BVTM Day: Public Transport Taxis Significantly Cheaper Than On-Demand Shuttles

For the widespread service without timetables, there were and still are many subsidies from the federal and state governments. This often leads to the creation of parallel structures tailored to large companies, which take a very long time to implement and are very expensive. It would be much more sustainable to use the capacities already available in the taxi and rental car industry to combine scheduled services and on-demand services in a more streamlined manner. This was explained by Samir El-Zahab from Nahverkehrsberatung Südwest at the workshop "On Demand: Opportunity and Challenge for Mobility Entrepreneurs" on October 26, 2023. It was part of the German Taxi and Rental Car Day, organized by the Federal Association of Taxi and Rental Cars e.V. (BVTM) in Ludwigshafen.

The public transport planner explained the "Public Transport Taxi" project, which he conceived and implemented in the Freudenstadt district together with Dr. Hubertus Baumeister. Baumeister, a lawyer, has long specialized in public transportation and has been increasingly involved with the taxi industry for the past three years. As he explained, the term "Public Transport Taxi" originated at the suggestion of a Bavarian government official. It is intended to use the approximately 100,000 vehicles of the occasional traffic sector to offer on-demand services during times when no bus or train is running.

As Samir El-Zahab explained regarding the Freudenstadt project, drivers will be provided with a smartphone equipped with a driver app, through which they can make themselves available and then receive ride assignments. These rides would be compensated at the taxi tariff minus a discount that is legally required. This discount is based on the base fare, amounts to a maximum of ten percent, and the more frequently a vehicle makes itself available, the lower the discount. Otherwise, the vehicles would continue to provide public transport services on a commercial basis.

“No contractual relationship between the client and the taxi operator is necessary because this is handled under a general regulation,” explained the public transport planner. “Moreover, the public sector and small taxi companies save themselves lengthy and complicated procurement procedures according to EU law. Therefore, the lead time for introducing a public transport taxi is only eight to twelve months.” Since most regions have multiple taxi companies, the boundaries of coverage are not reached as quickly as with shuttle services that have a very limited number of new vehicles.