Istanbul cabbies rage against Uber
The people of Istanbul quickly embraced Uber's clean, safe cars and polite service, and thousands of taxi drivers are starting to react with violence.
Anti-Uber protests spread in Istanbul last week, leading to fights that left at least 30 Uber drivers wounded and prompted the Turkish government to intervene.
Uber has quickly become the preferred mode of transportation for Istanbul’s taxi users who have long been fed up with overcharging and rude, smoking cab drivers who cherry-pick their customers according their destinations.
Already burnt out by Istanbul’s notorious traffic, taxi drivers are infuriated by the decline in their customers. They first staged street protests against Uber and then turned to brute force, stoning Uber vehicles and even firing weapons at them or threatening their customers. In some incidents, cab drivers posing as customers scheduled Uber rides have lured drivers to far-off destinations to trap and beat them up.
Meanwhile, the Istanbul Taxi Drivers Association filed a legal complaint against the app. “We don’t want to resort to violence similar to what happened during street protests in various European cities,” Eyub Aksu, the head of the association, said after the first hearing on March 12. “But if our parliament doesn’t take action, our drivers may lose patience and do whatever comes to their minds,” he added.
