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“The battle with taxi drivers is the past, now Uber wants to collaborate”

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«Two years ago we launched taxis, now we arrive in Turin with the chauffeur service, already active in Milan, Rome and Bologna. It is a transparent service, the app gives the possibility to know the fare in advance and the user, even before getting into the car, knows how much he will spend. We start with sixty driver-partners, but the number can grow ». Lorenzo Pireddu, general manager of Uber, is 38 years old and has headed the Italian division of the giant founded in San Francisco for two years. After the difficult months of the pandemic, he explains, the time has come to return to investing. «In recent months we have been monitoring demand trends, we are a tech company and we have access to a lot of data. There has been an interesting increase in Turin, around 45% from the beginning of May to today. We aim for this, in particular with regard to business customers and travel to Milan and Rome. In 2019, through taxis, we received 145,000 requests. The goal is to reach the same level next year ».

There was a big battle in the city after UberPop debuted. Will that kind of service come back? And what welcome do you expect from the taxi industry?

“That’s a closed chapter, it belongs to the past. We have learned from our mistakes, we have also admitted them publicly. From that moment on, we are committed to operating in accordance with all regulations and to collaborating with institutions. We are already there in Turin, we have opened a door to the world of taxis. Today we want to show that Uber can be very positive for the sector. Our app is translated into fifty languages, we operate in sixty-nine countries. In Bologna we have an agreement with the most historic of the cooperatives: we expect to continue like this, also in the future ».

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10% of Millennials who use Uber in the United States have changed their approach to using their personal car, choosing to use ride sharing systems. Is this a trend that will also be replicated in Italy?

“Italy, like the United States, is a country with a very high percentage of ownership of private cars. It is not that America starts from different scenarios. In my opinion, the possibility of accessing all mobility to sharing will increase. Progress has been made in the big cities and we will see the trend here too ».

Is it more difficult in the province?

«Our goal is to reach the provinces as well. In Portugal and France the app is already open to the whole territory. This can happen if there is a certain sustainability from an economic point of view ».

How are the 3.5 million active drivers globally framed from a contractual point of view? And in Italy?

«Uber drivers are all autonomous but not all of them work with us continuously. In the US, about half work with us for less than ten hours a week. In California there was a referendum in which the vast majority of drivers chose to be independent. Even if autonomy and flexibility do not mean a lack of protection, safety, rights and sustainability. In Italy we offer insurance protection that covers periods of illness, maternity and paternity ».

Who do you work with?

«Only with the categories listed for transport, on our platform there are exclusively professional drivers. It is a strategy that will continue in the future ».

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Uber Eats was the focus of a judicial investigation, but managed to get out of the commissioner early. How has your business changed?

“I take care of mobility. But as far as Eats is concerned, the judicial administration has asked for an organizational reorganization and a plan that has established very precise structures, with internal and external supervision. A series of actions that ensure that, in the future, we can be a step forward in a rapidly evolving sector ».

Riders have been the protagonists of tumultuous growth during the pandemic … how much room is there still for growth? Will the return to normal cause the business to decline?

“There has been a significant acceleration, the pandemic has accelerated a trend already underway. Now that it reopens we expect all customer relationships to move forward. It is a market that, within three to five years, will grow again: we are present in two hundred municipalities, we have many margins ».

Uber’s new mobility businesses, scooters and electric bicycles, merged with Lime in May 2020. Is this a farewell to the segment?

«No, it was a choice dictated by the observation that Lime has great operational efficiency and by a long-term vision of Uber. On some services we will be more direct and involved, such as cars, on scooters for example we have developed other partnerships. It is our vision of mobility: a range of means of transport available in the app and a wide range of options for those who have to move around the cities. In Rome we launched the integration with public transport to plan your journey by bus and subway ».

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What is Uber Italia today?

“Today we serve about 20% of the Italian population. We were born as a company built around the customer, looking at the number of requests we have today, our goal is to achieve growth that allows us to be present in these cities, to be achieved in a sustainable way. Compared to the past, we will be much more attentive to the way we enter cities. From this point of view it is important to mention three contributions made during the pandemic. At the beginning of the first Covid wave, we activated a partnership with Spallanzani to provide cars to nurses who had to move between the different hubs. During the vaccination campaign, however, we offered twenty thousand free rides to reach the poles. Yesterday, however, we launched discounts for those who want to move to the museums. They are ways to build a relationship with communities and institutions. We will also push on the green transition: by 2030 the races on the Uber app in Europe will be zero emission ».

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