The Competition Guarantor returns to scrutinize Rome, Milan, Naples, Florence and Palermo on taxis
Here is the latest initiative from the Competition and Market Authority on taxis. With details on municipalities with little reform
The Competition and Market Guarantor Authority returns to criticize some of the major Italian cities regarding the taxi service sector, claiming (but the disservices of recent months are the main proof) that those in circulation today are too few .
ANTITRUST STOPS AUDITORS SINCE AUGUST
Already in August 2023 the Antitrust chaired by Roberto Rustichelli (in the photo) had sent a first request for information to the Municipalities of Milan, Naples and Rome and to the main cooperatives and platforms for taxi booking in order to evaluate the supply conditions of the service and shed light on the serious inefficiencies encountered by users.
Once the data collected had been examined, the Authority sent a report to the administrations in which some important critical issues were highlighted such as "the structural insufficiency of the licenses to satisfy the demand which generates a very high number of unfulfilled requests and excessively long waiting times" but also "a widespread inertia of the Municipalities in requesting the information necessary from taxi cooperatives to verify the adequacy of the service, with negative results in terms of detection and timely correction of any critical issues; excessive rigidity of the shift regime.”
THE TAXI SITUATION FROM TURIN TO PALERMO FOR THE AGCM
On 17 November 2023, the AGCM addressed another request for information to the municipalities and taxi cooperatives of Bologna, Florence, Genoa, Palermo and Turin. In the Municipality of Palermo the structural lack of supply and the absence of controls and flexible regulation measures for shifts emerged, while in the Municipality of Florence the lack of a monitoring mechanism on the provision and quality of the service was found, for which the Authority decided to send them a report in which these critical issues were highlighted.
Conversely, in the Municipalities of Bologna, Genoa and Turin, no particular critical issues came to light in the service offering, so no communication was sent to them. Furthermore, to improve the efficiency and quality of the taxi service, the Antitrust – also based on what has been experienced in some Municipalities – has suggested in its reports the adoption of some corrective measures.
HOW TO IMPROVE THE TAXI SERVICE? ANTITRUST TIPS
First of all, it is necessary to adapt the number of licenses to demand by pushing the increase beyond the 20% ceiling set on an extraordinary basis in the so-called Asset decree (n. 104/2023 converted into law 9 October 2023, n. 136), for this purpose adopting in a short time the public competition notices for the assignment of the new licenses.
Secondly, it is necessary to make monitoring of the quality of the service stable and effective, requesting, at least annually, taxi cooperatives for the information necessary to establish whether the number of active licenses is sufficient to satisfy demand, making the outcome of the test public. monitoring.
According to the Authority, additional measures should also be adopted, such as "the regulation of the institute of double drivers, the implementation of taxi sharing and the efficiency of shifts. In this sense, for example, in Florence – during periods of greatest demand – taxi drivers can carry out their services with more flexibility and the municipal administration can issue temporary licenses. Please remember that taxi sharing is mandatory when at least three users are headed towards the same destination area".
THE AGCM RETURNS TO ASK FOR NEW LICENSES FOR TAXIs
Finally, with a view to maintaining an adequate level of taxi service for the transport of particularly serious disabled people, the Municipalities must adapt, "where necessary, the number of taxi licenses issued to vehicles equipped to carry out this particular service".
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/il-garante-della-concorrenza-torna-a-strigliare-roma-milano-napoli-firenze-e-palermo-sui-taxi/ on Wed, 06 Mar 2024 15:10:42 +0000.