Amsterdam taxi drivers launch app to rival Uber

A group of Amsterdam taxi drivers has launched a rival booking app to try and loosen Uber’s grip on the city’s cab market, amid long-running disputes over employee status, wages and workers’ rights. The founders claim nearly 1,300 drivers have already signed up.

The app, NLCabs, was set up by driver Mostapha Ahidar and co-founder Ivo van Leeuwen, who told Het Parool they were tired of watching a US monopoly control the terms of their trade. It works the same as Uber: passengers order a ride through the app and nearby drivers pick them up.

The difference, the founders say, is the cut. NLCabs takes a 3% commission from drivers, which Ahidar said was only what the platform needs to keep running. Uber’s commission is variable and can rise beyond half the fare, according to the drivers, though the company does not publish its rates.

“We are treated like children by Uber,” one driver told the paper. “We have absolutely no room for negotiation.”

Years of friction
The launch comes after years of conflict between Uber and Dutch drivers, much of which has gone through courts and regulators.

In August, the data protection authority (AP) fined Uber €825 million for deactivating drivers’ accounts through automated systems, without proper human review or explanation – the second-largest penalty ever issued under EU privacy law. Uber is appealing and has called the fine disproportionate.

That followed a €290 million fine in 2024 for sending drivers’ data to the US, a record at the time. Both cases originally stemmed from complaints by French drivers.

Employee or entrepreneur
In January, an Amsterdam appeal court ruled that Uber drivers cannot all be treated as employees, overturning a 2021 judgment that had put them on the payroll. The FNV trade union, which launched the case, said it was weighing a Supreme Court appeal.

Many drivers work almost exclusively through Uber and have little way of finding fares without it.

NLCabs is live but has only a few hundred downloads on Google Play, and the founders said they know shifting a habit as ingrained as opening Uber will be hard. They plan to expand across the Netherlands.