Uber Macau appeals for service legalization

Trasy Lou Walsh (right) and associates deliver the email copies

Uber Macau hand-delivered copies of around 3,000 e-mails to the Office of the Secretary for Transport and Public Works, Raimundo do Rosário yesterday, appealing to him to regulate the ride-sharing sector.
The general manager of the company Trasy Lou Walsh, along with representatives from the Uber driver-partner community arrived at the secretary’s office in pedicabs to represent how “transportation in the city continues to evolve based on transportation innovation and growing needs, with options old and new complementing one another.”
Walsh hoped the government could develop consumer-friendly and reasonable regulations to regulate the ride-sharing industry so that it would smoothly operate in the territory.
“What we want the secretary to understand is that this service is actually good for the city and what we want to do is really sit down with them and come up with ride-sharing regulations,” she told reporters.
According to Walsh, they have already seen over 80 jurisdictions globally that now have ridesharing-specific regulations in place, including in the U.S., Singapore, India, Philippines, Mexico and Australia.
The general manager remains positive that the MSAR will eventually legalize ride-sharing, and believes that do Rosário has been “working very hard” to solve transportation issues in the region.
“We’re actually heading towards the same goal,” said Walsh. “And this is also the purpose of our event today.”
Although in most countries and cities there are laws regulating both private and commercial vehicles, such regions also lack a legal framework for the ridesharing sector.
“We’re not sitting anywhere in the legislative framework and what we want the government to really look at is how to put this ridesharing industry in the regulations framework, which is a different one,” she added.
Walsh believes that the path to better transportation in the territory of Macau is through constructive conversation with authorities, rather than “attempts to block progress though heavy enforcement and fines based on outdated regulations that don’t apply to ridesharing or internet-based car hailing.”
Although Uber Macau refuses to disclose the fines they have been charged with, they admitted that they are being forced to pay a substantial amount in penalties as the police claims that the service is running illegally in Macau.
Uber Macau started collecting emails from Uber users last week, with several e-mail templates titled “I love Uber because…”
Several Uber users then have written to the secretary claiming that taxi drivers in the region either refused to provide them service or overcharged.
One of the respondents said that the local taxi service is “shameful,” stressing that fellow residents had “terrible experiences” in which taxi drivers refused to provide service.
“Too many terrible experiences in which taxi drivers were rude, used bad language, […] overcharged for their device […], ‘fished’ for clients… basically, too many crimes,” wrote one Uber user.
“There is no point in taking the matters to the local authorities because there is a powerful absence of justice and common sense regarding this matter,” the Uber supporter added.
Another wrote: “Before Uber in Macau, it was impossible to get anywhere without the long delays of public transportation or the incredibly frequent and super difficult to communicate with taxis.”
“Overall getting a taxi at Turbo jet [sic] arrivals hall is brilliant, it’s getting a taxi within and around Macau that’s difficult,” said another Uber advocate.
Uber Macau was launched in October last year. The users of the service are comprised of 70 percent local residents and 30 percent tourists. Lynzy Valles