An unscheduled urban mobility reform with the aim of opening up larger markets, proposed by Italy’s Muoviti – the mobility reform movement – is worth a turnover of 2.4 billion euros and 85 thousand new employees, with tax revenues of 500 million euros that would go to the state coffers, in a study edited by its spokesperson, transport economist and professor at Bicocca Andrea Giuricin.
Figures illustrating the impact of the influx of new taxi and NCC permits in key city centres, with increased service availability and reduced waiting times: demand is there, supply is insufficient. The knot is very controlling. The Italian model has had years of stratified rigidity, a limited number of permits, territorial restrictions and restrictions that in some cases were created before on-demand mobility.
The Constitutional Court has repeatedly mentioned the need to balance public interest and competition, while the Antiturst and Transport Authorities have called for years to expand the range of services to improve quality, efficiency and consumer protection. This study crosses these indications and shows, with a reference analysis based mainly on the experience of France and Portugal, that the problem is not just a matter of principle, but purely economic.
This analysis brings together the system distortions that cause Italian cities to have the lowest taxi population ratios in Europe. In France there are around 60 thousand taxi permits, in Portugal 21 thousand, and in Italy only 28 thousand permits. But it is the relationship with residents that explains the adequacy of the service. Therefore, if in Portugal there is one taxi for every 526 people, in France one taxi for 1,111 users, in Italy the service covers a ratio of one car for more than two thousand users. As a result, in Italian cities, unmet demand at peak moments reached 50 percent of demand in Rome and Naples. Not only that: there are entire NCCs in the world that integrate mobility offers. In France and Portugal, black cars have recently undergone reform with the addition of around 56 thousand new operators in France and 36 thousand new operators in Portugal. In Italy the number is still very fragmented and amounts to around 6 thousand drivers, but if the example of these two countries is followed, in a few years we could have at least 40 thousand new NCC drivers.
Again according to the study, in Italy, a reform that also only intervenes in the NCC without touching the taxi sector would bring an overall gain of 2.4 billion euros in turnover, “with the creation of more than 40 thousand new direct jobs and 45 thousand indirect and additional jobs attributable”. The benefits for the state coffers are clear: if we consider a tax rate of around 20%, the creation of a new economy of 2.4 billion euros could generate an increase in tax revenues of around 500 million euros per year. “This amount – explains the study – is higher than the total income currently declared by taxi drivers in Italy”. The impact on the automotive sector is also estimated with more frequent fleet changes amounting to 12 thousand new registrations per year, with an industry value of 400-600 million euros. Finally, for tourism, the study estimates a larger direct and indirect impact of 1.5 billion euros.
