Existence-threatening?

SPÖ internal clinch over Vienna’s e-taxi ordinance

The ordinance threatens the existence of the lone fighters among Vienna's taxi drivers in particular, SPÖ representatives in the chamber accuse the city hall.

(Bild: Jöchl Martin)

The Social Democratic Business Association of all parties is mobilizing against Vienna City Hall. The reason: the new cab ordinance, which comes into force at the turn of the year and only allows new registrations of e-vehicles. The city hall should show a "culture of error" and withdraw the regulation, they demand.

Two weeks before the new cab ordinance comes into force, which only allows e-cars as newly registered cabs, the Social Democratic Business Association (SWV) is firing back at City Hall and, in particular, SPÖ City Councillor for Economic Affairs Peter Hanke: the ordinance, which is "doomed to fail", must be withdrawn and City Hall should demonstrate a "culture of error".

"Immature experiment"
The SWV argues that the new ordinance threatens the existence of small businesses in the sector in particular: they are often dependent on public charging points, of which there are far too few and where capacities are too low. "That costs time that I should be spending with passengers," said cab operator Serhat Sen. And Vienna's SWV President Marko Fischer added: The regulation is an "immature experiment" and leads "not to the future, but to a dead end".

Cab operator Serhat Sen, SWV Vienna President Marko Fischer and Katharina Pokorny, Chairwoman of the Transport and Traffic Division

(Bild: SWV Wien)

Charging network more than sufficient from Wien Energie's point of view

Wien Energie is not prepared to accept the accusation of a lack of charging infrastructure: The company points to 40 ultra-fast charging points (charging time approx. 12 minutes) and over 200 other fast charging points (charging time 30 to 60 minutes). At around 1000 other freely accessible public charging points, it is possible to charge overnight at no extra cost. In addition, the infrastructure is constantly being expanded.

Counter-proposal with CO2 limits
Instead of the ordinance, the SWV advocates a gradual reduction in CO2 limits for newly registered cabs over the next six years. However, the SWV representatives also had to admit that the proposal comes too late in that many cab drivers had already bought new combustion engines months ago in order to avoid the regulation. The proposals were submitted to Hanke five weeks ago. According to Fischer, he "assured me that it would be examined. But that took too long."

Cool reaction from the town hall
Hanke's office is convinced that the charging network is sufficient for the current 220 e-taxis - out of a total of 8,300 vehicles. It will also be expanded as demand increases. He also points out that the cab ordinance "imposed" by SWV was already passed in 2020, with the approval of the social partners. Reference is also made to the example of London, where the switch to e-taxis also took place in 2018 amid protests from the industry and a good half of all cabs are now emission-free. There is also a treat for taxi drivers: they can now charge at reduced rates.

The SWV's move is probably also to do with raising its profile in the upcoming Chamber of Commerce election campaign. The cards will be reshuffled there in March. The SWV is also fiercely opposed to its own professional association of taxi drivers in Vienna: "We want a guild that acts for the industry. We haven't seen it that way in recent years."