{"id":4265,"date":"2020-03-04T13:09:55","date_gmt":"2020-03-04T13:09:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sportsnewsforyou.com\/?p=4265"},"modified":"2020-03-04T13:09:55","modified_gmt":"2020-03-04T13:09:55","slug":"ubers-x-factor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/?p=4265","title":{"rendered":"Uber\u2019s X-factor"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"art\"><figcaption>\n<p>The ride-sharing service is expanding its offer in Brussels ahead of being legislated by the city\u2019s government | Getty<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<header>\n<h1>Uber\u2019s X-factor<\/h1>\n<p class=\"subhead\">Uber will start a higher-cost service in Brussels in a bid to soften political opposition.<\/p>\n<\/header>\n<footer class=\"meta\">\n<p>\n\t\t\tBy\t\t\t<span class=\"byline\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"vcard\">Tara Palmeri<\/span> <span>and<\/span> <span class=\"vcard\">Ryan Heath<\/span>\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"timestamp\"><time datetime=\"2015-08-12T18:32:11+00:00\">8\/12\/15, 6:32 PM CET<\/time><\/p>\n<\/footer>\n<p>Uber will launch a more expensive service in Brussels in September as a part of a strategy to overcome resistance from legislators and taxi drivers, POLITICO has learned.<\/p>\n<p>Under a\u00a0premium offering known as\u00a0UberX, the digital ride-sharing service is expanding its presence ahead of an expected legalization of Uber\u2019s business model by the Brussels regional government.<\/p>\n<p>At a private meeting Monday, Uber\u00a0introduced the new model to\u00a0drivers, giving them the option to register as licensed\u00a0chauffeurs to qualify for a service already offered in cities like London and Paris.<\/p>\n<p>The expansion comes amidst speculation that\u00a0Uber would be phasing out\u00a0UberPOP, a\u00a0budget\u00a0service that was used to introduce the car-sharing to Brussels. But a company spokesperson said they plan to introduce UberX alongside UberPOP.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe&#8217;re not planning to suspend POP,\u201d said Uber\u00a0spokesperson\u00a0Susanne Elias-Stulemeijer.\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019re always looking at launching new products and Brussels is not an exception.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Paris, Italy and Berlin were forced to suspend their budget\u00a0service under pressure from local taxi drivers and legislators, and instead offer UberX.<\/p>\n<p>According to the Uber spokesperson,\u00a0UberPOP is 40-50 percent cheaper than a taxi and UberX is 20-30 percent cheaper.<\/p>\n<p>That means, however, that the new <span style=\"line-height: 1.5;\">UberX service \u2014 while marketed on\u00a0Uber&#8217;s application as \u2018The Low Cost Uber\u201d \u2014 will actually be a 50 percent price hike on the current offering<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>However, in Stockholm, the only other city in the European Union to offer both services, UberX\u00a0is about twice the price of UberPOP.<\/p>\n<p>Drivers in Brussels were told they should plan for a launch in September at information sessions held earlier this week. Only drivers with cars less than seven years old and with a minimum of four doors are eligible.<\/p>\n<p>In advance of the launch only weeks away, drivers must pass a test on knowledge of Belgian cities and relevant legislation,\u00a0according to an application obtained by POLITICO. Drivers must also visit the\u00a0ophthalmologist.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was at a meeting Monday with many other drivers,\u201d one driver said, in reference to the legal tangles Uber has faced in Brussels.\u00a0\u201cWe are interested to change from UberPOP because it is too complicated now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In 2014, a Brussels court ruled the ride-sharing service was illegal and mandated fining drivers\u00a0\u20ac10,000\u00a0per passenger.<\/p>\n<p>One driver, Gvanni Tiney, has been on a mission to register his fellow Uber drivers as licensed chauffeurs to encourage the launch of UberX.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cI have requested the license and they [Brussels government] will arrange that for me,\u201d Tiney said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cIt will take four to six weeks because of the holidays,\u201d he said, raising his eyebrows regarding Uber&#8217;s target of launch by September.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Uber\u00a0executives also distributed\u00a0talking points to drivers to help them promote and defend the legality, insurance and privacy of the service.<\/p>\n<p>The packet, titled \u201c10 truths about Uber,\u201d has been making the rounds as they prepare for the expansion.<\/p>\n<p>It includes a map of where\u00a0Uber\u00a0rides are taken across Brussels to argue that the service\u00a0complements public transport.<\/p>\n<p>Uber also argues in the documents that Brussels has a specific problem with parking which blocks traffic and creates a need for services like\u00a0Uber\u00a0to help reduce congestion.<\/p>\n<p>Notably,\u00a0Uber\u00a0declared that it&#8217;s in favor of regulation, which could be seen as an admission that it has failed to get around the demands of regulators who have dogged the company across Europe.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are collaborating with politicians to build new rules,\u201d the document states.<\/p>\n<p><em>Antoine Sander contributed to this report<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<footer class=\"content-credits\">\n<h6>Authors:<\/h6>\n<dl class=\"vcard\">\n<dt class=\"credits-author\"><span class=\"vcard\">Tara Palmeri<\/span>&nbsp;<\/dt>\n<p> <span>and<\/span> <\/p>\n<dt class=\"credits-author\"><span class=\"vcard\">Ryan Heath<\/span>&nbsp;<\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n<\/footer>\n<p>Click Here: <a href='https:\/\/www.ifootballshop.com\/ligue-1-479.html' title='France Football Shop'>France Football Shop<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The ride-sharing service is expanding its offer in Brussels ahead of being legislated by the city\u2019s government | Getty Uber\u2019s X-factor Uber will start a higher-cost service in Brussels in a bid to soften political opposition. By Tara Palmeri and Ryan Heath 8\/12\/15, 6:32 PM CET Uber will launch a more expensive service in Brussels&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4265\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}