The days of unchallenged dominance of yellow taxis at Iranian airports are set to end, as ride-hailing companies are now permitted to offer services at airports.
After months of contention over the operation of online taxi services at airports that has been a strong bastion of the yellow cabs, the Roads Ministry ended the fracas by giving the green light to ride-hailing companies.
The ministry has issued a new guideline, based on which ride-hailing companies are now allowed to operate at airports but the drivers and their fleets must keep 400 to 800 meters away from the taxi stands, reported ISNA.
Prior to this, drivers with e-hailing companies offered services at airports but no rules governed their activities, which resulted in heated altercations between them and the airport cabbies.
Just this December, Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport taxi drivers rallied in front of Iran Road Maintenance and Transportation Organization near Valiasr Square to protest against the presence of online service providers in the airport area. Similar demonstrations were held in the central province of Yazd.
While the public has welcomed the price cuts offered by online transportation firms such as Snapp and Tap30, the airport taxi drivers respond by saying the exorbitant rates of their services are set by the city council and not the taxi agency.
Taxi drivers working at airports have often been censured by people for charging excessively high fares.
> Universal Dispute
The dispute is not unique to Iran. Uber, the Internet taxi service duplicated by Snapp and Tap30, has faced similar problems. Anti-Uber protests disrupted a Chilean airport in September 2017, while South African taxi drivers blocked roads to an airport, holding up thousands of travelers in March to protest the ride-hailing app.
In Iran, many protests have been held against the ride-hailing firms and their drivers have been beaten up on various occasions.
Last month, when it was announced that Snapp were to start operations in Kerman, taxi drivers attacked the company’s office in the city, broke everything there and hit the employees.
While online taxis have made urban transportation more affordable and accessible, Snapp, Tap30 and similar services have had their share of controversies since their launch.
For instance, a lack of supervision on the companies’ recruitment process has resulted in several cases of harassment. In response, authorities introduced a mandatory online background check for drivers, which are conducted by the police.
Currently, more than 22 taxi apps are active in Iran. Snapp and Tap30 have captured the lion's share of the market.
Snapp is currently offering services in 17 cities and Tap30 in 14. Snapp reports that it has over 10 million registered users and 300,000 plus drivers working for it.
The company says it receives over 1 million trip requests daily, of which at least 800,000 are processed positively.
Snapp’s major rival, Tap30, is yet to release similar statistics. However, it is speculated that Tap30’s market share is close to Snapp.
