"Bolt-Döner" for the Berliners - and stirring up sentiment against minimum prices.

Election campaigns sometimes give rise to unusual political messages. In Berlin, this is currently happening not only on posters or podiums, but at doner stands. The ride-hailing platform Bolt has announced that on Thursday it will distribute 1,000 free doner kebabs to Berliners. The background is the debate over possible minimum prices for taxi rides, which are intended to ensure greater equality of opportunity in competition.

Campaign against minimum prices

Bolt has been positioning itself against such plans for months. The company argues that minimum prices would make mobility more expensive and would especially affect people with lower incomes. With the doner kebab giveaway, the platform apparently aims to draw attention to this message – just a few days before the election to the Berlin House of Representatives.

In the taxi industry, the campaign naturally meets sharp criticism. The Federal Association of Taxi and Rental Cars (BVTM) sees in it not only a marketing measure, but a political push in favor of its own business model.

"The Dumping Döner is a dirty business. On the platforms, social standards are repeatedly systematically undermined. Cheap prices are bought at the expense of drivers and social fraud against society," explains Michael Oppermann, managing director of the BVTM.

The dispute touches on a conflict that has accompanied the industry for years. Taxi companies point out that they are bound to fixed tariffs, transport obligations, and numerous statutory requirements. Platform-dispatched rental cars, on the other hand, can set their prices largely flexibly. Critics see in this a competitive advantage, which arises especially through aggressive discount promotions and low fares.

Minimum fares for ride-hailing cars

Against this backdrop, several municipalities are discussing minimum fares for ride-hailing trips. The aim of such regulations is to prevent ruinous price competition and to ensure that companies properly employ their drivers and can provide social security. It is precisely this debate that Bolt is now publicly taking up. The free Döner becomes a symbol of cheap prices. For the taxi industry, however, the action sends the wrong signal.

“The politicians want to change that, but Bolt is trying to placate people with dumping Döner,” says Oppermann. “Gifts before the election for the interests of the big platforms — that is something one last saw more from Trump in the United States. The Bolt Döner, loaded with everything except social standards, has more than a sour aftertaste.”