Class action lawsuits against Uber and undeclared business in Munich Taxi Times Update 2015-02-26

What`s new in the taxi world? Our bilingual ‘update’ summarises the international news of the last days and hours. As some of the links are in foreign languages, we recommend using a website translator.

International News

Class action lawsuits against Uber and Lyft: Some drivers argue they’ve been misclassified as independent contractors and want full employee status.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/102435316

Quote of the day

“Our goal is to have drivers registered as employees so that they can also enjoy the same rights as employees.”

Attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan from Boston hopes to achieve this with a class action lawsuit against Uber + Lyft.

International News

New Volkswagen Caddy with natural gas: A natural gas model of the recently introduced VW Caddy will soon be available.

http://www.carscoops.com/2015/02/vw-unveils-fourth-generation-caddy-van.html

Citroen DS 5 facelifted for 2015: The new look will be presented at the Geneva Motor Show. Here are the first pictures.

http://www.autovolt-magazine.com/citroen-ds5-receives-refreshing-new-look/

Uber cooperates with alcohol app: If this mobile alcohol test shows a blood alcohol level over the limit, the closest available Uber driver will be located and displayed in the app.

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/2015/02/breathometer-and-uber-team-up-battle-drunk-driving.html?page=all

News from Germany

Rate increase refused: Nothing has changed in Munich, where a request for a rate increase to support the interests of larger companies at the same time as those of owner drivers was unsuccessful.

http://www.merkur-online.de/lokales/muenchen/stadt-muenchen/stadt-lehnt-hoehere-taxipreise-4760115.html

Munich – hotbed of revenue cheats? According to a recent audit, there are 600 too many taxis in the city. In addition, the revenues reported by 40% of all taxi operators are “implausible”.

http://www.tz.de/muenchen/stadt/studie-muenchen-viele-taxis-4759151.html

Book and pay: Mercedes announced an additional feature of its mobility app Moovel. Not only can customers book a taxi, they can also pay for it without cash.  The app hails a mytaxi vehicle, which does not exactly improve the already tense relationship between Mercedes and the radio circuits.

http://www.auto-medienportal.net/artikel/detail/29757/