Uber Is Not Having A Good Week

Controversial transportation app Uber has not had a shining track record so far and this week it got even worse for them. Uber has been banned in New Delhi, isn’t welcome in Netherlands and is being sued by Portland.

An Uber driver, a convicted sex offender, was arrested a few days ago under suspicion of raping a female passenger. According to police sources, the driver not only did not possess a valid New Delhi driving license but he had also previously spent seven months in prison on sexual assault charges. Despite claiming that they conduct stringent background checks on all their drivers, it appears that the red flags on this driver did not deter them from hiring him, despite having another passenger log a complaint about the same driver a few days earlier.

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On the European front, the Netherlands has chosen to ban the company’s UberPop because of the lack of livery licensing for its drivers. However the more premium services UberBlack and UberLux will still remain in operation. Any driver caught violating the order could be slapped with a fine of up to €10,000 ($12,300) while Uber could be fined up to  €100,000 ($123,000) per violation.

And finally back on the home front, Portland wants Uber to shut down its operations within city limits because the city has laws for how for-hire vehicles must be licensed. Until Uber agrees to follow them, the city has issued a cease-and-desist and is asking the court to step in and make it happen. Each driver that gets busted will be fined $2,500 while Uber gets fined $1,500.

Uber has famously ignored past legal demands before so it won’t be a stretch if they do the same now. However this time around drivers are getting fined as well and unless they’re willing to foot the bill for all the fines, they might have a hard time finding drivers.

One Comment

  1. yeh, they may sink under the amount of legal fees they will have to pay for each municipality they operate in.