How was your Smart Personal Ride? The Taxi and Ride-Hailing Digital Conference takes a virtual trip for 2020

Making journeys around our cities has looked different during 2020. Have you taken a taxi, called a cab, hit the app?

The coronavirus pandemic has impacted all corners of the public transport world, and to best address where our taxis and new mobility players stand, UITP and Messe Karlsruhe brought together the sector for the only international event of its kind to represent both.

Ridership has fallen during COVID-19 and with fewer passengers, concern has grown over what the next steps will be for our taxis and the ride-hailing industry.

Held in conjunction with IT-TRANS 2020 under the theme “Smart Personal Rides”, the Taxi and Ride-Hailing Digital Conference featured two days worth of sessions focused on operational excellence, regulation and innovative tools, industry solutions and more. (online, 2-3 December).

There was an eye on the present and the future with a closer look at the taxi and the new mobility players in a post-COVID-19 era and accepting the new reality of a sharing economy.

Welcomed by UITP’s Combined Mobility Manager Lidia Signor, our Opening Session heard from expert voices who introduced us to the content to be expected for our 2020 edition.

Chair of UITP’s Taxi and Ride-Hailing Committee and Deputy General of Shenzhen Bus Group, Joe Ma opened the proceedings, the keynote speech was delivered from Dr. Anja Kaeller at DG for Mobility and Transport at the European Commission and warm words were offered by UITP’s Secretary General* Mohamed Mezghani and Managing Director of Messe Karlsruhe, Britta Wirtz.

There is a constant need to innovate during challenging times, and the taxi is a global player, recognised as an individual, door-to-door, on-demand transport.

By working side-by-side in urban life, the taxi and the new mobility sector are recognisable elements of the sustainable urban multi-modal mobility chain.

How do we adopt cleaner and innovative vehicle design? What is new within regulation for taxis and private-hire vehicles? Our Conference sessions were alive with content necessary to move the sector forward.

With more than 30 speakers from across the globe, our seven sessions featured two days worth of content for everyone with a vested interest in the sector.

Leading names from players such as FreeNow, Dubai Taxi Corporation, taxi.eu, the Federal Taxi and Car Rental Association of Germany and Yandex. Taxi group participated in the Conference sessions as our expert voices…alongside our event sponsors, IATR, ATIA, Suomen Taksiliitto and Taxi Europe Alliance.

The COVID-19 crisis has made the essential role played by taxis and ride-hailing services clear to us.

They ensured that our cities kept moving for those who needed them during these severe times and continued to operate as other services were suspended.

We need to plan our activities to make sure that the support remains during these turbulent times.

Our event made use of the worldwide expertise UITP brings together to keep focus on what the picture looks like for the taxi and ride-hailing sector in the wider frame of global mobility.

The public transport sector can bounce back stronger and better from the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, and our Taxi and Ride-Hailing Digital Conference informed us on how they are ready to play their part.

At UITP, the taxi sector and the new mobility players work side-by-side within our international family: Learn more about our Taxi and Ride-Hailing activities.

Take a Taxi Trip with the Global Benchmarking Study Statistics Brief

“Taxis in the Era of the Coronavirus”…the new book from UITP’s Senior Director and taxi expert Kaan Yildızgöz

*Acting on behalf of Mohamed Mezghani SARL