Taxi-drivers walk off job in protest as Uber arrives in Córdoba

Taxi-hailing app Uber arrived in Córdoba today, prompting protests from taxi-drivers across the region.

Drivers walked off the job and staged blockades and cut streets to show their anger at the company's arrival.

The firm began operating in the region at 4pm local time, but protests began early in the morning. Taxi-drivers blocked off routes to the city centre, coach station and the local airport's terminals, sparking chaotic scenes with arrivals unable to easily gain access to transport.

Córdoba is now one of more than 700 cities across the world that use Uber. According to representatives from the ride-hailing app, more than 28,500 drivers are already signed up to drive with Uber in Córdoba. A statement from the company added that "more than 143,000 people" had registered as users.

"We are very happy to join the future of Córdoba and contribute to the development of the city. We want all those in Cordoba and all those who visit the city to access the benefits that Uber technology provides to cities and their people," said Felipe Fernández Aramburu, Uber's Business Development Manager for Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.

"We are very bad because this is not what we expected.  You can see that they will do not anything in a legal way. We announces strikes, strong measures, bridge blockades, in front of the Municipality, to demand the Executive apply the rules. We will do everything possible to prevent Uber landing here," said taxi-drivers' union leader Lidio Soriano.

Meanwhile, Secretary of Public Services for the Municipality of Córdoba, Pablo Farías, described Uber's service in the city as "illegal." 

The official said that "the app's regulatory framework" was attracting a lot of attention, arguing that Uber had arrived in Córdoba "in the same way they did in other cities around the world ... imposition and then the regulatory debate [afterwards]. "
 
– TIMES/NA