Japanese transport ministry asks Uber to suspend its free ridesharing pilot in Fukuoka

The bigger they get, the harder they stall. Such appears to be the case for Uber, the app-based transportation service, as it falls under increased scrutiny from government regulators across the globe. In Japan, where bureaucracy can run deeper than the Mariana Trench, it should come as no surprise that the government’s transport ministry has moved to suspend Everyone’s Uber – a free ridesharing pilot program that launched last month in Fukuoka.

Everyone’s Uber, or “Minna no Uber” in Japanese, is a collaborative effort with Kyushu Technology Licensing Organization (TLO). Its aim is collecting anonymous big data related to the city’s commuting patterns, which will then be shared with the local government to improve transportation infrastructure. A similar partnership between Uber and the US city of Boston is currently underway.

According to Reuters, the Japanese transport ministry believes that Everyone’s Uber is in violation of Japan’s Road Transportation Law because, as is the nature of ridesharing, drivers use personal vehicles rather than vehicles registered to Uber itself. There also appears to be concern over insurance for both the driver and passengers in the case of an accident.

Uber’s service in Tokyo, the only other Japanese city where the company operates, appears to be working as usual. The suspension effectively renders Uber a one-city app in Japan, as opposed to Line Taxi, which is now available in more than 90 cities across the country.

It’s not uncommon for municipal governments to shake their fists at Uber. It’s also not unusual for Uber to ignore said fist-shaking, and instead rally for new regulations that accommodate its business model. In Asia, the company temporarily suspended its service in New Delhi following a high-profile rape incident, but weeks later it was back up and running with the addition of new safety measures. It has also faced ongoing scrutiny in Seoul, where local authorities have even placed bounties on its drivers and indicted CEO Travis Kalanick for violating domestic transport laws.

Fukuoka is known as a Japanese startup hub, with the city proper acting as a special economic zone for venture activity. The mayor is a staunch supporter of the local tech and startup community, but its unclear if he has the authority to intervene.

See: Japan’s most startup-focused mayor wants to turn his city into an entrepreneurial hub

Uber shared the following official statement with Tech in Asia:

Everyone’s Uber is an unprecedented collaboration between Uber and the Kyushu Technology Licensing Organization (TLO) to help the city of Fukuoka collect data and design future solutions for its transportation needs.This was created with the concept of ridesharing in mind, encouraging the sharing of resources to support cities with their transportation needs. This is particularly important to Japan with an aging population. We saw this as a unique opportunity to help find a solution and fulfill an important need in Japan’s future. In the month since its launch, we’ve received high volumes of positive feedback from participating riders and drivers in the program.

As we hit our one-month mark, we are revising the format for this program based on the learnings in the past 30 days. We will continue our ongoing dialogue with the relevant authorities to clearly communicate program details and address any concerns. As an example, we are evolving our driver participant compensation model where they are simply reimbursed for the cost of participating in the data collection process.

We thank our rider and driver participants for their continued efforts in contributing to the data collection efforts for Fukuoka, and we hope to continue to contributing to the Fukuoka community through Uber’s technology.

(H/T to Reuters)