October 15, 2021 - An Uber strike in Croatia will begin on Sunday due to payment delays to drivers. Some 2,000 drivers should take to the streets.

About 2,000 Uber drivers in Zagreb and the surrounding area will go on strike from Sunday and are checking out of the popular mobile app until further notice. Iva Filipović, secretary of SRDP (Union of Digital Platform Workers), confirmed this to Večernji List on Friday.

The reason for the strike is the delay in driver payment from Uber, which happens more and more frequently. However, the drivers lost patience this week, and the details were revealed to Večernji List by Filipović, who also has her own business, is registered for the application as a driver and in that sense represents Uber's partner.

"Uber usually pays its drivers every Tuesday for the work done last week. No driver in Croatia had money in their account on Tuesday, so we expected it to be on Friday since there was such a bang the previous few times when payments were late. This has started to happen more and more often. We need to feed our families, aggregators and Uber partners can’t pay their employees' salaries. So it’s a chain reaction that entails a number of negative consequences. Drivers have been accustomed to weekly payments for years and so adjust their a life and work that is hard and risky," says Filipović for Večernji List, adding that the driver's anger is caused by the lack of any human communication.

"Uber’s policy is to brag about social sensitivity and call its drivers partners. However, we feel like digital slaves who don’t really even know who they work for. There is simply no way to talk to a competent person. We don't know who these people are. The only possibility of communication is through the application, and we all receive an automated response from the customer service," claims Filipović.

He says that the strike will definitely take place, regardless of whether the money will be paid to drivers that day.

"It is very important to send a message. That's what we want. For now, we only know that the headquarters of Uber in Croatia is on Radnička Street in Zagreb. More than 2,000 drivers are active in the wider Zagreb area. The vast majority of them will turn off the application, and an arrival to Radnička Street has been organized, from which we will not leave until a competent person comes out of the administrative building to talk to us. We want to know what is going on, we want a humane approach. We are not robots," Filipovic told Vecernji List, adding that the exact number of drivers outside Zagreb who will join the strike will be known on Sunday.

Večernji List sent an inquiry to the Croatian branch of Uber.

“Our partner-drivers are aware of the situation of payment delays due to an error in the local bank system. Once again we apologize for the technical problem, the earnings will be visible to drivers in their bank accounts no later than Monday. We are completely committed to our community of drivers and we are working to resolve this situation as soon as possible," Uber told Vecernji List.

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As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 20th of October, 2020, the new option of Uber delivering products purchased on Konzum's online store is now available in Zagreb and its surroundings, as well as in Split and Kastela, Rijeka and Kukuljanovo, Dubrovnik and Pula, and the plan is currently to expand the new Croatian delivery service to other cities throughout the country.

From now on, customers buying products on Konzum's online store have the additional option of having their ordered groceries, household and hygiene supplies and other products to their selected address thanks to Konzum's partnership with Uber, which also brings its global DropOff service to Croatia. This new Croatian delivery service is currently available to customers from Zagreb, Sesvete, Samobor, Zapresic, Velika Gorica, Split and Kastela,  as well as in Rijeka and Kukuljanovo, Dubrovnik and Pula.

The buying process has been made very simple. After selecting the desired products on Konzum's online store, the customer should the select the Partner Delivery service and then select their delivery location. Konzum notes that there are additional differences in the use of the Partner Delivery service when compared to the Konzum regular delivery option. Thus, it should be borne in mind that when choosing the Partner Delivery service, Uber drivers pick up the products in stores and therefore it isn't always possible to display the exact stock status on the page in real time.

If a certain product isn't on the store's shelf, Konzum employees will call the customer and check if they want a replacement item. The range available through the Partner Delivery service is narrower than the one available to customers who choose the Konzum delivery option, and the ordered products are delivered to the person's home address, but not to their very doorstep. Payment is made exclusively online, the minimum order amount is 200 kuna, and delivery is charged at 30 kuna regardless of the size of the order. The big advantage of this new Croatian delivery service is the possibility of having your items delivered on the same day, considering that the delivery terms are available to the customer within four hours from the moment of ordering. If it suits the customer better, they can then schedule the delivery for another day, within a week from the day of ordering.

After the customer completes the purchase on Konzum's online store, Konzum schedules their delivery via the Uber Central platform. Confirmation of the scheduled delivery to the customer will arrive via SMS in which they will receive information about the vehicle registration number and the name of the Uber driver, who will contact the customer by phone when they arrive at the corresponding address so that they can pick up the ordered products.

"At Konzum, we're constantly recording an increase in interest in online shopping, and we're striving to provide our customers with an even more pleasant online shopping experience through numerous innovations and investments. In the spring, with the launch of the additional Pokupi (Pickup) service, we enabled them the ability to purchase groceries and other products from the comfort of their own homes even in the most challenging times, and in partnership with Uber we want to offer them a new option so that they can receive their orders at their home address on the same day,'' said Tomislav Kramaric, a member of the Management Board of Konzum.

"We're continuing to work to support the community of our users and drivers during these difficult times. We're pleased to have opened our platform today in cooperation with Konzum, which will speed up food delivery for Croats and help drivers overcome this challenging situation,'' said Giovanna D'Esposito, Uber's General Manager for Southern Europe.

User and driver safety remains a priority for Uber. The company distributed 950 hygiene kits to drivers containing masks, gloves, disinfectant gels and sprays. In addition, Uber has focused its efforts on implementing real-time processes and technology solutions to ensure responsible and safe use of the services at all times. In addition to the new Partner Delivery service, customers still have access to Konzum's regular delivery, the Pokupi/Pickup service and the Drive-in option in Zagreb's Vrbani.

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The unique Uber Boat service, that premiered in Croatia two tourist seasons ago, will be available to the public on the Dalmatian coast again this year, during the summer months. You will be able to rent a boat using Uber again this summer in Split, Dubrovnik, and the islands close to them, hrturizam.hr reports.

There will be two options to the service, just like in the previous years: transfer and trip.

The users will be able to order a fast boat to take them from one of the towns to the coast, as well as take them to and from the location they choose right from the already well-known Uber application. Davor Tremac, Uber's general manager for South-Eastern Europe said that they're proud to be offering this service for the third year in the row, especially since it's availabe only to their customers in Croatia.

Uber Boat allows its customers to uniquely get to know the Croatian coast simply and reliably. In the last two years, the service was used by the users coming to Croatia from 40 countries, and the feedback is extremely positive. He added that they find a special kind of joy in the promotion of Croatian tourism all over the world.

The transfer from the mainland to any of the islands and back will be available for up to eight people. In addition to the basic transfer option, you will be able to select the half-day and full-day options on your rides. You will be able to select the stops you wish to visit on that day in the application, before getting to your boat. All of the service providers are the boat companies for part-time trips, and their captains have licenses to perform commercial transfers.

The minimal price for the Uber Boat service is 330 kunas per start and 29 kuna per kilometre (ie 33 kuna per a nautical mile) and 2.6 kuna per ride minute. An average price for one of the most popular rides, from Split to Hvar, is 2600 kuna, or 325 kuna per person (in case of eight people onboard).

Uber is getting more popular for Advent tours and was chosen by 30 percent more users than the year before.

January 14, 2019 - Uber will allow the students from Bernays to cooperate with them on research projects linking tourism, urbanism and mobility and aimed at building a system on a global level

Edward Bernays University College and Uber, the largest global mobility company, have signed a memorandum of understanding with the aim of developing and building an ecosystem of mobility and traffic in tourism on both local and global levels. The partnership was signed by Damir Jugo, PhD, dean of Bernays and Uber General Manager for South-East Europe, Davor Tremac.

The cooperation between Bernays and Uber highlights the use of advanced technological solutions to meet the needs of tourists via sharing economy as well as their relevance for tourism-related and wider communities. The special benefit of this cooperation between the academic community and the top high-tech company is that Bernays students will participate in research on the links between tourism, urbanism and mobility in order to improve the competitiveness of the Croatian economy.

“Following our partnership with the Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences, this partnership with Bernays will build upon Uber’s cooperation with educational institutions, with which we wish to further promote the development of technological innovations and give young intellectuals the chance to work on projects of considerable importance for the entire society,” said Davor Tremac, Uber General Manager for South-East Europe.

Furthermore, the students at Bernays can expect to see guest lecturers from Uber, who will tell them firsthand what it means to work for such a company. Uber is also one of the partners at an upcoming student competition, where one of the participants will win a scholarship for Bernays and an Uber voucher worth HRK 200 over a period of one year.

"The fact that Uber joined the growing network of our partner institutions is an important event because it has opened the doors of a global company to Bernays students and allowed them to learn about the business and communication models used by a global leader in the digital economy. This partnership of the business community with our students is extremely important to us, not only because of the potential employment opportunities but also because of the knowledge transfer", said Damir Jugo, Dean of Bernays.

As a global and innovative tech company, Uber relies on its services to contribute to the development of the society and Croatia’s tourism promotion. This summer alone, Uber services on the Croatian coast were used by 170,000 tourists. As many as 94 percent of them were Uber users in their countries of origin, which shows that foreign tourists who visit Croatia throughout the year expect to see Uber as part of our tourist offer. Finally, Uber is continually working on improving mobility and the way people move in cities, at the same time primarily thinking of user safety, which is why only recently Uber introduced a number of new in-app safety features that have doubled the safety of both users and partner drivers.

To read more about business in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page. 

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November 9, 2018 - Uber took me on artistic adventures around the world and now we are bringing art to everyone who has been isolated from it.

Vesna Mačković, a multidisciplinary artist from Sisak, founded ARKTIK – The Institute for the Future, an organization where older people, children, people with disabilities, immigrants can be creative

ARKTIK – The Institute for the Future emerged from anger and defiance. Art is something that I really want to do, that I know I can do and that I have the people with whom I can do it well, but we lack the finances necessary to include more people in what we do and to further develop. I’ve realized that if I want more, I have to stop relying on the state budget, and that it is not OK to expect my works to be fully funded with the tax payers’ money. That's why we are now looking for support from the corporate sector, and the first company to respond was Uber, Vesna Mačković, a multidisciplinary artist from Sisak and one of the founders of ARKTIK – The Institute for the Future, explains.

She receives financial support from the Ministry of Culture and the cities of Zagreb and Sisak for her artistic work; but it simply is not enough for her to realize all her ideas.

That’s why she founded ARKTIK – The Institute for the Future, an organization focused on the society and various globally and locally relevant issues that will integrate people from different walks of life affected by these issues into its work. Essentially, Vesna’s idea is to have children, old people, minorities, people with disabilities, immigrants and anyone else participate in performances.

Considering she has difficulty moving due to her problems with bones, in all her artistic adventures Vesna had a faithful companion in Uber. The company decided to support her as a partner in the work of the Institute for the Future as well. In the coming period Uber is going to allow the organization's members access to its services.

Vesna loved art since an early age, but life took her in different direction. She had her own company producing multimedia as well as her own finance-related web portal. In fact, everything was fine until the 2008 financial crisis, when all her projects closed down overnight. Though it hit her hard, this breakdown brought her back to her first love - art.

Nowadays, she is into writing, dancing, directing, acting, and experimenting with sound and radiophony.

Vesna performed all over the world and was given free rein and full artistic freedom. Her plays Intenziteti (Intensities) and Pod staklenim zvonom (Under a Glass Bell), video performance Pozdrav (Salute) and many other works have led her to an artist-in-residence program by the great Robert Wilson. He chose Vesna among 800 candidates and built her a five-meter high replica of the Sisak Ironworks– in the middle of Long Island – so she could perform Salute that she had originally filmed with our award-winning video artist Ana Opalić at the Sisak Ironworks.

She performed in Moscow, Kazakhstan, New York, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Saint Petersburg. And she always used Uber.

- I have used Uber from the first day it came to Croatia. Unfortunately, the transport in Zagreb is inadequate for many people with disabilities who are likewise 100-percent disabled. Uber offered acceptable prices, which was a great help financially. It was also the first to launch an app where users can see where their driver was or how to contact them. I find it very difficult to stand for a long time, but with this app I know exactly how long I can sit at home until the driver approaches, Vesna says, adding the she uses Uber in every country she visits. The app is the same all over the world, and it allows her not to have to worry about paying in foreign currencies, or fret over not knowing the local language.

- The drivers have always been very kind to us and would gladly stop for us wherever we wanted it. When you are in Brazil, you don’t want to just speed down the highway. Also, we Croatians are quite exotic to them. They don’t speak Croatian, of course, but when you tell them you’re from Croatia, they always mention Luka Modrić. They also find it interesting that someone would come to their country for theater, says Vesna laughing, and adds that she has never had any problems with Uber drivers in any of the countries that she has visited so far.

- They are always ready to hold my bag or help me out of the car. They are kind and discrete. Wherever I go, I order Uber, says Vesna.

Uber’s support for ARKTIK is extremely important to her because, as an artist, it is important to her to follow all the different types of art and the work of her fellow artists.

- Thanks to Uber, we will be able to quite conveniently follow art events in Zagreb and maybe even farther away. We will no longer have to worry about going to see a play for which we will have to pay both the ticket and our ride to and from the theater. This is a huge financial boost for us. The corporate sector in Croatia isn’t even aware that, apart from investing in football, it is also good to invest in arts and culture. Uber is such a sparkly, positive example and I really hope others will follow it, adds Vesna. She is aware that people are usually skeptical about joining organizations that are turning a new page; however, she is not scared of failing.

- I have nothing to lose. I can always go back, she concludes.

New in-app safety center allows riders and drivers to easily share their trip details and contact emergency assistance, and warns drivers about speed limits.

Safety features increase security of the data communicated between riders and drivers so no phone numbers are visible on either side.

The wonderful world of Split taxi fares, in a nutshell.