Contrary to the mayor’s claims, Uber says it reduces congestion in streets around the ancient city centre.
Uber Croatia rejected claims made by Dubrovnik Mayor Mate Franković that the reason for the recent traffic collapse in Dubrovnik was the liberalisation of the taxi services market in Croatia and that “one-third of cars in the streets works for Uber.” The company called on the mayor to discuss solutions that would allow for greater mobility of the citizens of Dubrovnik and its guests.
On Friday, Franković apologised to citizens about the collapse which took place on the town’s streets a day earlier, alleging that the reason for the collapse was the new Road Transportation Law, which has brought a certain level of the liberalisation of the taxi market. “Unfortunately, the new law has demonstrated the problems that will happen in our town in the future as well. At this moment, almost every third vehicle in the streets is an Uber vehicle. If we continue like this, similar situations will be repeated in the future,” Franković said.
However, Uber Croatia said the company was surprised by the mayor’s statement because his claims are not based on actual data, since the number of cars used by Uber partner-drivers has actually drastically declined since the Road Transportation Law came into force. “Therefore, the traffic in Dubrovnik has not collapsed due to the liberalisation of the taxi market and Uber’s partner-drivers, but due to other factors,” the press release said, calling on the town authorities to consult with their expert services and investigate the real cause of the traffic collapse.
They agree with the mayor that the probably biggest traffic problem in Dubrovnik is the lack of parking spaces and garages in the city centre, but also argue that one of the solutions is precisely the use of Uber’s services which are an alternative to drivers using their own cars, which actually serves to relieve the overburdened capacities of Dubrovnik streets.
“Studies have shown that one Uber vehicle replaces five to seven private vehicles to transport the same number of people. Restricting traffic around town centres would recreate those images of tourists waiting for hours in the sun because they cannot get a taxi, instead of enjoying the Croatian coast. This is certainly not an experience we want to provide to our guests. We call on Mayor Franković to start a dialogue that will result in fruitful cooperation and solutions that can remove the causes for the traffic collapse while ensuring at the same time greater mobility for citizens and guests of Dubrovnik,” concluded Uber.
