Uber’s activity in Israel will cease next week, according to an official announcement recently made by the ride-hailing company.
Related Stories:
According to a message sent to Uber drivers by the company, it will stop its operations in Israel starting June 23. Uber's cab fleet in Israel consists of approximately 6,000 vehicles as of this year. The company also employs a reduced number of workers in Israel who are likely to be laid off following the decision.
Uber began operating in Israel in 2014 with the intention to provide the Uber X service, which allows any driver who meets the company's requirements to transport passengers for a fee, even if they aren’t taxi drivers themselves.
This initiative faced significant pressure from existing taxi drivers in Israel and was discontinued, despite a renewed attempt in 2019 to allow Uber to operate the Uber X service in Israel.
However, after 2019, with the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Uber's ride-hailing activity in Israel came to a halt until the emergency passed. With the pandemic under control, Uber resumed its operations in Israel with taxi drivers.
The current number of Uber drivers working with the company – 6,000 drivers – is the highest It’s been during its operation in Israel.
The main reasons for this volume, which is likely to position Uber as the third-largest operator in the Israel ride-hailing market, alongside Gett and Yango, come from Uber's marketing activities abroad, targeting tourists familiar with the brand. In 2022, for example, Uber served passengers from over a hundred different countries.
However, despite the record figures, the company is actually leaving Israel. How come? First, from Uber's perspective, the company's original goal isn’t to operate a taxi fleet but rather a fleet of Uber cars operated by Israelis who aren’t taxi drivers.
However, this is unlikely to happen because lawmakers are not acting to change current regulations against the move.
Furthermore, according to official data from the Transportation Ministry, there are overall approximately 40,000 taxis operating in Israel, alongside an increase in the use of personal transportation means such as electric scooters.
Considering these figures, 6,000 active taxis don’t hold a significant market share in Israel. Further, complaints have also been filed against the level of service provided by Israeli taxi drivers with Uber, a company that serves tourists worldwide.
Uber stated that: "We’ve made the difficult decision to suspend our ride-hailing services in Israel, alongside the suspension of delivery services in Italy, as we’ve done in other markets in the past.
"The decision was made in accordance with Uber's policy to focus on the company's core global markets. We are working to minimize the impact on active taxi drivers on the platform and our team in Israel," the company added.