IRU Taxi Forum: need for information and worldwide connectivity
There was almost no escaping: apps were the talk of the day for most of the 200 attendees at the 6th IRU Taxi Forum, on November 8 – parallel to the European Taxi Fair.
Not only did the International Road Transport Union’s Taxi Group (IRU) launch its Global Taxi Service Quality Network (GTN), but several speakers also fired the (disruptive) app-discussion. It showed a clear desire for improved international exchange of information and worldwide connectivity. How to tackle the disruptive app-threat?
Information exchange, quality and global cooperation should be essential to the taxi sector, according to Thomas Grätz of German taxi organization BZP. Stephan Hoy of Forum sponsor Nissan seamlessly added to this ‘global’ story: over the past years the Japanese brand has launched several ‘global’ models (NV-200, E-NV200 and the Nissan Leaf) and is -with varying degrees of success- represented in several taxi markets (New York, Amsterdam, Barcelona and eventually in London). Where Nissan is much further with its global approach, with GTN the taxi industry is putting its first baby steps on the global path.
No wonder the taxi sector is hardly accustomed to internationalization and still works at most at a national level, where a number of competitors already cover the continents of the world. Taxi Group President Hubert Andela mentioned only Antarctica was not represented at the Forum.
Cooperation with public transport
Cooperation with public transport, which can create a win-win situation for both parties, is a goal for the coming years, according to the public transport association UITP. The ageing population and the large numbers of …
