Sao Paulo, Jul 1 (EFE).– Members of a militarized state police force will be enlisted to help prevent the Uber ride-sharing service from operating in Sao Paulo, Brazil’s largest metropolis, a city official said.

“Only taxis can provide individual public transportation” services, Sao Paulo Transportation Secretary Jilmar Tatto said during a meeting with representatives of the taxi drivers’ guild on Wednesday, a day after Sao Paulo’s city council voted 48-1 to ban the application-based private car service in this metropolis.

He said his office will ask Sao Paulo state’s Militarized Police force and the Metropolitan Civil Guard to prevent Uber cars from operating and to investigate possible future tax evasion and the repatriation of profits stemming from that ride-sharing service.

Fifty inspectors are currently working to combat public transport irregularities in Sao Paulo, the secretary said.

The bill to ban Uber and other similar app-based private driver services still requires a second vote by Sao Paulo’s city council and also must be signed into law by Mayor Fernando Haddad.

In late April, a judge ordered Uber to halt its service in Sao Paulo, but that ban was subsequently lifted on appeal.

Uber told EFE that its service is continuing to operate normally in Sao Paulo because the city council’s measure has not yet been enacted.

The San Francisco-based company added that users in Sao Paulo sent more than 200,000 e-mails to the city council expressing their opposition to a ban on the service. EFE