This week's top 3 stories: the European Parliament opposes insurance for e-bikes, Spanish politicians struggle to find new rules for ride hailing, and Uber chalk up a win in court in Brussels.
1. European Parliament Committee opposes insurance requirement for e-bikes
The European Parliament's Internal Market Committee has rejected the European Commission's proposals to include e-bikes within the scope of the Motor Vehicle Insurance Directive. The Commission's proposal would have required e-bike riders to have third-party liability insurance akin to that of car drivers. While the Parliamentary Committee has clearly seen sense on the issue, this is not the end of the process. The EU legislative procedure means that the text of the Directive, including whether to include the e-bikes insurance requirement, will be subject to negotiations between the Parliament, the Commission and the governments of the Member States before it is finalised.
2. Taxi drivers step-up protests in Spain as authorities struggle with regulations
Taxi drivers have once again engaged in protests in both Barcelona and Madrid over the last week as Spain's regional and city authorities continue to struggle with the vexed question of how to regulate ride hailing. Catalonia's Government is in the process of drafting new rules regulating ride hailing services. The Government has suggested obliging ride hailing drivers to return to a designated point in between journeys, and for trips taken by ride hailing vehicles to be booked at least 15 minutes in advance. However taxi drivers have protested this last suggestion, arguing that the minimum wait between booking and journey should be 24 hours. Meanwhile in Madrid, the regional and city authorities have established a joint commission to try to hammer out a shared position on ride hailing regulations.
3. Uber wins court case in Brussels on employment status
Following on from the news from two week's ago of Uber's loss in a Brussels court case, this week the city's Tribunal of Commerce ruled that Uber drivers are not to be considered employees of the company and are not therefore liable to receive holiday or sickness pay. The ruling followed a suit lodged by taxi drivers against UberX.
This is a weekly note covering the top three developments in the regulation of on-demand transport in Europe. It covers taxis, ride-sharing, car sharing, carpooling, bikes, e-bikes, scooters, shared mopeds and anything else that's relevant to the sector. If you'd like to receive this direct to your inbox then please enter your email address below:
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