--- description: Drivers in cities like London and Milan are planning to halt traffic to protest competition from the ride-hailing app title: Taxi Drivers Protest Uber App in European Cities image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt40f1d999d6fd2e8c/6986970b06f2c155cf32f69b/495298219.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Companies](/tag/companies/) ## Companies Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Taxi Drivers Across Europe Planning Huge Protests Against Uber  by [Nolan Feeney](/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 10, 2014 11:59 PM CUT  In this photo illustration, a smartphone displays the Uber mobile app in London on June 2, 2014 In this photo illustration, a smartphone displays the Uber mobile app in London on June 2, 2014Oli Scarff—Getty Images  by [Nolan Feeney](/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 10, 2014 11:59 PM CUT More than 30,000 taxi drivers [are planning to cause traffic jams](http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-06-10/uber-protests-spread-across-europe-as-taxi-app-backlash-grows "undefined") across a number of European cities on Wednesday to pressure lawmakers into more strictly regulating Uber, the San Francisco–based car-service app that cab drivers say is threatening their business. Uber drivers are not required to have the same licenses taxi drivers do. Those licenses can cost €200,000, or about $270,000 each, _Bloomberg Businessweek_ reports. Of the 128 cities Uber services, 20 of them are in Europe, where similar protests have gotten ugly before — one in Paris earlier this year ended with broken windshields. “European cities have tended to regulate taxi drivers much more than the U.S.,” Eurasia Group analyst Charles Lichfield told _Businessweek_. “I do think the protests have a better chance of succeeding.” Uber, which said its latest funding round pushed the company [to a $17 billion valuation](http://time.com/2839410/uber-17-billion-valuation/ "undefined"), promised to carry on despite the protests. “While the taxi protests may seek to bring Europe to a standstill,” the company said in a statement, “we’ll be on hand to get our riders from A to B.” \[[_Bloomberg Businessweek_](http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-06-10/uber-protests-spread-across-europe-as-taxi-app-backlash-grows "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2854582/uber-protests-taxi-europe/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2854582/uber-protests-taxi-europe/"},"headline":"Taxi Drivers Across Europe Planning Huge Protests Against Uber","datePublished":"2014-06-10T23:59:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T08:20:26.784Z","description":"Drivers in cities such as London and Milan are planning to bring traffic to a halt at tourist sites and shopping centers to protest competition from the ride-hailing app","url":"https://time.com/2854582/uber-protests-taxi-europe/","keywords":["Companies","Uber","taxis"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt40f1d999d6fd2e8c/6986970b06f2c155cf32f69b/495298219.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nolan Feeney","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt40f1d999d6fd2e8c/6986970b06f2c155cf32f69b/495298219.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"London Black Cab Drivers To Protest Over Uber Taxis","caption":"London Black Cab Drivers To Protest Over Uber Taxis","creditText":"Oli Scarff—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/companies/","name":"Companies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2854582/uber-protests-taxi-europe/","name":"Taxi Drivers Across Europe Planning Huge Protests Against Uber"}}]}] ```