The Uber taxi revolution launches in Zagreb today.
Having already conquered 62 markets and more than 340 cities, starting at noon on Thursday Uber will be available in Zagreb. Loic Amado, who is in charge of the launch of Uber in Croatia, said that the service will be 20 to 25 percent cheaper than standard taxis. “We are very excited to start our operations in Croatia”, Amado said, reports Jutarnji List on October 22, 2015.
In Zagreb, Uber will launch uberX, a service using licensed drivers. Amado pointed out that Uber is a technology company which connects its users – drivers who want flexible working hours and earnings, and users who want a simple and effective service.
Uber working models vary depending on the market, primarily because of local legislation. In Croatia, they have decided to use a model which includes licensed taxi drivers. In Zagreb, there are 1360 such drivers. Virtually every taxi driver who has a license and owns a car is eligible to drive for Uber. However, Amado has refused to reveal the number of drivers who have accepted to work for them.
“We do not expect any problems. We spoke with city authorities and representatives of the Transport and Finance Ministries. We are going to operate in compliance with all the laws, subject to payment of all taxes”, Amado explained. Uber application operates by using GPS maps in order to find the nearest available driver. The aim is for a car to arrive within five minutes.
Uber’s service in Croatia has been launched in less than two months. Amado arrived to Croatia in early September and has obviously managed to extremely discreetly prepare the launch of the service. Some Zagreb taxi drivers apparently are not aware that they are getting competition on the streets starting today. Taxi operators Cammeo and Radio Taxi Zagreb claim that no one from Uber has contacted them.
Croatian entrepreneur Saša Cvetojević will be the first person to use Uber in Croatia and will officially launch the service. “I am a big fan of Uber, not only because it is convenient, fast and reliable. I support new technologies which Uber and other innovative companies bring to this country. They accelerate progress and bring positive changes which are necessary. For this reason, I support the arrival of Uber to Zagreb and I intend to use it regularly”, Cvetojević explained.
“In recent months, the Uber app has been downloaded 13,000 times in Zagreb. This shows the great interest of users. That is why we say that cities select us, and not that we select them. In the next year, we could expand to Dubrovnik, Split and some of the islands”, concluded Amado.
