Ihr kostenloser Branchen-Newsletter
Lassen Sie sich von unseren Fachjournalisten einmal wöchentlich über die wichtigsten aktuellen Entwicklungen der Taxi-Branche informieren, bequem direkt in Ihre Mailbox.
Aktueller Termin
Meist gelesen
Dortmund launches a new push for minimum prices for rental cars.
Dortmund responds not only to the economic development of the local market, but also to important court decisions that have recently brought clarity to the design of such regulations. Already in March the administration had for the first time presented concrete plans. However, policy discussions were postponed several times. The background involved ongoing legal disputes over comparable regulations in other cities. In particular, a decision of the Administrative Court of Gelsenkirchen regarding the minimum-price regulation of the city of Essen played a central role.
Only for trips within Dortmund
The Dortmund administration has revised and refined its plans in response. In the future, the proposed minimum charges for rental-car rides will apply only if the starting point, destination and the entire route lie within the Dortmund city area. In doing so, the city aims to comply with the requirements of case law. The court had criticized the Essen regulation, among other things, for a lack of precision.
At the same time, an additional regulation is intended to prevent pricing practices from being circumvented by short detours outside the city area. Whoever merely crosses the city boundary for the purpose of undercutting the tariff should not be able to derive any economic advantage from it. Exempt from the planned minimum charges are medical transports that are based on agreements with health insurers. Also not affected are rides that are booked at least one hour before the start of the trip. The city thereby consciously concentrates on those transports that are in direct competition with the taxi trade.
This approach also receives support from parts of the industry. Alexander Mönch, Germany head of the mobility platform Freenow, described the planned regulations during a visit to Dortmund as “an important building block toward a fair competition.”
No downward tariff corridor
Plans were discussed already in spring at a round table. Representatives of the taxi and rental-car trades, political decision-makers, the Chamber of Industry and Commerce, the Arnsberg district government and other associations exchanged views on possible solutions. One result of the talks: a downward tariff corridor should remain excluded. As the basis for calculating the minimum prices in the rental-car sector, the respective components of the taxi tariff should serve – i.e., base price, per-kilometer price and surcharges.
While taxi companies are bound to legally mandated tariffs and must also fulfill a transport obligation, rental-car companies can generally set their prices freely. With the market entry of platform providers such as Uber or Bolt, this divergent starting position has become increasingly noticeable. The figures from the city of Dortmund illustrate the development. Since 2014 the number of taxi companies has fallen by around 23 percent. In the same period the number of rental-car companies rose by about 72 percent. The market developed particularly dynamically after Uber's entry in 2023.
Expert report justifies city intervention
An expert report commissioned by the city therefore concludes that minimum prices in the rental-car sector are justified for reasons of public interest. The aim is to prevent ruinous price competition and at the same time to secure a capable taxi offering as part of public mobility. In parallel with the planned minimum charges, the taxi tariffs in Dortmund should also rise. In the assessment of the experts, the current tariffs, which were last adjusted in 2022, no longer reflect the economic realities. Increased personnel costs, higher insurance premiums, more expensive vehicles, and rising operating costs have noticeably changed the calculation bases of many companies.
Whether the political decision this time succeeds will be closely watched far beyond Dortmund - many municipalities are facing similar challenges.
Content automatically translated.
Taxi-Fahrzeuge (Pkw) , Taxi-Newsletter, Taxameter, Taxi-Fahrer , BZP – Deutscher Taxi- und Mietwagenverband , Straßenverkehrsordnung (StVO) , Krankenbeförderung , Weiterbildung , Taxi-Konzessionen , Verkehrspolitik , Mietwagenbranche , Taxi-Apps , Berufskraftfahrer-Qualifikations-Gesetz BKrFQG) , Taxizentralen , Personal, Gehälter, Arbeitsschutz , Wirtschaftsnachrichten , Werbung , Taxi-Folierung , Taxi-Umrüster , Straßenverkehr , Elektromobilität, Taxifuhrpark und -flottenmanagement , Taxi-Versicherungen , Hybrid, Diesel, Erdgas , Taxi-Magazin
