Problem Statement

The amendment to the Passenger Transportation Act, which became effective on August 1, 2021, has finally created a legal framework for digital mobility offerings and services and their associated business models. This was achieved through the introduction of two new forms of transport, "scheduled on-demand transport" (Linienbedarfsverkehr) and "bundled on-demand transport" (gebündelter Bedarfsverkehr). While scheduled on-demand services are fully integrated into the public transport system, bundled on-demand services are operated for profit and are available in addition to the existing services. The Federal Ministry of Digital Affairs and Transport (BMDV) is required to evaluate the effectiveness of the new law five years after its implementation to determine the extent to which its intended goals have been achieved.

Objective

The aim of the project is to report to the German Bundestag, five years after the amendment of the Passenger Transportation Act, on the effects of the new regulations on the use of the new forms of transportation and on their implementation and effectiveness. The aim is to capture the views of the various stakeholders, such as the providers or the municipalities, as well as those of the (non-)users. The evaluation of the new forms of transport is carried out separately from the evaluation of accessibility.

Methods

In the project it is initially planned to work through the legal regulations and provisions of the new forms of transport and to review national mobility data to record the market penetration of the newly introduced forms of transport as well as the implementation of accessibility. Interviews of all stakeholders will be conducted to qualitatively capture the development and use of ridepooling as well as the implementation of accessibility in these Services and the Taxi market. Based on this, quantitative online surveys of providers, fulfillment agents and intermediaries of scheduled on-demand transport and bundled on-demand transport and companies in the taxi industry will be conducted to obtain an overview of the market situation. A survey of licensing authorities serves to record the implementation of legally relevant requirements. Furthermore, a survey of users and potential users will be conducted to assess the level of awareness and acceptance of ridepooling services (scheduled on-demand transport and bundled on-demand transport). This will include a stated-choice experiment to estimate behavioral changes with various service adjustments. Finally, the results will be analyzed to evaluate the implementation and effectiveness of the PBefG amendment. The Institute of Transportation is significantly involved in the qualitative and quantitative surveys.