply with local laws to side-step the ban, as the Wall Street Journal reports.
Rather than charging the equivalent of $2 per kilometer, the company is now charging $0.44 – basically the cost of running the car on its lower-cost UberPop service. This is because German legislation allows fares of this level as they equate to ‘ride-sharing’, as there’s no profit generated from the transaction.
This is basically Uber circumventing the ban for now to buy itself more time, as it continues to fight resistance to its service across the country.
➤ Uber Technologies Cuts Fares in Germany to Comply With Law [WSJ]
Thumbnail image credit – David Ramos/Getty Images
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