Dutch taxi rules to be overhauled, market shaken up

Transport minister Wilma Mansveld has announced plans to shake up the way the Dutch taxi sector is regulated, which will make it easier for new players to enter the market.

However, the Uberpop taxi service, in which private individuals use their cars to ferry people around, will remain illegal, Mansveld is quoted as saying.

When the legislation is passed, taxi drivers will no longer have to print out a receipt for passengers if they can also do this by email. Nor will they have to carry a copy of their licence and their tariffs in the vehicle.

Mansveld is also considering abolishing the blue taxi licence plate and removing the requirement that drivers have an official certificate of good behaviour (VOG) which is renewed every five years, the NRC reports.

‘The taxi sector is being shaken up by Uber and others,’ Mansveld said in the Telegraaf. ‘That shake up is important and it should lead to change. The government has a role in this and it has to be done properly. There are rules which govern the entire market.’

A little bit illegal

Services such as Uberpop will remain illegal because ‘they do not comply with the law and nor will they when these measures are enacted’, she said. ‘There is no such thing as being a little bit illegal.’

The minister did not say in which way Uber, which said last week it would ensure Uberpop drivers are licenced, will not fully comply with the rules.

‘At the same time, Uber calls itself an innovative company and I am curious how it can innovate within the current legal structure. But that renewal must not be carried out in illegality,’ Mansveld said.

Uber Nederland director Niek van Leeuwen told the NRC he first wanted to study the minister’s plans and comments before reacting.