Great country to live, awful country to start/host any kind of company. Unfriendly tax climate, lack of startup infrastructure, lots and lots of bureaucracy.<p>Their (national association of road transport) next step is trying to get Uber to pay up for missed income - or as they state it "compensation for damages to the industry" [1].<p>[1]: <a href="http://www.publico.pt/sociedade/noticia/uber-proibida-de-operar-em-portugal-1693930" rel="nofollow">http://www.publico.pt/sociedade/noticia/uber-proibida-de-ope...</a>
This is much due to the fact that in some european countries the government gives monopoly status to some business areas if they are willing to work how the government want them to work. This usually has a negative impact on the winnings of the local company.<p>For example taxis are supposed to work and be reachable all around the country with the same prices, not just in high volume areas. If there is a new company that steps on the prices of the high volume areas, the older local company won't be able to offer the service in low volume areas.<p>People get angry if they don't have good services in their living areas.
If there's one country where Uber is needed...<p>When I was there last year, we were given a list of 5 taxi phone numbers. When you needed a taxi, you'd cycle through the numbers until you found one that 1) answered the phone 2) was available 3) managed to understand where you wanted to be picked up. When we were leaving and needed to catch a bus, I made 15 fruitless phone calls, then asked somebody for a ride.
10 words in to become incorrect, and that was due to sentence structure. Top comment on Hackernews is also wrong.<p>These two reasons are why Uber (a crappy company anyway, do use their competitors, don't reward their anticompetitive policies) are banned.<p>> by the Court of Lisbon which accepted an injunction filed by Antral, the road carriers association.<p>Incorrect<p>> Politicians are too short sighted, always protecting the status quo.<p>Incorrect.