Abstract

The widespread use of smartphones has given rise to numerous new mobility services, commonly described as ride sharing and/or ride pooling. Such services allow for a spontaneous and more flexible coordination of supply and demand, and thus promise to be a more efficient and ecological alternative to traditional modes of local transport. However, these services may also come to compete with public (and publicly funded) transport services. Further, the business models associated with these services may pose problems both for workers’ rights and in terms of consumer protection.

The current legal framework, namely the German Passenger Transportation Act [Personenbeförderungsgesetz – PTA] only allows the provision of services according to certain pre-defined categories (i. e. line haul services, taxi services and vehicles for hire). Each of the categories enjoys specific privileges but is also subject to specific obligations. This regulatory regime is intended to guarantee a continuous and comprehensive supply with a variety of mobility services but turns out to be ill-equipped to accommodate new modes of transport which do not fit into any of the pre-defined categories. In Germany, this has led to several legal disputes about their permissibility.

Recent plans to reform the PTA, put forward by the Federal Ministry of Transport and a multipartisan reform commission, involve some deregulation of transport services while retaining the overall regulatory system. Most importantly, they intend to incorporate ride pooling services both as part of the public transport system and as independent services.

While the reform proposals point in the right direction, there is a need for more comprehensive reform. This would, firstly, entail a critical assessment whether the rigid regulatory system in its current form is still feasible. Secondly, ecological requirements should play a greater role when tendering and licensing transport services. As to that, the possibilities to award special compensation in accordance with EU-Regulation 1370/2007 should be used more widely. A more comprehensive reform would, thirdly, also consider the way (esp. municipal) authorities can plan transport services. Not only would such planning have to include different (new) mobility services. One should also aim at better synchronising different planning tools to integrate a multitude of mobility services. Finally, new mobility services pose further challenges that, however, are typical for the digital and platform economy, such as dynamic and individual pricing, issues of data protection and a possible need for regulated self-regulation.