VDV Rheinland advocates for the digital integration of taxis into public transport.

The annual general meeting took place under the umbrella of the Mobility and Logistics Association MOLO in cooperation with VDV Rheinland and VVRP. The focus was on current challenges and future perspectives of the industry – particularly with regard to digitization, financing, and the role of trade in public transport (ÖPNV).

Demand-responsive transport indispensable for taxis

Chairmen Edwin Röhrig and Peter Scheffel welcomed numerous members and emphasized the importance of mutual exchange. The first speaker, Guido Borning, Managing Director of VDV Rheinland and MOLO, highlighted the increasing significance of demand-responsive transport. Taxi and rental car companies are now more than ever an indispensable part of public transport – especially when they are digitally networked and systematically integrated into existing structures.

A central topic was the idea of the "public transport taxi" – a flexible, digital model that permanently integrates taxi companies into the public transport financing. This is based on the reform of the Passenger Transport Act of 2021, which explicitly anchors taxis in the Regionalization Act.

Technical and legal innovations were also on the agenda: Stefan Straub from the engineering firm Seibt & Straub provided information on legal requirements for electronic cash register systems with a Technical Security Device (TSE). The Cloud-TSE – a solution developed in cooperation with fms, Seibt and Straub and GefoS – was presented as an innovative system that enables legally compliant and digital archiving of taximeter data and receipts. Thomas Lohse from fms/Austrosoft supplemented the technical part with practical experiences from the everyday operations of companies and once again emphasized the importance of implementing the TSE in taxi businesses.