Municipalities: Court overturns Munich minimum prices for Uber and Co.

The Munich Administrative Court has overturned minimum prices for rental car services such as Uber and Co. in the Bavarian capital. The court decided in five emergency decisions that several companies do not have to adhere to the minimum prices set by the state capital of Munich in a general decree for the time being. Five corresponding urgent applications from these companies were approved. The decision in the respective main proceedings is still pending.

The general decree, which has been in force since July, stipulates that the prices for driving services are based on the taxi tariff that the city of Munich has set by statute. This is currently a basic price of 5.90 euros - including for trips outside the city area - plus 2.70 euros per kilometer. Before that, the costs for the driving services were on average around 40 percent lower than taxi prices.

Court: General order “probably illegal overall”

“The responsible chamber came to the conclusion, based on the standards to be applied in the expedited procedure, that the general order is probably illegal as a whole because the state capital also issued it for an area outside its area of responsibility and the illegal part cannot be separated,” the court said. The minimum prices also applied to trips that led out of or into the city of Munich.

Customs: Driving services violated minimum wage

One reason for this: According to the findings of the main customs office in Munich, the providers violated labor and social law regulations “almost across the board.” The minimum wage law was also regularly ignored. Taxi drivers therefore demonstrated and demanded fair competition and minimum prices.

The Federal Association of Wirfahr, which represents the interests of taxi and rental car platforms, welcomed the decision. “As a corresponding decision on minimum prices in Cologne has already shown, municipalities exceed their authority if they want to set minimum prices for journeys outside their urban area,” said the association. Uber also sees itself confirmed. The company said that minimum price regulations were not legally tenable. It demanded that the city of Munich completely withdraw the general decree.

Bolt: Market collapsed in Munich

According to the driving service provider Bolt, demand fell by 44 percent in the month after the new regulation. “In just a few weeks, almost an entire year of market growth was wiped out,” the company said. “At the same time, around 40,000 journeys no longer took place at all - an indication that many people have given up on this mobility option altogether in view of the higher prices.”

The Munich District Administration Department (KVR) had carried out random checks to see whether the new regulations had been complied with - but did not say what the results were because of the ongoing legal proceedings. According to “market observation” by the taxi broker Freenow, “around 50 percent of the trips offered are not based on the legal minimum price and undercut it illegally”. There are clear differences between the providers.

However, taxi companies had informed the city that the effects of the minimum fares were “easily noticeable for the taxi companies,” according to the KVR. The taxi broker Freenow, on the other hand, speaks of a “clear, positive effect on the classic taxi industry”.

Wirfahr association welcomes decision

The wirfahr association criticized the introduction of minimum prices as a whole: “They create considerable legal uncertainty and thus endanger jobs and business existence in the rental car industry. In addition, citizens would be burdened. “The city of Munich should use the decision as an opportunity to get back into discussions about solutions to the challenges of urban transport instead of relying on invasive market interventions such as minimum prices.”

There have also already been lawsuits in Leipzig and Cologne against restrictions on transport services such as those in Munich.