The BMVI advisory council calls for a comprehensive liberalization of taxi regulations. According to the opinion of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Federal Minister for Transport and Digital Infrastructure this is the time for “Using the opportunities of digitization in the taxi market: strengthening liberalization and consumer protection.”

The German taxi and PHV association BZP has received the latest expert opinion from the Scientific Advisory Board of the Federal Minister for Transport and Digital Infrastructure, which contains very market-liberal and broad positions which, in effect, would substantially eliminate the tried and tested regulatory framework now in operation in Germany.

The Advisory Council, for example, aims at abolishing the existing stringent taxi regulation, including the obligation to set rates, the obligation to operate the taxi service and the obligation to transport passengers. Considering the stance of the Advisory Council, taxis would only be a “higher-value segment of public transport”, but the availability of such services would not have to be regulated by law, thus removing the service provision function of the taxi. Last but not least, the private hire vehicle should be abolished and ‘taxi’ would be the only type of transportation, similar to the situation in The Netherlands for instance.

According to the BZP, it is important to know that the BMVI Advisory Board has a very independent position. It deals with the problems posed by the political direction of the Federal Ministry of Transport, but it also has the opportunity to give independent views on topics. It may well be assumed that the expert opinion came about on its own initiative.

“Without wishing to deal with the contradictions or partial errors in the expert report in detail, however, the paper also shows how to what lengths some are willing to go when it comes to digitization,” comments the association. “The risk to our industry is very high. This is precisely the reason why the BZP launched its ‘Reliably modern’ promotional campaign for the taxi and PHV trade. “We need to ensure that our positions are broadly integrated into the public view and, above all, into political points of view. Please be aware that the political, and thus the economic, fate of the industry depends on many, many companies and that their drivers actively supporting our campaign,” says BZP.

• German think tank opts for liberalization and digitization in German taxi trade.