The News
Tuesday 23 of April 2024

Poland's taxi drivers hold up traffic over ride-hailing law


AP Photo,FILE - In this Monday, June 5, 2017 file photo, taxi drivers block traffic as they protest the growing number of unlicensed drivers offering transport services in Warsaw, Poland. Hundreds of taxi drivers drove at a crawl and walked in Poland’s capital to protest a new law allowing and regulating ride-hailing services like Uber. The protesters who held up Warsaw traffic on Monday, April 8, 2019 said the law approved last week will put cabbies out of work by subjecting them to unfair competition from people who don’t drive professionally. Infrastructure Minister Andrzej Adamczyk said the law requires ride-hailing services to pay taxes and observe the same rules as cab companies. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski, file)
AP Photo,FILE - In this Monday, June 5, 2017 file photo, taxi drivers block traffic as they protest the growing number of unlicensed drivers offering transport services in Warsaw, Poland. Hundreds of taxi drivers drove at a crawl and walked in Poland’s capital to protest a new law allowing and regulating ride-hailing services like Uber. The protesters who held up Warsaw traffic on Monday, April 8, 2019 said the law approved last week will put cabbies out of work by subjecting them to unfair competition from people who don’t drive professionally. Infrastructure Minister Andrzej Adamczyk said the law requires ride-hailing services to pay taxes and observe the same rules as cab companies. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski, file)

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Hundreds of taxi drivers drove at a crawl and walked in Poland’s capital to protest a new law allowing and regulating ride-hailing services like Uber.

The protesters who held up Warsaw traffic on Monday said the law adopted by the government last week will put cabbies out of work by subjecting them to unfair competition from people who don’t drive professionally.

They walked to the U.S. Embassy to send a message about California-based Uber and continued on to the Enterprise and Technology Ministry.

Infrastructure Minister Andrzej Adamczyk said the law will require ride-hailing services to pay taxes and to follow the same rules as cab companies.

The taxi drivers say they might hold more protests.

Poland’s teachers went on strike Monday after unions said the government didn’t meet their pay demands.