ZAGREB, October 14, 2019 - A survey conducted by the Digitalna Hrvatska association, whose founders include Uber, shows that four in five Croatians support and believe that the liberalisation of the taxi market was a positive move.

Two in three respondents say that lower taxi fares are the biggest benefit of the liberalisation of the tax market.

The respondents were also asked about the possibility of liberalisation of other economic sectors and 12% were entirely against further liberalisation, 32% said they would completely liberalise the economy, and 39% said they were in favour of liberalisation but with certain exceptions.

Healthcare and education are the two sectors where Croatians are the least inclined to support liberalisation, while a large majority want the liberalisation of postal services, energy and forest management, shows the survey.

Digitalna Hrvatska executive director Đuro Lubura said that the liberalisation of the taxi market was exceptionally important for the development of the digital society because it introduced the possibility of using an electronic application instead of a taximeter.

Electronic applications make the service more available as well as more transparent because they show the fare in advance and inform the passenger which driver and which vehicle will pick them up, said Lubura, who considers the liberalisation of the taxi market one of the more successful reforms of the Andrej Plenković government.

Lubura also notes that the arrival of global players like Uber has prompted domestic taxi companies and associations to put their electronic applications on the market.

The survey was conducted by the Promocija Plus agency in August and the first half of September and it covered respondents from towns where more taxi service providers are available. The agency did not, however, say how many respondents took part in the survey.

On its website, Digitalna Hrvatska says that it was established with the aim of promoting new technologies and business models based on the use of those technologies.

More taxi news can be found in the Lifestyle section.

SPLIT, August 7, 2019 - The mayors of Split and Dubrovnik, Andro Krstulović Opara and Mato Franković, who have recently held a series of meetings on negative effects of the liberalisation of the taxi services market on those two coastal cities, have sent letters to Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and Transport and Infrastructure Minister Oleg Butković with proposals how to amend the relevant legislation.

The two mayors emphasise that the liberalisation of the market which has been enabled by existing Road Transport Law, has negatively affected normal street traffic, which is causing problems also for emergency services, according to a press release issued by the Office of the Split Mayor on Wednesday.

Therefore, they urge the government and the transport ministry to amend the legislation whereby local authorities in the cities and towns whose centres are added to the UNESCO World Heritage List can on their own decide on the number of licences issued to taxi drivers and on terms and conditions for providers of taxi services.

The mayors believe that their proposals would contribute to efforts to solve the current problems and therefore they hope that their endeavours will be supported by the competent ministry.

The Road Transport Act, which was passed by the parliament in April 2018, is intended to liberalise taxi services, facilitate licensing and abolish the mandatory tests for drivers for the area they cover.

The government said then that it expected that with the liberalisation of the market the number of taxi drivers would double. At the time their number currently stood at about 3,000, which the government thought was too few for a tourist country such as Croatia. The law was adopted also with an aim to make taxi services cheaper.

Before the passage of the law, the head of the Taxi Drivers Association at the Croatian Chamber of Trades and Crafts (HOK), Božo Miletić, said that the government-sponsored bill on road transport favoured Uber and would cause the demise of 3,000 drivers who were registered as small business owners.

More news about taxi services can be found in the Business section.

ZAGREB, May 5, 2019 - Between 2007 and 2017, the number of taxi firms and people employed in taxi business in Croatia increased twenty-four times, according to a study by the Financial Agency (Fina).

Their number was on the steady rise throughout this period, except in 2009, 2013 and 2015, and the biggest spike was observed in 2011 when it increased almost sevenfold from the previous year.

In 2007, taxi services were provided by 18 firms, compared with 435 in 2017, and the number of employees rose from 44 in 2007 to 1,064 in 2017.

The study did not include Uber because taxi service is not its core business.

The largest increase in the number of employees was recorded in 2011 when their number rose almost sevenfold from the previous year – from 96 employees in 2010 to 670 in 2011. This was mostly due to the fact that four businesses did not have any employees in 2010 and the year later they had 431 employees. Those are Autoprijevoz Oliva (138 employees), Cammeo (120), MV (100) and Autoprijevoz Modem (73).

The largest number of employees was recorded in 2017 when 435 taxi firms had a total of 1,064 employees.

Total revenues generated by the firms in 2017 reached 145.3 million kuna, compared with 12.1 million kuna ten years earlier. Total expenditures increased from 11.5 million kuna in 2007 to 147.7 million kuna in 2017. In 2017, consolidated loss was 2.77 million kuna, with 239 taxi businesses operating at a loss and 196 at a profit.

In 2017, the largest revenue was posted by Cammeo Group, of 16.5 million kuna, down by 43% from the previous year.

More news about taxi services in Croatia can be found in the Business section.

The company continues its successful collaboration with the Krijesnica NGO.

Experts from the Faculty and Uber will jointly work on addressing traffic problems, while Uber will award scholarships to ten students from the Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences.

ZAGREB, May 12, 2018 - In the period between 2007 and 2016, the number of taxi businesses increased by 14 times and the number of drivers employed by those businesses increased twenty-fold, data by the FINA financial agency show.

ZAGREB, April 27, 2018 - The Croatian parliament on Friday adopted the Road Transport Act, which is expected to liberalise taxi services, facilitate licensing and abolish the mandatory tests for drivers for the area they cover.

ZAGREB, April 5, 2018 - The Croatian government on Thursday sent to the parliament a bill on road transport to be discussed under fast-track procedure. Among other things, the bill will make it possible to order and pay for taxi services via an electronic application. It also removes the existing limit on the number of taxi licences and makes it possible for taxi drivers to determine fares on their own.

In the last two years, Uber has become a major player in Croatia’s market.

A rather unusual taxi experience in The Beautiful Croatia on January 11, 2018 - a taxi app experience which delivered the ride, but forgot to pick up the passenger.