The Madeira Nucleus of the Portuguese Confederation of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (CPPME) met with the Mayor of Funchal in order to resolve some issues related to the taxi ranks located in Funchal. Paulo Ricardo Azevedo, director of the CPPME Nucleus of Madeira, pointed out some specific situations, which he said were welcomed with interest by the municipality.
One example is the square located at Praça Luís de Camões, where there are no bathrooms, or next to the Madeira Cable Car, where places are scarce.
“The serious problem that currently exists is the lack of places”, said the director of the regional nucleus. He added that there are reports of harassment by the police, when in the end they are just doing their job. “We are not asking for more taxi ranks, but to improve the ones that exist now”, assumed Paulo Ricardo Azevedo.
CPPME points out some solutions as in the case of the taxi rank located next to the cable car. In the place there are several places of residents, that are far from their dwellings. “They could move these places of the residents close to the residences and leave these spaces for the taxi ranks”, he explained, adding that the police arrive at this place and have fined the taxi drivers who are parked in the residents’ places.
Confederation has received complaints about Uber
Questioned by journalists, Paulo Ricardo Azevedo assumes that many taxi drivers have complained to CPPME about Uber. “I think Uber has also had a lot of problems with them. Many are green receipts and the little they charge has to send half to the application and the other half to pay for fuel, receipt, IRS and VAT ”
On the other hand, the director of the nucleus of Madeira showed reticence regarding the advantages of Uber for the Region, even more so at a time when there is talk of the arrival of other applications. “The Government must have a firmer attitude towards these applications that are preparing to enter here. Uber has little response capacity, what will we do with other applications? ”, He asked.
“Currently we have taxi drivers who start in the morning in a square and by lunch have not had any work,” said Paulo Ricardo Azevedo.