An Egyptian court on Saturday, April 7, issued an order to suspend a ruling which asked to revoke the licenses of the country's ride-sharing services, Uber and Careem. The decision now allows the two companies to operate unless there is a higher court which rules on appeal against this ban. An Egyptian court had called it illegal to use private vehicles. It had ordered the apps for these services to be blocked. The services were still operating in the country nonetheless. Uber and Careem both had appealed for the ban.

The Parliament is currently working out on a bill that will legalise their work and services. But taxi drivers for long have been complaining about the undue advantages these services have. These services apparently do not pay the same taxes and also do not follow the licensing procedures. They do not pay the fees necessary to operate the transportation. Meanwhile, the commoners complained that the taxi-drivers refuse to turn on their meters and charge their own prices. So these ride-sharing apps had a greater advantage.

The lawsuit against these services was filed by a group of 42 taxi-drivers. The lawsuit claimed both ridesharing outfits were illegally using private cars as taxis, and that they'd registered under false pretenses. The decision regarding them was pending and has now come out in favour of the cab services. The bigger concern, however, will be in the days to come. The legislation can change the drafts about the operations which may not necessarily favour Uber. It may have to change its business model even. While Uber has been in operations in many of the countries, Careem is its competitor which was founded in 2012 in Dubai.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 08, 2018 09:54 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).