ZAGREB, October 14, 2019 – A survey conducted by the Digitalna Hrvatska association, whose founders include Uber, shows that four in five Croatians support and believe that the liberalisation of the taxi market was a positive move.
Two in three respondents say that lower taxi fares are the biggest benefit of the liberalisation of the tax market.
The respondents were also asked about the possibility of liberalisation of other economic sectors and 12% were entirely against further liberalisation, 32% said they would completely liberalise the economy, and 39% said they were in favour of liberalisation but with certain exceptions.
Healthcare and education are the two sectors where Croatians are the least inclined to support liberalisation, while a large majority want the liberalisation of postal services, energy and forest management, shows the survey.
Digitalna Hrvatska executive director Đuro Lubura said that the liberalisation of the taxi market was exceptionally important for the development of the digital society because it introduced the possibility of using an electronic application instead of a taximeter.
Electronic applications make the service more available as well as more transparent because they show the fare in advance and inform the passenger which driver and which vehicle will pick them up, said Lubura, who considers the liberalisation of the taxi market one of the more successful reforms of the Andrej Plenković government.
Lubura also notes that the arrival of global players like Uber has prompted domestic taxi companies and associations to put their electronic applications on the market.
The survey was conducted by the Promocija Plus agency in August and the first half of September and it covered respondents from towns where more taxi service providers are available. The agency did not, however, say how many respondents took part in the survey.
On its website, Digitalna Hrvatska says that it was established with the aim of promoting new technologies and business models based on the use of those technologies.
More taxi news can be found in the Lifestyle section.
