Uber and Its Competitors in Germany

Ride-hailing and ride-sharing services in Germany and most of Europe have had a far more difficult time than in North America.

While Uber plays a limited role in Germany, Lyft can’t be found anywhere in Europe. And Uber had to wage a long legal battle in Germany just to survive as a pale imitation of its US service – as a regulated taxi service. But there are also a number of Uber competitors in Germany for short-term (peer-to-peer) car rental, ride-sharing/car-sharing and other mobility options such as e-bikes, and scooters. See more about that below.

An Uber advertisement seen in the baggage claim section at Berlin’s BER airport. PHOTO: Hyde Flippo

Uber entered the German market in January 2013 by offering high-end limo service during Fashion Week in Berlin. That was not a problem, but in April 2014 the American company introduced its low-cost UberPop service, using freelance drivers who did not have a commercial license. Uber soon faced legal challenges from local taxi firms, but as it had done in the US before, it simply ignored the lawsuits and pressed ahead anyway, expanding to Hamburg and other cities in Germany.

However, unlike in the US, Taxi Deutschland, the national taxi hailing service, sought a nationwide injunction against Uber, citing unfair competition. In September 2014, a German court agreed to restrict Uber. Soon there were more problems facing the American upstart. German taxi operators did not stand idly by. They even organized sting operations to expose Uber drivers without a commercial license, who thus faced large fines.

In March 2015, the Hessian state court (Landesgericht) in Frankfurt effectively banned Uber nationwide. Uber was beginning to learn that the steamroller tactics that had worked so well in the US were not working in Germany. (And that was before the Uber app was declared illegal in 2019.) Uber’s failure to understand how different Germany’s business culture and legal framework were, made the firm’s executives assume that tactics that had worked in the US would also be effective in Europe.

To quote an article by Kathleen Thelen: “Thus, in stark contrast to the United States, the dominant framing of the Uber issue in Germany cast the company as a threat to the public interest for the way it invaded well-ordered local transportation markets with unfair, ruinous competition. In an inversion of the more common American narrative that often denounces powerful taxi ‘monopolies,’ Germans were more likely to see Uber as a powerful Goliath, backed by deep-pocketed investors and intent on world domination.”[1]

If you want to learn more about why Uber has such a limited presence in Germany, see my first blog post about Uber’s very bumpy road there. In this post we’ll now examine Uber’s availability in Germany, and review its primary competitors, including Bolt, Carpool Germany, Free Now, Getaround, Lime, Share Now, SnappCar, and Stadtmobil Car Sharing.

Note: In some cases the information on this page about Uber and other mobility providers may also apply to some cities in Austria and Switzerland. However, this article is primarily related to Germany. The best way to know about current conditions and the cities served in any country is to download the app for the provider you want to use.

Before we examine Uber alternatives in Europe, let’s look at why Uber in Germany is nothing like Uber in North America.

Chauffeur’s License Required – No Amateur Freelance Drivers Allowed
In 2019 a German court declared the Uber app illegal because it bypassed registered and regulated taxi companies. Uber was also banned or restricted around the same time in London, Barcelona, and some other European cities. Uber now manages to operate in Germany and the EU only as a regulated taxi service. The US-style UberPop (called UberX in the US) freelance ride service can’t be found in Germany or anywhere in the EU.

Anyone who wants to drive for Uber in Germany, needs a professional chauffeur’s license. Unlike in the US, not just anybody with a normal driving license and a car can pick up people and drive them around town to earn extra income. In Germany, Uber’s website tells prospective drivers the steps required to apply to drive for Uber, and the most important one is “Apply for a P-Schein,” a Personenbeförderungsschein. Now officially called a Führerschein zur Fahrgastbeförderung (FzF, “driving license for transporting passengers”), the P-Schein entitles the bearer to transport passengers in a private hire vehicle (PHV) as part of a taxi fleet.

A sample P-Schein (partial view). PHOTO: ADAC

The FzF/P-Schein is the exact same license required to drive a taxi or limousine in Germany. The minimum age is 21. A P-Schein is valid for five years. Renewal requires a repeat vision test and driving test. The combined fees for obtaining a P-Schein can be as much as 300 euros. Conveying passengers in a vehicle for hire without a P-Schein is punishable by a fine (Bußgeld) and a penalty point in Flensburg. (Too many “Flensburg points” can result in restrictions, including the loss of your driver’s license!) Following the application process, it normally takes about four to six weeks to get your P-Schein in the mail.

Taxi Centrals Required – Join the Fleet
Anyone conveying passengers in a PHV must work in cooperation with a taxi central and a fleet. Once an Uber driver has their P-Schein, the next step is to find a taxi fleet to work with. A passenger’s rides will be ordered via the Uber app, but they must go through a taxi operator and a driver’s fleet. It’s nothing at all like driving for Uber in the US or Canada.

What this means for riders in Germany is that an Uber ride will usually cost only slightly less than a normal taxi. In surge-pricing situations, an Uber may even cost a lot more than a taxi! But there are alternative ride-share and car sharing services in Germany and Europe.

Uber’s Competitors in Germany and Europe

Yes, Uber operates in much of Europe, but it’s not the only ride-sharing game in town. And Uber’s competitors also keep trying to find ways to offer rides at cheaper rates than Uber – in Germany and elsewhere in Europe. Just as with Uber, German attitudes about its competitors can be negative as well, and they operate under the same rules as Uber. Let’s look at the main alternatives in alphabetical order:

BetterTaxi (BetterTec GmbH)
A Munich-based firm that specializes in airport and rail station transfers in many European cities, including a dozen or so in Germany. Its taxi and limousine service operates in over 100 European cities, from Austria to the UK, including 70 in Germany, plus five in Austria and five in Switzerland.
WEB: BetterTaxi.de

Bolt e-scooters and a Bolt taxi in Berlin, Germany. PHOTO: Bolt

Bolt
Known as Taxify from 2013 to 2019, Bolt is based in Tallinn, Estonia. The firm offers ride-hailing, car rental/sharing (using the Bolt Drive app, in Berlin only), e-scooters/bikes, and food and grocery delivery. Bolt operates in over 500 cities in more than 45 countries in Europe, Africa, Western Asia, and Latin America. Bolt entered the German ride-hailing market in summer 2021 with e-scooter and taxi service in Berlin. It has since expanded to some other German cities, in some cases with more limited services (airport only, only e-bikes/e-scooters, etc.) than in Berlin. The Bolt app is required for rides.
WEB: Bolt Germany (English)

CarpoolWorld
Founded in 1993, privately held CarpoolWorld is incorporated as Planète Covoiturage Inc./CarpoolWorld Inc. in the province of Québec, Canada. Its founder and CEO is Isabelle Boulard. World headquarters are now in Joliette, Québec, Canada. CarpoolWorld is a worldwide online ride-share and trip-matching platform that connects people driving a car with people who need a ride to a destination usually hundreds of kilometers distant (e.g., Berlin to Amsterdam), but also local or regional. It provides free ride-matching services for individuals, and fee-based ride-sharing systems for organizations and institutions (schools, clubs, hospitals, universities). Once a popular practice in the 1970s and 1980s, carpooling in the US has faded away – despite carpool or HOV lanes on Interstate highways. CarpoolWorld is an attempt to revive the practice by providing free trip matching for individuals.
WEB: CarpoolWorld Listings (Individuals) (English)
WEB: Carpoolworld – Germany (English)

Free Now
Originally founded in 2009 as MyTaxi by German entrepreneurs Niclaus Mewes and Sven Külper, Free Now is currently part of the German automakers Daimler and BMW, as their investment in ride-hailing and car-sharing (as Share Now). Free Now Ride (app required) is available in Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich, Cologne, Düsseldorf, and Hamburg, and is planned for other locations in Germany. Free Now operates in Germany, the UK, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Poland, Romania, France, Austria, and Greece.
WEB: Free Now Ride – Cities in Europe
WEB: Free Now Ride – Airports Served (over 50 airports; 8 in Germany)

Getaround
Launched in San Francisco in 2011, Getaround has expanded across the US and seven European countries with 1.7 million unique worldwide guests as of the end of 2022. Getaround, listed on the NYSE (GETR and GETR.WS) offers short-term peer-to-peer car/SUV/truck/van rental using its mobile app. Rentals are priced per hour or per day. You unlock the rented car with the app. “Autos 24/7 einfach mit der App öffnen, und los gehts!” Getaround is available in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Norway, Spain, and the UK. Also in Florida and and other US states. Trip liability insurance included. Mission statement: “We’re helping consumers shift away from car ownership by giving them instant and convenient access to vehicles when they need them.” NOTE: In the US, Getaround has had problems with criminals who misuse its app and GPS tracking to burglarize, damage or steal cars. In July 2021, Getaround Inc paid $950,000 to Washington, D.C. and revised its business practices “after allegations that it misrepresented the benefits and nature of its car sharing services and failed to pay city sales taxes.”
WEB: Getaround – Deutschland (Deutsch)
WEB: Getaround – UK (English)
WEB: Getaround – Florida, USA (English)

Lime Germany
US-based Lime offers a range of e-bikes and e-scooters (Tretroller) via the Lime app in many German cites, and a few in Austria and Switzerland as well. Because of problems similar to those in the US, with misplaced vehicles, Lime sometimes gets banned in certain locations. Always check the app first. The web link below includes a link to the Lime app.
WEB: Lime Germany: Vehicles (English)

Share Now
A division of Free Now (above), Share Now is their car sharing service (short-term rentals via an app).
WEB: Share Now (car-sharing/rental – English)

SnappCar
Founded in 2011, Utrecht-based SnappCar is a European car-rental marketplace that enables peer-to-peer rentals. The website matches cars with drivers in various locations. Its slogan is “Rent a car in your neighborhood.” Victor van Tol, one of the founders of the Dutch company, calls it an “Airbnb for cars.” Its technology platform allows car owners to rent out their vehicles (with insurance coverage provided by SnappCar and a Dutch insurer. In 2017, Snappcar entered the German market by purchasing Germany’s number two peer-to-peer car sharing firm Tamyca, bringing it closer to challenging European market leader Drivy, later absorbed by Getaround (see above). That same year Europe’s largest car rental company, Europcar, took a 20% stake in Snappcar.
WEB: Snappcar Germany (English)

Stadtmobil Car Sharing
Stadtmobil was founded in 1999 as a group of seven regional car-sharing companies based in Berlin, Essen, Frankfurt a.M., Hanover, Karlsruhe, Mannheim, Stuttgart, and Trier. The regional firms all share a common brand, common marketing, a common website (organized by cities), reservation system, and they develop and use common software and digital car access technology. Stadtmobil offers car rental by the hour, day, or week – with the goal of saving customers the coast of owning a car. An example they use compares the cost of a family owning a car versus renting a car over a period of one year, driven a total of 5,000 km (fixed monthly costs, mileage, etc.). The owned car’s annual total costs are €4,884; the rented car’s annual total costs are €2,408. See the links below for details.
WEB: stadmobil.de (Deutsch)
WEB: stadmobil.de (Berlin) (Deutsch)
WEB: stadmobil.de (Stuttgart) (Deutsch)

Do you know of any other Uber alternatives? Let us know.

– HF

Footnote 1. Thelen, Kathleen. “Regulating Uber: The Politics of the Platform Economy in Europe and the United States.” Perspectives on Politics 16, 4 (November 2018): 938-953 © American Political Science Association 2018, Cambridge University Press (PDF)