A TV report on Hessenschau again highlights the downsides of Uber, Bolt & Co.

The Hessenschau report (available here) shows how business models around Uber, Bolt & Co. systematically foster precarious working conditions, social security fraud and tax avoidance. The risks are ultimately borne by the general public. This is made especially clear by the assessment of Christian Walburg from the Police Academy in Münster. In the report, he explains: "It would be even more important to move toward forms of regulation in which the actual providers are held liable and responsible."

The central conclusion of the piece is also clear: "In the end, there is a system in which platforms can invoke formal rules, but the risks of exploitation, tax fraud and social harms remain borne by the general public."

The Federal Association of Taxi and Rental Cars once again sees its demands confirmed by the investigations. To this, Michael Oppermann, Managing Director of the Federal Association of Taxi and Rental Cars, states:

"The piece plainly shows that the current regulations are not sufficient. Platforms such as Uber and Bolt profit from a system in which responsibility is outsourced, while social security funds, employees, and honest companies bear the consequences. We urgently need effective minimum transport fares for platform rental cars, clearly stricter controls, and a tightening of regulation that expressly also holds the intermediary platforms themselves responsible."