Post by account_disabled on Mar 13, 2024 0:35:48 GMT -5
Although the Buser app does not directly offer vehicle charter services, contrary to the rules on the activity, it allows companies that operate on its platform to do so. With this understanding, the 10th Federal Court of Rio de Janeiro prohibited Buser from offering one-way trips. The decision is due August 10th.
The Buser system connects groups of people who want to make the same trip with vehicle charter companies, at lower prices than those offered by traditional companies. As a rule, buses that provide this type of service must have insurance, undergo inspection and receive authorization from the National Land Transport Agency (ANTT), and also undergo inspection by Buser itself.
The Union of Intermunicipal Road Transport B2B Lead Companies of the State of Rio de Janeiro (Sinterj) argued that the service offered by Buser constitutes "asymmetric" competition, which would make the startup's operation "illegal and clandestine". In its defense, the application maintained that its activity is not to establish routes or trips, but to serve as a platform for contracting charter services.
Judge Alberto Nogueira Junior stated that Buser allows companies that operate on its platform to offer clandestine charter services, with one-way trips, which violates the closed circuit model required for this type of transport in Decree 2,521/1998 and in Law 12,965/2014.
"Therefore, there is sufficient evidence to demonstrate that, in these hypotheses, concealment occurs, by registered companies, which conceal clandestine transport using the form of charter transport", assessed the judge.
Other side
Buser informed, in a note, that it will appeal the decision. According to the company, its business model is "fully in accordance with the law and the constitutional principles of free enterprise and free competition".
"The fact is also far from the desire of consumers, who by the thousands express themselves daily in favor of the services provided by Buser and its partners, praising not only the lower cost, but the quality and hygiene of the vehicles used, the treatment given by drivers and through the application itself, which has rules that are much friendlier and more attentive to consumers to change dates, routes or even refund the amounts in case of canceling a trip. The company reaffirms its commitment to intermediating safe trips that are considerably cheaper than those offered by competitors", said the company.