Post by account_disabled on Mar 11, 2024 10:13:16 GMT
In 2017, a startup emerged in Brazil with the promise of offering bus travel faster and cheaper. Through a digital platform, the company Buser connects passengers and buses, to allow people interested in the same trip on the same date to charter an executive bus. However, the transport model became widely contested by other companies in the sector, which led to several legal disputes in recent years.
Disclosure
Services offered by Buser have already been the subject of several legal actions Disclosure
Buser operates in the marketplace and collective charter modalities. In the first, it sells tickets in partnership with traditional buses regulated by bus stations, and works as a means of intermediation with passengers. In the second, the trip is made by private charter companies and the costs are shared among all passengers. This model is commonly compared to Uber's, and at the same time it is the most attacked by competitors.
The Brazilian Association of Land Passenger Transport Companies (Abrati), responsible for several anti-Buser legal actions, argues that road passenger transport is a public service by constitutional definition, and therefore depends on authorization from the public authorities. "Although public transport by charter is considered a private service, it presupposes compliance with legislation and the rules of regulatory agencies, which Buser and its partners effectively do not observe", says Abrati to ConJur .
Thus, Buser would represent unfair Portugal Mobile Number List competition to companies that follow the rules of the National Land Transport Agency (ANTT). According to Abrati, the startup would offer the same road transport services, but without collecting ICMS on the full value of the tickets (item V of article 12 of the Kandir Law and article 1 of the ICMS Regulation ), without operating low-flow lines (all created by ANTT based on previous studies and served by regular companies), without respecting the minimum frequency ( ANTT Resolution 4,770/2015 ) and without guaranteeing free tuition for the elderly ( Elderly Statute and ANTT Resolution 1,692/2006 ), children ( Resolutions 1,383/2006 and 1,922/2007 of ANTT), needy young people ( Resolution 5,063/2016 of ANTT) and people with disabilities ( Law 8,899/1994 ).
Buser claims to be a "more comfortable, safer and cheaper" alternative for customers. The company says that the questions are "the price of opening a new market" and argues that "state regulation does not advance at the same speed as innovations".
With the intense judicialization, traditional companies have already had decisions against Buser services in more states. On the other hand, Buser concentrates a greater volume of favorable decisions in some of the most populous states, such as São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
In certain decisions, magistrates established a ban on Buser charter trips in entire states. However, as it also works as a marketplace , the company argues that none of them impede its activities as a whole. Furthermore, many of the decisions refer to partner companies, not the platform itself.
Anna Grigorjeva
Buser and partner activities have already been banned in several states Anna Grigorjeva
The Brazilian Association of Collaborative Charterers (Abrafrec), representing many of the companies that use the Buser platform, also says that traditional companies try to block "healthy market competition" and "take away the consumer's right to come and go using a modern, quality service at more affordable prices." Abrafrec indicates that both intermediation platforms and chartered transport companies pay taxes and are subject to security inspections provided for by legislation.