Call 23 00 01 - Frankfurt and the Uber Question

Behind the number 23 00 01 stands a development that is drawing attention far beyond Frankfurt. Taxi Frankfurt eG, for decades one of Germany's most important taxi dispatch centers, was taken over by a company closely connected with Uber. The buyer was the Berlin-based SafeDriver Group, which has been operating for years as the general contractor for the American platform company.

Frankfurt was never just any market. The city ranks among Germany's most economically important transportation hubs. The airport, the trade fair, the financial district, and an international audience have for decades ensured a passenger volume that other cities could only dream of. The local taxi dispatch center was accordingly regarded as a heavyweight within the industry. Around 900 of Frankfurt's roughly 1,700 taxis are connected to the dispatch network, according to the central office. The unrest was all the greater when rumors of a sale first surfaced in autumn 2025. The cooperative's response at the time was unequivocal. Neither had the dispatch center been sold, nor did contracts with Uber exist, the board publicly stated. In fact, however, talks were already underway with entrepreneur Thomas Mohnke, whose company has for years been part of Uber's operating environment in Germany.

Looking back, this episode reads like the calm before a decision that had long been prepared.

In March 2026, a majority of the remaining cooperative members voted in favor of selling their shares to the SafeDriver Group. The negotiations are said to have been ongoing for more than a year. According to industry sources, the cooperative members were offered a proposal that was economically attractive for many shareholders. But why were the sellers even willing to take this step?

Uber as an Opponent!

Today, when talking to taxi operators, one rarely hears ideological debates. Instead, it is about brokerage costs, software development, personnel, and the question of how customers can still be reached at all. The traditional telephone dispatching has been losing significance for years. Those ordering a ride increasingly use apps. And visibility in an app often determines the order intake more than the location of a vehicle. Frankfurt demonstrates this development particularly clearly. Uber also arranges taxi rides there and had already reported a clearly rising demand as well as a growing number of connected taxi operators in 2025. For many businesses, this created an additional sales channel, regardless of how they feel politically or emotionally about the company.

The generation that mainly perceives Uber as an opponent met entrepreneurs who mainly focus on the utilization of their vehicles. For a long time, the taxi trade understood itself as a counter-model to the platform economy. The central offices controlled the dispatch; the entrepreneurs were members of a common organization; value creation stayed within the industry.