The Government is preparing a new public transport law with vehicles with up to nine seats. This is a regulation called to guarantee the operation of taxis, rental vehicles with a driver, also known as VTC, and platforms dedicated to intermediation. The idea is for the draft to be ready at the end of the year and for the law to come into effect eight months later.
“Citizens’ habits are changing – explained the Director General of Transport and Mobility. We have to update. The limitations on the private vehicle will grow. We want the taxi to be considered an economic service of general interest”. The Department of Territory gathered the Taxi Council, the main representative body of the sector, made up of taxi drivers, unions, consumer organizations and the Generalitat, to raise the premises of the future text. The Council had not met for four years.
And the issue is urgent. The regulations in force date back to 2003. Back then, smartphones still seemed futuristic, few knew what a VTC license was and names like Uber, Cabify and Free Now were still in power. In addition, the legal battles and successive rulings surrounding one of the most juicy businesses of recent times did nothing but complicate the situation even more.
The road to regulation will not be easy. The Generalitat also wants to establish a clear distinction between rental cars with a driver, known as traditional VTCs, those that would become high-end vehicles hired for a special occasion, and those that work on a daily basis with the apps of Bolt, Uber and Cabify.
In addition, the new law must differentiate information society platforms, such as Uber and Cabify, and transport operators, such as Free Now. The Generalitat envisages that information society platforms will be limited to digital intermediation without directly managing vehicles or drivers, and that transport operators will assume responsibilities related to the management of taxi fleets and the safety of passengers .
The taxi drivers, for now, applaud the Government’s provision, especially because they believe that the new rule will give them the exclusive right to transport passengers and leave aside the VTCs that usually work with the big apps. But they urge the Executive to put a stop to Free Now, the main application that offers taxi service.
“The regulation of brokerage companies is very urgent – Alberto Álvarez, of Elite Taxi, the main association of taxi drivers in the metropolitan area, said after the Council meeting – and we will go to all of them to make the next ones two months In addition, we understand that the Generalitat talks about reaching a great consensus, but we have nothing to talk about with the enemies of the taxi”.
