BARCELONA, SPAIN – JULY 01: In this photo illustration, the app ‘Uber’ is launched in a smart phone on July 1, 2014 in Barcelona, Spain. Taxi drivers in main cities strike over unlicensed car-halling services. Drivers say that is a lack of regulation behind the new app. (Photo Illustration by David Ramos/Getty Images)
Credit: David Ramos
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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