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Taxi Times International - March 2015 - English

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CHANGING TAXI TRADE Dr.

CHANGING TAXI TRADE Dr. Mundy: “There are court cases which have 2 to 4 years to go.” Mac Urata (International Transport Workers’ Federation – ITF) warned that driver safety could worsen with TNC’s. The ‘Future Taxis’-panel covered much of the TNC/taxi discussion. AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES AND TAXI(-APPS) IN TRB-SPOTLIGHT The US has struggled with apps longer than any other country. A recent conference showed the taxi market’s uncertainty. Predictions? ‘Not the slightest.’ At the world’s largest transport conference, TRB’s Annual Meeting in Washington DC (January 11–15) quite a few policymakers, administrators, practitioners, researchers, suppliers, consultants, representatives of government(s) and academia were drawn to taxi(app)- and autonomous vehicle discussions. It was standing room only in the many sessions with connected and automated vehicles. Think again, those who think the selfdriving vehicle will be here tomorrow: Google, one of its main developers, told the conference it needed at least five years of tests to iron out software problems with properly recognising events on and around the road. For instance: kids playing next to the road – are they a potential ‘danger’ to traffic or just … playing kids? Legislation in many areas is racing ahead of actual autonomous driving, although Singapore is already running tests with driverless taxis in a small industrial estate. Until last year the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic (1968) stated that a car needs to have a driver at the wheel. A little-noticed amendment to the convention now lets drivers take their hands off the wheel of driverless cars. NO APPS, BUT TNC’S So far, taxi and FHV issues have only been but a small part of TRB’s Annual Meeting, mainly as part of paratransit – transporting people with mobility handicaps. But the activities of ‘apps’, or Transportation Network Companies (TNC’s) as the US shorthand goes, have given taxi-related subjects a higher status. One three-hour (!) session (‘Future Taxis: Implications of Transportation Network Providers for the Taxi Industry’), chaired and organised by James Cooper (University of Missouri), made a valiant effort to charter the length and breath of this burning issue. TNC’s are changing the taxi-landscape fast. Many references were made to the deregulation of the US trucking industry in the 80’s. And to sudden changes in the music industry, more recently. Remember Napster? “There are different markets with different, sometimes limited rules, different pricing and brand new elements. There are now at least two different business models”, said Dr. Ray Mundy (taxi-expert of the University of Missouri). “The taxi industry will be changed and things are changing at a bewildering speed.” AIRPORTS: TAXIS AND TNC’S? “Keep in mind that this change is only a good two years old. There are court cases relating to TNC’s in the pipeline which still have two to four years to go. And then there will be appeals.” Predictions? “No, not the slightest.” Suffice to say that the app controls the driver. That creates an employer-employee relationship, whereas in the US taxi world the driver is an independent operator. Then there are insurance problems, partly because there are no data for TNC-insurance. Or not any that the TNC’s would like to share.” This is a general problem, also for regulators, this data-secrecy on the part of the TNC’s. Only recently TNC’s in Boston and New York seem willing to part with data. “And finally”, Mundy said, “airports PHOTOS: Wim Faber are watching these developments very closely as they might want to include TNC’s in their regulatory business model.” As most airports – also outside the US – regulate these activities themselves, taxis might soon have to share space with TNC’s. The two apps at the table (Curb, formerly Taxi Magic) and Lyft Technologies (not shying away from a frank discussion with regulators and taxi companies, unlike Uber), could not be more different. Both stressed urbanisation, population growth, greater city-density, a growing elderly population, environmental concerns, lower car ownership and ‘instant gratification’ by app (‘knowing that the car is on its way’) as defining reasons for new mobility approaches. Curb, as Taxi Magic one of the oldest (taxi) apps around, connects with existing regulatory structures and connects users, taxi fleets and vehicles, offers transparency, ease of payment and choice (of taxi companies). This because the taxi market is very fragmented, with no cooperation on the horizon and drivers being fiercely independent. ‘WE SEEK REGULATION’ On the TNC-side, offering a swift and (raised) quality service, surge-pricing remains a headache. According to Curb, the different mobility modes can only compete fully and fairly on a truly level playing field. Lyft (active in 65 US cities) connects to the ineffectual carpooling initiatives in the 70’s, with a change in technology and efficiency. It claims to do vehicle checks, background checks and to provide proper insurance. The app, now 2,5 years old, says it offers many first and last mile trips to public transport (mainly in San Francisco) and opens up many areas with lower incomes. Recent developments: Lyft Line, a cheaper pooling system for one or two passengers and ‘driver destination’, offering only pick-ups on the driver’s way home. Although Lyft stressed that ‘we seek regulation’, it also sees the professional taxi training framework as ‘a barrier to entry.’ The environmental side (‘Do TNC’s help the environment or just the opposite’?) was addressed by Green Tomato Cars, an environmentally-friendly sedan company started 10 years ago, now owned by the (French) Transdev-company. It stated that major changes are afoot in the areas of road infrastructure and technology: “Cities will be electric e-havens. My money is on electric driverless cars continually replenished by induction loops.” ‘UBER, LYFT LOST, THE REGULATORS WON ...’ The downside of apps and private cars disappearing plus flexible public transport taking over: “Uber and Lyft will immediately fill up the void by adding vehicles and contributing to congestion.” Not exactly a bonus for the environment. As universal apps now seem to be the rage in the USA, Autocab, a UK supplier of dispatching systems, stated “Yes, the taxi industry can compete!” It now unifies different and competing fleets via its universal white label app-software. Washington DC is now developing its own app in-house. And, its greatly cleaned-up fleet is now taking credit cards and should be fully wheelchair-accessible in a few years. “What’s at stake from a regulatory perpective?”, asked consultant Bruce Schaller. “Adapt the current regulatory structure and go for a level playing field or go for ‘an Uber set of rules’ with a race to the bottom where the least respected operator wins.” According to him, the expanding taxi & FHV industry (+42% between 2002–2012) is governed by an archaic regulatory structure which should combine taxi, FHV and TNC regulations in one agency. And the good news? Former New York regulator and IATRpresident Matt Daus stated that we are experiencing “a regulatory backlash. Uber, Lyft lost, the regulators won.” Within two year’s time, in one of the many lawsuits the TNC laws will be knocked out and then it’s back to the regulatory side, predicted Daus. And the spying and privacy issues Uber was fire-fighting, won’t go away either. There are court cases in that area too. These are exciting times. n wf TRB’S ANNUAL MEETING It’s the world’s largest transport conference, the Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) in Washington DC (January 11–15). 12.000 specialists listened to 5.000 presentations in 750 sessions. A great ‘knowledge supermarket.’ This time taxi(apps) and autonomous driving were hot subjects. 8 TAXI MARCH / 2015 9

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