Uber cars impounded by cape town after driving without permits
By Bloomberg
Cape Town traffic police impounded 33 Uber Technologies Inc. ride-sharing vehicles over the weekend for not having proper permits to operate in South Africa’s Western Cape province.
“We’ve had a long series of complaints about them,” City of Cape Town spokesman Jean-Pierre Smith said by phone today. “They’re public transport vehicles and they are required to have public transport operating permits.”
Drivers of the impounded cars face fines of 1,500 rand ($128) and a 7,500-rand vehicle release fee, Fin24 reported, citing City of Cape Town manager for safety and security Richard Bosman. Police started seizing the cars for not having valid permits on Jan. 3.
Uber has been in talks with the City of Cape Town for months over what category of license or permit is appropriate for the service, Fin24 said, citing Alon Lits, a general manager for Uber in Johannesburg. These are the first Uber cars to be impounded from more than 4,000 taxis detained in the past 16 months, according to Smith.
Johannesburg regulators put Uber into a chartered-services operating license category, which is different from Cape Town and has fewer requirements than metered taxis, according to Lits. Uber didn’t immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment.
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