Hungarian taxi drivers’ crusade against Bolt continues

Bolt has received a declaration of war from the traditional transport companies in Hungary. Best Taxi, City Taxi, Go Taxi and Taxi4, with other private taxi operators behind them, have attacked the domestic operator, which is linked to an Estonian company. They cited the European Court of Justice ruling. This has opened up another battlefield in the great taxi war in Budapest.

As we reported back in July, the Hungarian taxi drivers are on a mission to sabotage the Estonian Bolt in order to make them leave Hungary. The National Taxi Association has sent a petition to the Municipality of Budapest, calling for a level playing field with traditional taxi companies. However, the proposal is aimed at squeezing out the Estonian-backed technology company, Index first reported in early July. Now, another battlefield opened in the war.

The capital’s taxi companies, Best Taxi, City Taxi, Go Taxi, Taxi4 and operators issued a joint statement on Wednesday afternoon regarding Bolt’s ride-sharing activities, Index reports. They say:

“The judgment of the European Court of Justice (Curia) of 3 December 2020, C 62/19, “Preliminary ruling”, which has just come into our possession, excludes taxi services from the scope of “cross-border information society services” and clearly classifies taxi services as transport services, with binding effect for the Member States.”

According to the companies concerned, therefore, “the public statement of Bolt’s managing director, Mr [László] Sabjányi, and the content of the contracts concluded with the drivers, which mention the above-mentioned services by name, clearly indicate a service which is excluded from the taxi service according to the judgment.”