Uber will take care of the taxi at the Prague airport. It promises electric cars and orders without a mobile app – Živě.cz
From the spring of 2023, Uber will become the official operator of the taxi service at Václav Havel Airport in Prague. The alternative carrier won the tender, so for the first time transport from Prague airport will not be provided primarily by “classic” taxi drivers.
In the end, only two applicants applied for the competition, which had to be repeated because the Ministry of Transport had reservations about its earlier form. At the same time, they had a free hand in how to operate the taxi service, the airport always, in principle, only fulfilled the legislation and also the requirement that passengers know the route in advance.
The overpriced taxi journeys have been the target of strong criticism in recent years, and airports have received negative feedback for this even abroad. Inevitably, it happened that passengers preferred alternative taxi services, which guarantee the final part of the ride already when ordering. Classic taxi drivers fought against this moment, but in the end alternatives in the form of Uber won at the airport.
“The world is changing dynamically and we don’t want to be left behind, we have to respond to this development by continuously improving our customer service offerings. I believe that the new operator of the taxi service fulfills the expectations that I have from him regarding the management of the airport,” comments the Minister of Finance Zbyněk Stanjura on the tender.
In addition to giving Uber riders certain fares in advance, the service has promised to only send cars to the airport that are no more than five years old and mostly from the upper middle class. It also plans to increase the number of electric cars, in the last year of the contract at least every tenth trip should be an electric car.
All drivers will have to speak Czech and master the basics of English. They will also need to wear presentable clothing and provide a car seat for children upon request. They must accept cash and cashless payments.
Passengers will be able to order via the Uber mobile application, but also via the web interface and via the kiosks that the airport will place in the arrival halls of both terminals. In them, you select your destination and your phone number, to which you will then receive an SMS with information about the driver, the type of car and the license plate number that will arrive for them.
It will also be possible to pair a ride with a specific car through a PIN, which will give the passenger a code and then be able to choose any car standing in front of the terminal. According to Uber, which also uses this technology at other airports, the waiting time is reduced by an average of 50 percent.