The The Uber Moto service in Brazil: an operation on the margins of legality and the vampirization of popular ways of transportation

Abstract

This article presents the results of ongoing research, presenting analyzes regarding a new type of service offered by the Uber corporation in Brazil, Uber Moto (from motorcycle), subsequently also offered by 99/DiDi. The text discusses a new stage in the process of making work conditions more precarious, as well as the company’s appropriation (or “vampirization”) of typical displacement forms of the popular economy in peripheral countries, such as Brazil. The empirical focus of the analysis is on the municipalities of the Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte (MRBH), although analyzes are also developed on a national scale, along with a discussion on the standardization of services in other municipalities. Methodologically, the research was based on the analysis of various secondary data and the use of location emulators to prove the existence of the service in cities. Lastly, it presents conclusions on the conflict between municipal and metropolitan traffic management and the use of the territory by app transport companies, which operate in municipalities where there are no specific regulations on the motorcycle taxi service, which also implies new forms of precarious work and the risk of accidents for passengers.

Keywords: Digital platforms; motorcycle taxi; Uberization; precarious work; urban mobility.