Uber mocks Australian state's stiff fines, takes away the Ubers
Imagine a world without Uber? Okay, now come back to 2016. Unless you are in Queensland, Australia.
The Australian state of Queensland is trying really hard to stamp out ridesharing by introducing a bunch of new regulations Thursday. Uber responded to the move by releasing a ride option on its app, which shows a lonely, Uber-less world.
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The company rolled out the ride option called "Katter" -- named after Bob Katter, the politician behind the new regulations -- in which there are no cars available. It is a move to show what Queensland will eventually look like if the rules keep coming.
As the rest of Australia has legalised the ridesharing service, state by state, Queensland is set on making sure it is harder for the sharing economy to kick off locally and moving away from innovative transport methods.
The new bill that passed in Queensland parliament Wednesday night means Uber drivers face fines up to A$2,356 and Uber could face fines of up to A$23,560, according to ABC News. Katter introduced the bill as he believes Uber is killing the taxi industry.
"That's why they're a $60 billion company worldwide. A lot of people have been soft targets, I hope we won't be in Queensland," he said, according to the publication.
It doesn't help the situation when the state's transport minister, Jackie Trad, said she found the experience of not being in a taxi strange. "[I] found it a bit weird to be in somebody else's car that wasn't a taxi," she said in 2015, referring to the one trip she took in an Uber.
General manager of Uber Queensland, Sam Bool, said he was astounded that a government that claims to be pro-innovation and jobs has stepped backwards in this way.
"The Premier heard from over 10,000 Queenslanders yesterday as they emailed and called her office, asking her to vote no to the bill. She chose to play politics with their lives instead," Bool said in an emailed statement.
"We will continue to stand by our driver-partners and riders and fight for their choices, especially when their Government clearly has no interest in doing so."
Queensland Uber customers will be hoping the Katter option is not permanent.
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