State entity concerned platform may be ‘discriminatory’
The license for Pinker, a new TVDE platform exclusively for women, has been suspended by the Institute of Mobility and Transport (IMT) until clarifications requested by the state entity are provided.
Pinker’s founder Mónica Faneco stresses the company has not been suspended, just the licence. But she wholeheartedly disagrees with the situation “which is why we are currently working with the IMT to dispel any and all doubts regarding the legality of this project, in which we believe very strongly”, she told Lusa.
According to stories today, IMT’s doubts centre on the fact that “there can be no discrimination in the activity of individual and paid passenger transport”, thus the fact that Pinker has been devised specifically for women, to be driven by women, may ‘contravene the law’.
The institute refers to the terms of article 7 of Law no. 45/2018, of August 10, on “non-discrimination”.
“Users, both actual and potential, have equal access to TVDE services, and these cannot be refused by the provider on grounds such as ancestry, age or sex”, says the law, and this last reference is at issue, adds the newspaper.
Mónica Faneco “remains committed” to collaborating with the competent authorities to resolve this situation quickly and transparently.
“Pinker is an innovative and differentiated concept in the Portuguese TVDE market, so it is very natural that it arouses a lot of curiosity, expectation and even doubts”, she said.
It was only a few days that stories broke about Pinker being ‘days away’ from starting operations.
All texts trod diplomatically, as has Mónica Faneco, but it is no secret that women have been ‘put off’ hailing rides on other platforms through fears for their own security. A number of stories have surfaced over the years in which ride hailing platforms have been operating, to underline these fears.
Pinker’s ethos is to “provide women with security when they request a vehicle that will be driven exclusively by women”, and by all accounts, it has been enthusiastically received, not only by women, but by men who are husbands and fathers (and want to know their wives/ partners/ daughters will be safe when out alone, or with other female friends).
“We want to bring security and confidence to women, in our services, being an alternative to what already exists”, said Faneco in the early stories, refusing to comment on the service, in terms of security, of applications already operating.
This far, six years after the entry into force of the law which governs the activity of TVDE, there are only two platforms operating in Portugal: Uber and Bolt.ND
Source: LUSA
