1. Taxicab regulation and urban residents' perception of taxi services: a survey in eight cities Richard Darbéra CNRS, Latts Scientific director of IVM's Taxi Project 1

2. Richard Darbéra, Institut pour la Ville en Mouvement The survey  A survey among the residents of New York and seven major European cities: Paris, London, Berlin, Lisbon, Dublin, Amsterdam and Stockholm.  42 questions including two open questions  3200 interviews, 400 in each city  Stratified sample:  300 users (had taken a taxi in the past year)  100 non-users  Age, gender, city/suburb 2

3. Richard Darbéra, Institut pour la Ville en Mouvement The supply regulation of taxi services 3 Taxis' number capped Regulated faresPHVs allowed New York Yes Paris Yes No Lisbon Yes No London NoYes Berlin NoYes Dublin NoYes Stockholm No X Amsterdam No X

4. Richard Darbéra, Institut pour la Ville en Mouvement The open questions  Question 25: “What are all the measures that the authorities should put into place so that taxis may be a means of transport that better meets your needs?”  Question 27: “Thinking again about your taxi trips in another town in your country or abroad, what are all the aspects that you appreciated and that you would like to find during your next taxi trips in your town?”.  4700 answers resulting in 7500 opinions 4

5. Richard Darbéra, Institut pour la Ville en Mouvement Q25: What should be done Respondents/co ntacts Responses/respo ndents Paris 63%1,9 London 71%1,8 New York 64%1,8 Amsterdam 66%1,9 Lisbon 77%1,8 Berlin 57%1,5 Dublin 72%2,2 Stockholm 50%1,7 5

6. Richard Darbéra, Institut pour la Ville en Mouvement Q27: What should be copied Respondents/co ntacts Responses/respo ndents Paris 79%1,5 London 83%1,4 New York 67%1,4 Amsterdam 88%1,4 Lisbon 83%1,3 Berlin 78%1,2 Dublin 93%1,6 Stockholm 89%1,3 6

7. Richard Darbéra, Institut pour la Ville en Mouvement The method  7500 opinions distributed in 9 broad themes  better vehicles,  better drivers,  better service,  lower fares,  better traffic conditions,  more taxis,  subsidies to users,  tax waivers to operators,  others  … divided in up to 9 sub-themes.  For instance, the sub-themes for “better vehicles” were: electric car, hybrid cars, non-polluting car, comfortable, air conditioning, physical separation driver / customer, larger taxis (minibus type), single colour (more visible taxis), and better signage for empty taxis. 7

8. Richard Darbéra, Institut pour la Ville en Mouvement Better vehicles Want better vehicles Vehicles are better abroad Paris 11%13% London 9%10% New York 12%10% Amsterdam 8%3% Lisbon 15%13% Berlin 15%3% Dublin 24%25% Stockholm 19%4% 8

9. Richard Darbéra, Institut pour la Ville en Mouvement Better vehicles  But what is meant by better vehicles is quite different:  Dubliners want taxis to be more comfortable (9%) or larger, and more visible with single colour (6%)  … and appreciate these features when abroad  Swedes want non-polluting cars (13%), and some of them specify electric vehicles  Berliners also want larger taxis i.e. minibus type (6%)  New Yorkers want Hybrid Cars. 9

10. Richard Darbéra, Institut pour la Ville en Mouvement Better drivers Want better drivers Drivers are better abroad Paris 16%40% London 24%31% New York 31%46% Amsterdam 75%38% Lisbon 34%37% Berlin 15%28% Dublin 36%39% Stockholm 30%32% 10

11. Richard Darbéra, Institut pour la Ville en Mouvement Better drivers  Residents Amsterdam complain about  Refusal to accept short rides (5%)  Dishonesty (19%)  Poor knowledge of the city whereabouts (13%)  Reckless driving (8%)  Neither polite nor friendly (9%)  Lacking professionalism (14%)  Residents Paris complain about  Refusal to accept short rides (6%)  … and find drivers abroad much kinder (27%) !  Residents New York complain about drivers who do not speak English correctly (5%) 11

12. Richard Darbéra, Institut pour la Ville en Mouvement Lower fares Want lower fares Fares are lower abroad Paris 62%28% London 71%36% New York 40%14% Amsterdam 68%55% Lisbon 68%13% Berlin 56%23% Dublin 57%43% Stockholm 41%34% 12

13. Richard Darbéra, Institut pour la Ville en Mouvement Lower fares  Residents in Stockholm and New York complain much less than others  New York taxis are the cheapest in the world!  Fixed rates for a set of distances wanted in London, Amsterdam and Dublin  Parisians want  Subscription (season) cards probably meaning carte orange (5%) and subsidies to riders (6%)  Tax waivers for taxis operators wanted in Stockholm (16%) and Lisbon (15%) ?! 13

14. Richard Darbéra, Institut pour la Ville en Mouvement Better availability Want better availability More taxis abroad Paris 33%19% London 21%9% New York 23%5% Amsterdam 6% Lisbon 5%3% Berlin 4%1% Dublin 25%10% Stockholm 5%7% 14

15. Richard Darbéra, Institut pour la Ville en Mouvement Better availability per 1000 population TaxisTaxis & PHVsDrivers Dublin10,611,217,3 Stockholm6,8 17,0 New York1,66,311,1 London 3,2 8,58,6 Berlin2,02,34,7 Amsterdam2,4 3,3 Lisbon2,2 3,2 Paris2,6 2,8 15

16. Richard Darbéra, Institut pour la Ville en Mouvement Anything else?  16% New Yorkers have no special request  Residents in Berlin and Lisbon see no difference with other countries (35%)  Residents in Stockholm think taxis are best at home (9%)  Regulation vs deregulation is not an issue  Stockholm ≠ Amsterdam  London ≠ Dublin ≠ Berlin  Paris ≠ Lisbon  The issue is in the details of the regulation 16

17. Richard Darbéra, Institut pour la Ville en Mouvement Conclusion  Although their treatment is more cumbersome, open questions are an indispensable complement to surveys on taxi use.  Multiple-choice questions allow to draw statistics on trip frequencies, trip purpose, travel habits and preferences and even on the image of the taxi among all the other means of transport  Open questions let respondents vent their opinions, their grievances and their expectations about the taxi services they are delivered.  As such, they give policy makers as well as taxi operators valuable feedback information. 17

18. Richard Darbéra, Institut pour la Ville en Mouvement Further research  Taxis in rural areas and small towns  France, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and Sweden. 18

19. Richard Darbéra, Institut pour la Ville en Mouvement French taxis’ turnover depending on location RuralTownsSuburbs Large cities Subsidized medical trips 80-90%10-40% 5% School transport 10-15%10% 0% Handicapped and elderly 5%? ? Public transport complement ?10%? Taxi (telephone & ranks) 5%50-90% 90% 19

20. Richard Darbéra, Institut pour la Ville en Mouvement Taxis in rural areas & small towns  Particular attention will be given to:  How governments and social services contract taxis to provide mobility services to certain categories of the population.  We will assess the share of these markets in total turnover of the taxis  and will explore how taxis may organize to respond to calls for bids. 20

21. Richard Darbéra, Institut pour la Ville en Mouvement Taxis in rural areas & small towns  If you want to help: Please give me your business card so I can:  Send you the data we have already collected  Send you a short questionnaire  Come and visit you to present our provisional results and ask more questions ..  Thank you 21