They demand better working conditions and salary increases. The last protest took place less than a month ago.
Speaking to RTP, the president of AMN-TVDE, Vítor Soares, explained that the organization supports the demands and is in solidarity with partners and drivers, adding that since the last protest “there have been no major responses” to the sector’s concerns.
“Our main demands are: the minimum value per kilometer and the time traveled”, he explained.
For Vítor Soares, “it doesn’t make sense for a sector not to have regulation”. The lack of government intervention “is putting the entire sector at risk”.
“At this time, a test is carried out in driving schools. And we want an exam to be carried out in IMT centers nationwide. Because the people who are actually in this sector deserve to be qualified. We are not against those who come from outside the European community, on the contrary, we believe that the State must properly certify these people”.
Furthermore, “there are two new features on the list of demands, namely the issue of taxis in TVDE applications and the suspension of TVDE operator licenses until the review of law 45/2018”, said Vítor Soares.
According to Vítor Soares, in the essence of what became known as the Uber law, TVDEs are considered uncharacterized vehicles, meaning that “taxis, being considered public transport and duly identified, cannot be available on the platforms”. So far, only Bolt has this option.
“We have nothing against taxis, but we are in an unfair situation, given that taxis have various supports that TVDE do not have”, he said, exemplifying the 50 percent cheaper insurance prices or the fact that taxis have ranks to wait for customers.
Speaking to RTP, Paulo Gonçalves, a TVDE driver for five years, stated that, when he joined, the profession was “more attractive”, despite working between ten and 12 hours.
According to Paulo Gonçalves, currently the income “is not enough to pay expensesbecause the tax burdens are enormous and applications tend to lower travel prices, without there being regulation and the law has not been revised since 2018″.
Currently, the platforms receive a 25 percent commission and the TVDE driver gave the example of a trip from Lisbon to Vila Nova de Milfontes, “in which the gross value was 94 euros and, taking away the 25 percent, it was around of 60 euros. A trip at a loss”.
Paulo Gonçalves gives yet another example, the platforms’ requests for a customer who is around 20 kilometers away to make a trip costing less than three euros. “It’s not worth it.”
Among other issues that led to the demonstration, there is also the desire to pay 50 percent of the kilometer of the journey to customer pick-up, given that platforms sometimes allocate trips ten kilometers from passenger pick-up without any compensation being provided. for the driver.
Partners and drivers also ask for an increase in the current minimum customer fare per trip of 4.25 euros for up to three kilometers, a reduction in platform commissions from 25 percent to 15 percent, monitoring of licenses from the Mobility Institute and Transport (IMT) and that drivers take the exam at IMT exam centers nationwide.
The group also intends to review law 45/2018, reminding Vítor Soares that the association is already having meetings with parties with parliamentary seats to present their amendment proposals.68,068 registered drivers
Currently, the Associação Movimento Nacional – TVDE, which elected the new governing bodies in March, has around 200 members and is in the process of attracting new members.
The number of TVDE driver certificates registered in Portugal is, according to the IMT, 68,068, according to the most recent data, relating to April 1st.
There are 13 electronic TVDE platform operators licensed in Portugal, but only two (Bolt and Uber) are active, the others being Its My Ride, Vemja, Tazzi, Chofer, Klibber, Mobiz, Tarine, Ixat, Leb, Plink and Just Easy Mob!.
The review of the law that regulates TVDE, scheduled for 2022, has not yet progressed, five years after its entry into force, on November 1, 2018. In 2023, the Government led by António Costa postponed the review of the law that governs TVDE. activity in the sector, expected to be completed this year, after the European Union directive on TVDE was announced.
w/ Lusa
