Taxi abroad : an inventory of experiences with regulated and deregulated policies abroad : part I: analysis report

The Passenger Transport Act was modified in 2000. Part of this change entailed the reregulation and deregulation of taxi transport. The aim of this study is to provide insight into experiences abroad with (de)regulation of taxi transport, and developments within the taxi sector, in order to give an outline of the extent to which the expectations of deregulated policy (including in the Netherlands) are fulfilled. Particular focus will be put on the issue as to whether additional deregulation will cause more severe competition in the taxi market, and generate performance upgrading in the taxi sector. The study was carried out in eight countries and their capital cities; i.e.: Belgium and Brussels, Denmark and Copenhagen, Germany and Berlin, France and Paris, Ireland and Dublin, New Zealand and Auckland, the United Kingdom and London, and Sweden and Stockholm. These eight countries were selected on the basis of the dissimilarities in the degree of regulating taxi policies. For each country, an outline is provided of the nature and development of taxi policy, the taxi-sector structure, and its performance and services rendered. Each country is examined in comparison with the Netherlands. Finally, on the basis of an analysis of all countries surveyed (including the Netherlands), the potential effects of deregulation on the structure, performance and development of the taxi sector are examined.