June 27 (SeeNews) - Russian-owned ride-hailing company Yango said on Thursday it has launched operations in Romania.
Romania becomes the fifth EU country where the service is available, after Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Finland, Yango said in a press release.
With the launch of the application, a dedicated training centre for drivers was recently opened by a Yango partner in Bucharest. The company does not have his own cars or drivers, as it works with local partners.
"In the last period, the urban transport market in Romania has significantly dropped quality standards regarding customer experience. As a first step before the official launch, our team organised a series training sessions for partner drivers, where they were trained on the specifics of the service, on how to communicate with passengers and on other important issues," Yango regional manager for Romania and Moldova, Andrei Voicu, said.
Unlike its competitors, Yango said it uses its own mapping, targeting and navigation system and intelligent command distribution based on machine learning technologies. These features make it possible to significantly reduce the net cost of travel, Yango said.
Yango is part of Russian technology group Yandex. It is currently operating in 16 countries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
On Tuesday, the Romanian government adopted an emergency decree regulating the operations of ride-sharing platforms in a long-awaited decision. Ride-sharing platforms had found themselves stuck in a legal deadlock after the government enforced in May a new regulation saying that car drivers holding no licence for transporting passengers for a fee can be fined on the spot.