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Car-hailing service Uber is bidding farewell to Macau next month, blaming heavy penalties imposed on the company’s drivers and authorities’ reluctance to regulate the car-sharing industry.
In a letter to Macau lawmaker Au Kam-san, Uber regional general manager for Asia, Mike Brown said: “We plan to suspend our services. The government is not yet willing to set a timetable for the legislation to govern car-sharing services [that Uber has been providing]. Meanwhile, it imposed extraordinarily heavy fines to our drivers, making us unable to operate in Macau.”
September 9 will be the last day of the service.
Brown said he had notified Macau chief executive Dr Fernando Chui Sai-on about the decision on August 16. Chui’s office has not yet replied.
Brown said more than 300 drivers had been fined 10 million patacas since they started to operate in October. A sum that has continued to grow by 1 million patacas per week, he said.
“More seriously, the police detained the passengers [using Uber] without any legal grounds, including visitors who can use Uber legally in their countries. And they also harassed the drivers by making visits to their homes,” he said.
The US-based car hailing mobile phone app has been popular in Macau, where finding a cab on the streets has not been easy due to a shortage. Its operation in the former Portuguese enclave has been deemed illegal by the authorities since its launch in October.
The authorities said on Monday that police had prosecuted 379 cases of unlicensed taxi services related to Uber.
The company asked for a meeting with Secretary for Transport and Public Works Raimundo do Rosário several times, but he has not yet agreed.
Macau’s Secretary for Security,Wong Sio-chak said on Monday the government did not suppress Uber, but is enforcing its laws legally.
He insisted that firms should acquire a license before they can operate hire car services.
An Uber spokesman for its Asia-Pacific operations said its services in Hong Kong would not be affected as the two operations were separated.
He said Uber would continue to be committed to serve the drivers and riders in Hong Kong, which had remained one of the fastest growing and strongest markets in the region.
(SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST)
