Platform-based mobility and regulatory challenges: Identifying the gaps in the passenger rights protection framework.

To facilitate the growing transport needs of over 400 million citizens across Europe and to make cities more accessible, passenger rights protection regime has become a cornerstone of EU transport policy, building on and enhancing the general consumer protection framework of the EU. While platform-based mobility solutions enable passengers to enjoy smart, seamless, and integrated journeys, it is essential to re-think a high level of passenger rights protection, especially when there is no such overarching legislations in multimodal context. In this paper, we examine whether the current framework is sufficient in offering a high level of passenger protection in the context of platform-based mobility. Preliminary analysis shows gaps in the existing framework in terms of (1) its scope, (2) the qualification of the responsible parties in the new mobility ecosystem, and (3) their respective obligations. First, regarding the scope, the existing framework has provided effective protection per single mode of transport, but the coverage does not extend to all emerging solutions such as micro-mobility, which exposes passengers to risks of safe transport. Second and third, it is unclear who can be qualified as the responsible party and for which stage of the journey. The Uber judgement distinguished between information services vs. transport services; but, it is still unclear under which exact conditions platforms are qualified as a broker, agent, or eventually a carrier and hence, which rights for consumer and obligations of the actor concerned would be applicable. For example, in case an integrated mobility platform is qualified as a carrier, its responsibilities are derived from a complex set of different rules for each stage of the journey. Findings from the literature review and systematic policy analysis will add to the existing literature by critically assessing the effectiveness of the current framework in the context of platform mobility.