Iran Taxi Union has approved 3 new ride hailing apps and stated that the union is against any kind of monopoly in this field.
According to Masoud Tayebi, Head of Iran Taxi Union, 3 new mobile apps have been officially approved to be used by the taxi fleets. These 3 apps are “Hitro”, “Ja Be Ja” and “Escort”. According to Tayebi, any company that has obtained the primary activity licenses including the “licenses in their field of activities”, the e-commerce seal (E-Namad), and the approval of the Ministry of Culture can enter this market, receive a temporary license of 3 to 6 months and have the support of the union.
Aside from Hitro, we couldn’t find any footprints on the web from the other apps approved by the union. Looking at Hitro’s website, we found out that some of the exceptional services that this company provides is tourism services and VIP cars for special occasions.
The Head of Iran Taxi Union stated that taxi drivers are free to be active on any of these applications. During his announcement, Tayebi continued saying that the monopoly in ride sharing apps is not approved by the union. Currently Snapp and the runner-up Tap30, the two most popular ride hailing apps in the country don’t allow their drivers to be active on both applications. When we asked the drivers about this situation, they told us that some of them have two smartphones with each app installed on one device.
Snapp and Tap30 have been facing pressure from many organizations in Iran in the past couple of months but Iran’s Parliament and Rouhani’s government have been trying to ease their way in. The Taxi Union, IT Union of Iran, the Iranian ICT Guild Organization and Tehran’s Municipality had each stated their concern for these apps before.
Read: Dispute over Ride-Hailing Startups on Iran National TV
Ride-hailing Apps Face Tough Obstacles in Iran
Tayebi stated that the Taxi Union is against the monopoly of ride hailing apps since the competition could bring substantial benefits for both the user and the drivers. With a fierce competition, these ride hailing apps would have to provide better services and also facilities for their drivers in order to gain a bigger market share, according to the Head of Iran Taxi Union.
Previously Tehran Taxi Organization had stated that it will be using Carpino to compete with Snapp and Tap30. 8,000 drivers associated with Tehran Taxi Organization have been trained to assure the safety of the users according to a statement by this organization.
Leave a Reply