Special issue
The impact of digital platforms on the urban individual passenger transport sector
The challenges of sector regulation
Odile CHAGNY
New technological solutions have helped digital platforms disrupt the competitive environment in the urban individual passenger transport sector. After summarizing the theoretical foundations and historical background of regulation within this sector, the article goes on to examine the key characteristics of this sector’s regulation in different countries prior to the arrival of these platforms, then the strategies deployed by the platforms to penetrate the market. It then sets out the range of these countries’ responses to sector regulation, from deregulation at one end of the scale to resistance mounted by regulation at the other. It ends by drawing conclusions that may be of interest to social partners.
Keywords: urban individual passenger transport, regulation, sector, platform, private hire vehicle, PHV.
Regulating PHV drivers: Disruption and resistance through the law
Rodrigo CARELLI, Donna KESSELMAN
Disruption to employment regulations, through the use of a workforce with no direct employment relationship with the company, is at the heart of the business model of platform capitalism. However, the nature of the relationship between PHV platforms and the drivers themselves is being challenged and is at the heart of many legal and administrative disputes. Everywhere, the legal authorities play a key role in defining the nature of service provision and that of the “service provider,” namely the driver.
Keywords: private hire vehicle, PHV, employment relations, legal status, legal authorities.
Uber’s business model: an uncertain future
Catherine SAUVIAT
Uber’s business model is built on shaky economic foundations, as the PHV platform does not generate enough turnover to cover its operating costs; on limited network effects; and on the risk of its drivers being reclassified from self-employed to salaried workers. Its rapid expansion was only possible through the support of financial investors, a form of support that is neither infallible nor eternally sustainable.
Keywords: Uber, private hire vehicle, PHV, business model, network effects, two-sided market, institutional investors.
Germany
How regulations are resisting PHV platforms
Marcus KAHMANN
In 2013, Uber was the first platform operator to enter the private hire vehicle market. Various professional bodies immediately took action in the courts to oppose their services, which were declared illegal in Germany on several occasions. The company was thus obliged to comply with federal regulations. Due to these unfavorable legal rulings, its foothold in the country remains limited. A reform of the regulatory framework might offer a way out of this statutory impasse. This has been discussed since 2018 but is yet to become a reality.
Keywords: Private hire vehicle, PHV, Germany, regulation, trade body, taxi.
Brazil
The key role of the legal authorities in regulating PHV platforms
Rodrigo CARELLI and Gustavo SEFERIAN
This text offers a critical reading of the regulatory process around PHV platforms in Brazil, with particular analytical focus on the city of Rio de Janeiro, which is seen as emblematic of developments elsewhere in the country. It outlines the operators’ difficulty in entering the market and the key role played by the local legal authorities in their licensing, contrary to the city authorities and the city’s taxi drivers. The Supreme Court then followed the local judiciary’s lead at the national level.
Keywords: Private hire vehicle, PHV, Brazil, legal authorities, employment precariousness, disruption.
Canada
The deregulation of the taxi sector in Quebec: negotiations between the state and Uber
Urwana COIQUAUD and Lucie MORISSETTE
How, following the arrival of Uber, did Quebec’s formerly widely regulated taxi sector become deregulated in 2019? This is the issue addressed in this article, which reveals the bodies and mechanisms involved, including the recourse to regulatory experimentation.
Keywords: Private hire vehicle, PHV, Quebec, Uber, deregulation, pilot project.
Spain
Uber and Cabify: digital platform operators or private hire firms?
Francisco TRILLO
In Spain, disputes between taxis and PHVs sparked by the launch of UberPop in 2014 resulted in the Court of Justice of the European Union handing down a judgment in 2017 ruling that Uber was running a “service in the field of transport” and not a digital or intermediary service. This is closely linked to the issue of its contractual relationship with its drivers, which remains unresolved, although it is highly likely that the courts will pronounce in favor of the existence of an employer-employee relationship.
Keywords: Private hire vehicle, PHV, Spain, Court of Justice of the European Union, transport service, employment relations.
USA
Where private hire vehicle platforms all began, where driver protection comes first
Donna KESSELMAN and Cássio Luis CASAGRANDE
Uber was set up in San Francisco in 2009, and the company began operating there in 2010. There was a range of reactions from the local authorities to this new player, which ran up against regulations covering the urban private hire and taxi sector. Moreover, the use of these PHV drivers with the status of self-employed workers was behind California’s 2019 adoption of a law intended to address the issue of disguised wage labor. Various strategies are being deployed to tackle the emergence of these PHV drivers, and these strategies are at the heart of the debate on trade union renewal in the United States.
Keywords: Private hire vehicle, PHV, United States, disruption, sector regulation, employment relations.
France
The quest for new social regulations: Conflicts, political action, lobbying, and legislation
Amandine BRUGIÈRE and Anne-Marie NICOT
Following the arrival of PHV platform operators, which have disrupted the individual private transport sector, an acrimonious conflict has broken out with the taxi sector. Two laws were enacted between 2014 and 2016 in an attempt to better regulate the market and competition. Following this, relationships between PHV drivers and the technology platforms began to break down. However successive governments have opted for minimal legislative intervention in this area, by developing non-mandatory legal regulations such as charters, a decision that the Constitutional Council challenged in 2019.
Keywords: Private hire vehicle, PHV, France, private transport sector, sector regulation, charter.
United Kingdom
The key role of public authorities and courts in regulating PHV platforms
Zoe ADAMS
This article provides a historical perspective on the regulation of the private hire and taxi industries in the United Kingdom. The article argues that, while there is much to criticize about the business practices of “new” private hire firms such as Uber, particularly when it comes to questions of worker protection, the UK government and courts have actively enabled and encouraged these practices. It is ultimately they, then, who have the capacity to intervene in order to ensure that the industry operates not only in the interest of large firms, but also, and more fundamentally, in the interests of workers, consumers, and the wider public.
Keyword : United Kingdom, private hire firm, worker protection, consumer protection, security.