Patrick Nothhaft Steps Down – Resignation from Taxi München eG

“Unfortunately, in the last few months there have been differences in the cooperation within the board and with the supervisory board that I consider insurmountable,” he explained in a statement.

Nothhaft speaks of interventions by the Supervisory Board in operational decisions, which, in his view, violate the clear separation of responsibilities between the two bodies.

“Under these circumstances, I no longer see any basis for a trustworthy and fact-oriented collaboration in the interests of our members,” said Nothhaft.

A generational shift with obstacles

When he was elected in 2023 to the three-member board of the cooperative, many members linked Nothhaft with the hope for a breakthrough. Together with Thomas Kroker and Ertekin Kocer, he took on responsibility for the company's strategic direction. Nothhaft was regarded as a representative of a younger generation in Munich's taxi industry — someone who wanted to push digitalization and modernize the traditional cooperative model.

But just a few months later, the leadership ran into trouble. In spring 2025, the dispute between the executive Kroker and Nothhaft on the one hand and parts of the supervisory board on the other escalated. The supervisory board accused the two of financial weaknesses and breach of trust. Taxi München eG, with more than 3,000 vehicles, is one of the largest taxi cooperatives in Germany. It is under considerable pressure: ride-hailing platforms like Uber and Bolt are eroding market share, while internally disputes over conflicts of interest are being fought. Some supervisory board members allegedly operated vehicles on these platforms at the same time — an action that damaged the cooperative's credibility.

For the board, the issue was more than a legal question. They saw in it a fundamental dilemma: How can an organization that positions itself against platform providers simultaneously tolerate representatives who do business with them?

On April 2, 2025, Nothhaft was temporarily removed from office by the supervisory board. The Munich I Regional Court overturned this decision shortly thereafter: the cooperative's statutes had been disregarded, a necessary members' meeting had been missing. Thus Nothhaft was allowed to return to office. The conflict, however, remained — between control and trust, between generations and leadership styles.