Taxi is more advantageous with Uber ‘blackout’ in São Paulo

The scene is commonplace. Citizens need to move, take out their cell phone, open a transport application and call a private car. In one of the two main apps, Uber and 99, puts origin and destination, confirm and hold. And keep waiting for long minutes.

Getting such a service became a matter of luck in São Paulo.

“He accepted my race, I’m so excited, I can go home,” jokes a user on a social network.

The blackout of private cars has its origins in the economic crisis and the cost of fuel. In addition to many having abandoned the wheel, the apps ban drivers who cancel short runs.

There is an imbalance of supply and demand: while more people began to move with the end of social restrictions, drivers also began to avoid routes with low financial returns in view of the increase in expenses.

Of the bad experiences with consecutive waits and cancellations, there are those who celebrate: taxi drivers.

The lower offer of private drivers on Uber and 99 brought a second consequence: higher prices for consumers, making taxis cheaper at certain times of the day than their competitors.

“A passenger comes in all the time saying he couldn’t, that they [os motoristas em carros particulares] they didn’t accept the race. Now a lot of people are seeing that we are the professionals in this here,” says Edmilson Cruz, a taxi driver in São Paulo for 20 years.

Simulations carried out by the report in different areas of the capital of São Paulo indicate a proximity in prices that, depending on the route, tip the scales towards taxis. In São Paulo, taxis can use the bus lanes, which, on roads with heavy traffic, saves time.

A passenger leaving the Pérola Byington Hospital, in the central region of São Paulo, on Wednesday (8) at night, bound for the Tietê Bus Terminal, in the North Zone, would pay between R$23 and R$29 for the journey from taxi depending on the app used. If you preferred a private car, the race would cost R$25.59.

In another simulation, going from Mooca Plaza Shopping, on the east side, to Sacomã station, on the south side, in the early afternoon of Tuesday (7), I would pay R$ 16.90 for a taxi per application and R$ 18.90 by private car.

By taximeter, the value can be even lower than that practiced by taxis that operate in applications – both Uber and 99 have this modality.

In taxi driver conversation groups, the topic is frequent, but it goes beyond mere perception. Cruz estimates that since the rise in fuel prices, the movement has grown from 30% to 40%. He also says that the number of passengers who call taxis on the street has increased.

On the driver’s cell phone screen, a list of races awaited an available car.

“One difference that nobody remembers is that when we accept a race that comes from the radio-taxi, you can’t cancel it. You have to go, regardless of the distance”, he says.

While private races are subject to fluctuations in supply and demand —if there is an increase in demand when it rains, for example—, the taxi drivers’ flag has not been corrected for seven years.

Prices only change between 8:00 pm and 6:00 am, when flag two applies, in which there is a 30% increase on the R$ 2.75 of the kilometer rate.

“It’s been seven years carrying a cross that the authorities refuse to look at. They say there’s going to be a problem if the price goes up. It’s been seven years living as if there was no inflation,” says Luiz Carlos Fernandes Capelo, president of the Taxi Drivers’ Union.

The total number of autonomous taxi drivers in the capital is currently between 38 thousand and 40 thousand. According to Capelo, many stayed away during the pandemic and not all of them have returned to the wheel yet.

The moment, says the leader, is doubly favorable for taxi drivers. In addition to the discontent of app drivers, the end of the year is a hot period for commuting. Just go through malls and hypermarkets to get a run.

Faced with rising costs, Uber and 99 readjusted the fee paid to drivers in September, but few manage to get the maximum fare promised.

“Can catch 10% [de alta], but it depends on time, demand and region. I have not heard any report of a driver who has achieved a 30% increase”, says Eduardo Lima, president of Amasp (Association of Application Drivers of São Paulo).

According to him, drivers “are choosing too much” and no longer take races they don’t consider fair. “The platforms are charging variable prices to passengers, but they are also taking more value than the driver,” he says. “The price increase does not go directly to the driver.”

Uber and 99 confirm the supply imbalance at certain times. According to Uber, at peak times, there are more passengers than drivers.

“If in the initial months of the pandemic demand dropped abruptly due to social isolation guidelines, then people who previously did not use Uber on a daily basis began to opt for the app,” he says in a note.

“With this temporary imbalance in the market, both cancellations by the user (who do not want to wait longer for the trip) and the refusal of travel by the driver (who, given the scenario of high demand, can assume that there will be new tickets) can also occur more frequently of greater gain in the sequence, for example)”, he says.

The company implemented dynamic pricing in light of the scenario and reinforced a referral policy, in which registered drivers earn rewards when new referrals make a certain number of trips.

It also launched a campaign with weekly travel goals to increase pay.

99 highlights that in periods of high demand, values ​​may change, and that it has noticed a significant increase in the volume of races in recent months, driven by the resumption of activities in cities and the adoption of cars per application by the class C.

“Aware of the effects of the global economic crisis and the impact of fuel prices on the activity of partner drivers, 99 invests efforts to maintain the balance of the marketplace and contribute to maintaining drivers’ earnings,” he says.

It adds that it has launched a package that provides for the full transfer of the value of the race to drivers in specific locations and times, “which has already represented extra gains of more than R$ 10 million for drivers”.

It also highlights that it provides an additional payment for situations in which the driver is stationary for a long time and that it started, in São Paulo, tests with the concession of CNG conversion kits at more accessible prices for the platform’s drivers.