The Transportation Ministry confirmed it is advancing Uber’s entry into Israel’s taxi market, a move that would end years of regulatory stalemate and force a reckoning with high fares and uneven service. Minister Miri Regev framed it as a cost-of-living play: more competition, better tech, lower prices. “I’m the one who decides,” she said when asked about taxi-union threats.
A working plan on the table points to an early-2026 launch, pending the final regulatory framework. That timeline—reported across multiple Israeli outlets—signals a coordinated push inside the ministry rather than a trial balloon.
What actually changes? Today, only licensed taxis with a government “green number” can legally carry paying passengers at state-regulated rates. The plan being advanced would open the door for Uber’s model—letting ordinary drivers take fares—bringing Israel in line with much of the West. That’s exactly what taxi groups fear, and they’re saying it bluntly. “There’s going to be a world war here,” warned National Taxi Drivers Association chief Kfir Ben Zino, while Histadrut-affiliated leader Zohar Golan called it an attempt to legitimize “illegal drivers.”
Context matters: Israel tried this dance before. A court effectively shut Uber’s early ride-sharing push in 2017; Uber pivoted to taxi-only service in 2022, then pulled out in 2023 after failing to grab enough market share. The ministry’s new posture is a clean break from that defensive crouch and lands while its Special Rides Pricing Committee is already moving on a taxi-fare overhaul—another pressure point on the meter.
Expect turbulence. Taxi unions are mobilizing; political knives are out; and the regulatory engineering—insurance, safety, background checks, dynamic pricing rules—must be written with Israeli rigor, not copy-pasted from abroad. But the direction of travel is clear. If the government locks this in, riders get choice and transparency, drivers get new income lanes, and the old, sealed meter box finally meets the open app economy.
1 comment:
I've had good experiences most of the time using Gett so I don't want to criticize Israeli taxi drivers.
Perhaps the compromise they could demand is that while Uber can exist, only they can use the special taxi lanes.
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