How transport data can fuel the future of mobility

The case of app-based ride services

Finding the right regulatory framework for the new app-based ride services, also known as Commerical Transport Apps (CTA), is currently a particular point of contention in many countries. These have become highly popular with consumers, but at the same time, concerns about compliance with public safety, consumer protection and tax regulations exist. Competitors have demanded applying strict oversight criteria while the newcomers hold that existing rules favour incumbents.

Through it’s Corporate Partnership Board (CPB), the International Transport Forum brought together representatives from the CTA and taxi industries, regulators, academics and other stakeholders to seek points of consensus to identify where tensions persist and need to be addressed. The conclusions from this discussion, published in the report App-Based Ride and Taxi Services: Principles for Regulation, included a number of policy-relevant insights.

First, governments should regulate for-hire passenger transport with a clear focus on the needs of consumers and of society as a whole. Any framework should foster innovative services which contribute to public policy objectives such as equitably improving mobility, safety, consumer welfare and sustainability. This will likely mean controlling who can offer for-hire transport services and regulating fares for dispatched taxi services. It will also require continued oversight for hail/ rank taxi services, where costumers have little choice as to which service they use. In some instances, new types of regulation for non-taxi hire vehicles will be useful.

Second, governments should keep the regulatory framework applied to for-hire passenger transport services as simple and uniform as possible. They should avoid creating different categories of providers and, where differentiations are required, make them explicit. They should also be well-substantiated and frequently reviewed.

Third, governments should encourage innovative and more flexible regulation of for-hire transport services. The convergence of new technology and better data allow much more precise and effective oversight. Automated collection of fare information for fiscal purposes, on-board monitoring of vehicle condition and driver behaviour and other possibilities allow authorities to better monitor performance of providers and ensure they deliver what the regulators want them to deliver. Where alternative approaches can deliver on the public policy objectives, current rules should be adapted, streamlined, replaced or removed. Regulators should always adapt frameworks to better deliver on their objectives and not simply preserve the status quo.

Fourth, governments should embrace data-led regulation to improve societal outcomes. Data-driven oversight provides a lighter and more flexible approach to ensuring objectives are met. Operators should be able to choose such “data-rich regulation light” schemes over broader, more burdensome oversight frameworks in return for providing the data that allows regulators relevant insights into how the service provider supports the authority’s public policy objectives – or not.

About the International Transport Forum

The International Transport Forum at the OECD is an intergovernmental organisation with 57 member countries. It acts as a think tank for transport policy and organises the Annual Summit of transport ministers. ITF is the only global body that covers all transport modes. The ITF is administratively integrated with the OECD, yet politically autonomous.

India and the ITF

• India has been a member of the International Transport Forum since 2008. High-level representatives from India are regular participants of the Annual Summits and other ITF events.
• An Indian company, KPIT Technologies of Pune (Maharashtra), won the ITF Promising Transport Innovation Award 2016 for its proprietary technology for the retrofitting of vehicles with electric powertrains.
• ITF is co-organising a conference on “Investing in Airports” in Goa on 6-8 December 2017,together with the Airports Council International (ACI) in co-operation and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)

The 2017 Summit

The ITF’s 2017 Summit on Governance of Transport will analyse the trends shaping transport governance and identify the most pressing challenges. The Summit will focus on infrastructure, global connectivity, regulation under innovation, and urban access and mobility. The 2017 Summit will be held from 31 May to 2 June 207 in Leipzig, Germany.

www.itf-oecd.org