Taxi drivers block streets in Buenos Aires after Uber launch.

[forest444]

Uber, the smartphone app that connects riders and drivers, launched on Tuesday (April 12) in Buenos Aires without authorization, triggering protests by taxi drivers who blocked major avenues and snarled traffic.

"The Uber smartphone app will be available as of 4:00 p.m today Buenos Aires time, and can be downloaded at the App Store," the San Francisco-based company said on Twitter.

Although ride-hailing apps have risen rapidly to become a booming industry, they face stiff resistance from traditional taxis and bans over safety concerns and questions about legal issues including taxes.

Taxi drivers often complain that Uber drivers do not pay for permits or taxes; Uber argues it is not a transport company like taxi firms - just an app. "What they are doing is illegal. They are not delivering transport under existing laws," Buenos Aires Transport Secretary Juan José Méndez told TN cable news.

The Buenos Aires metro area is home to 13 million people, around 2 million of whom commute in and out of Buenos Aires every day. The city proper alone has some 38,000 taxis.

Uber does not employ drivers or own vehicles; but uses private contractors with their own cars instead, allowing them to run their own businesses. Licensed taxi drivers, who must undergo hundreds of hours of training in some countries, accuse Uber of endangering their jobs by flooding the market with cheaper drivers who need only a GPS to get around.

At: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/business/international/taxi-drivers-block/2690792.html

[RandySF]

1. K&R

[forest444]

2. Thanks, Randy.

Uber got a similar welcome in neighboring Uruguay, where Montevideo's 3,000 taxi drivers protested the same thing: that Uber drivers are being given a pass from many of the time-consuming and expensive requirements - even taxes - that normal taxi drivers have to go through.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/110845387

[msongs]

3. uber just drives down income of working people so rich can make more. the millenials love that. nt

[forest444]

4. In that sense Uber goes hand in glove with Argentina's recently elected GOP clone, President Macri.

Between Macri's $10 billion-a-year tax cut for the wealthy, subsidy and service cuts to everyone else, and policies that have already led to a sharp rise in inflation and the sudden loss of close to 20% of purchasing power by the average Joe, they're seeing a massive transfer of wealth to the top literally before their very eyes.

The worst part is, they as a country have been put through this before. But like in many majority-white countries, race-baiting makes for good politics in Argentina - and that's how Macri was (narrowly) elected. Qué será.