#500: Uber, BVG, NIUS, raves, podcast

Berlin businesses are not happy

Jun 09, 2026

The elevators in the chamber of industry and commerce’s armadillo-shaped building. Photo: IHK Berlin

Dear 20 Percent,

We did it. 500 issues of this newsletter. Thanks to our readers, paid subscribers and many loyal sponsors. And to my co-founder, co-writer Andrew Bulkeley aka Drew Portnoy, who had the idea when we lost our jobs as English editors at Berliner Zeitung nearly 5 years ago.

❤️ Please like, comment, share. Or visit our sponsors. Or upgrade to paid. It all helps. And maybe we’ll reach 1,000 issues without burning out! ❤️

News below!

Maurice

🎙️ Episode 35 of the 20% Berlin Podcast just dropped. Andrew and I discuss Björn Höcke, NIUS ads, Görli, Hermannplatz and the Mietspiegel.

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Uber loses in court

Uber drivers in Berlin will have to return to their home bases in Brandenburg (where most of their vehicles are registered) after each ride unless they get a new booking en route. In a fresh decision, the Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof) upheld the "obligation to return” for ride-hailing services like Uber and Bolt. The law aims to protect the taxi industry from unfair competition. Over the last few years, Uber sub-contractors moved most of their fleets to Brandenburg to avoid Berlin inspectors who had found numerous violations of labour and tax regulations in the business. However, the “obligation to return” clause seems like a lot of unnessary driving and pollution, and I’m sure the algorithms will find a way around it.

BVG axes far-right media ads

Earlier this month, BVG passengers understandably began complaining that Germany’s version of Fox News, NIUS (pronounced “news”), had begun advertising in the U-Bahn. BVG said the ads were booked by an external agency and that it had to accept all ads that weren’t illegal. On Friday, BVG changed course after NIUS editor-in-chief Julian Riechelt posted the phrase, “We are becoming increasingly popular with both of the sexes” in the style of the aforementioned ad campaign. BVG saw the reference to “both of the sexes” as “unlawful” and ordered the agency to end the campaign. I fear that the whole affair has generated more attention for NIUS than just letting them run their ads.

Parks trashed by May Day raves

Large parties in Hasenheide, Görlitzer Park and Treptower Park on May 1 inflicted serious damage upon the green spaces, according to a statement by the city government in reponse to a question submitted by the Greens. In Hasenheide, a lawn that was redone in 2025 was thoroughly trampled and trashed by a rave that was registered as a political event. Berzirksamt Neukölln estimates it would cost €35,000 to repair the damage but that money isn’t in the budget right now. Then there’s next year.

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Wedding club given a lifeline

I have a soft spot for Humboldthain Club since I once threw an Exberliner party there. Housed in the bowels of Humboldthain S-Bahn station, with a garden right next to the tracks, it’s the kind of interesting space that makes Berlin what it is. A hotel project planned a few metres away could threaten the venue because guests would complain about the noise. Now Mitte’s district council (Bezirksverordnetenversammlung) has passed a resolution that requires the developer to sufficiently soundproof the yet-to-be-built hotel’s walls to prevent noise complaints that could threaten the club. With stagnant tourist numbers, why not just slow down new hotel construction?

Events this week, curated by The Next Day Berlin

🐦‍⬛ Kyiv Biennial: A Bird That Cannot Land
Opening: Wednesday, from 7 pm · Exhibion runs until 13.09 · KW, Auguststraße 69 · Wed–Mon 11am–7pm · €10/6
The tenth Kyiv Biennial fills the entire KW with work made under wartime conditions - exile, migrant memory, coloniality. Hatoum, Steyerl, Samia Halaby, Hiwa K. Live program runs opening weekend.

🔉 Berlin Beats: Kikelomo
Thursday 11.06 · 7 pm · Hamburger Bahnhof garden, Invalidenstraße 50–51 · free Kikelomo opens Berlin Beats' summer season in a free open-air DJ series in the museum garden. Bar, street food, no door.

🎭 MEXA: Reality Show
Friday–Saturday 12 and 13.06 · 7 pm · Sophiensaele, Sophienstraße 18 · €10-25
German premiere of a live elimination game: the audience votes characters out one by one until only one remains. MEXA builds a piece about participation, complicity and how quickly collective logic overrides individual judgment. One of the most discussed theater pieces in Berlin this month, according to everyone who's seen it elsewhere

🎹 Adam Winchester (live)
Sunday 14.06 · 8:30 pm · Donau115, Donaustraße 115 · donation-based
Winchester uses the mixer as an instrument - applying dub techniques to experimental electronics, modular synthesis, and manipulated samples in real time. Roots in Bristol dubstep (Wedge), collaborations with Amon Düül II and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.

🍺 🥨 Germany-wide news 🥨 🍺

✈️ Germany pulls the plug on French-German fighter project

🎙️ Podcast: The jailing of Germany’s most wanted woman

🚘 Germany’s toxic car culture

🛣️ Hitler’s 70 km ghost motorway

Factoid

While optimism lives on in the city’s flourishing start-up scene, the wider business community is not happy right now, according to a new survey of 830 companies carried out by the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK). The organisation’s Business Climate Index sank to 100, down from 105 last year. The report notes that, “This number only fell lower during the 2009 financial crisis, the 2020 Covid crisis and the 2022 energy crisis.” IHK boss Manja Schreiner commented: “Rather than a temporary infection that can be quickly overcome, Berlin’s economy now appears to be grappling with a long-term illness. The combination of weak demand, high costs and declining investment is undermining the city’s long-term competitiveness.” How can Berlin get back on track? “Politicians must finally get serious about cutting red tape,” Schreiner said.