VTC business, an alternative with many advantages

Following a major strike in 1936, the taxi profession was regulated in 1937, giving rise to this dual French specificity: the monopoly and the numerus clausus. Until 2009, the numerus clausus hardly increased at all. However, driven by the growth of the digital economy, 2011 and 2012 saw the emergence of a number of new professions. 13,000 passenger transport companies.

This strong growth in VTCs has had to be regulated to ease the tensions that have arisen. Capitalising on the needs massively expressed by travellers, VTCs quickly won over their users and, in the case of VTC business, business travellers. The law has provided a framework for private hire public transport (T3P), first in 2014 with the Thévenoud law and then in 2017 with the Grandguillaume law. The Grandguillaume lawEnacted on 29 December 2017, the law came into force on 1 January 2018, with the aim of bringing peace to the T3P sector by harmonising, in particular, the conditions for access to the VTC and taxi professions. The requirements for access to the profession for VTC drivers (exam in particular) have been strengthened, as have the verification obligations weighing on the booking centres used by VTC drivers and transport companies such as Uber.

At the same time, the technological revolution is also changing the way chauffeur-driven cars work. In 2008, the Taxis bleus company led the way with the introduction of the first mobile application. Initially a geolocation application, it was not until 2010 that the mobile would become a genuine booking channel. Booking centres like Uber are going to make the most of all the technological opportunities to improve services and, in particular, passenger safety. The geolocation tool not only allows travellers to measure their waiting time before being picked up, but is also a safety argument in the context of a company's travel policy. The controlled use of digital technology enables Uber to increase its accuracy and guarantee the safety of passengers. With regard to Business offerIn this way, VTC booking centres such as Uber provide companies with practical security services, as well as the promise of savings thanks to negotiated rates.

With regard to the safety of employees in the vehicle and the management of journeys, online booking centres offer the possibility of identifying the driver and the vehicle once the order has been accepted, the driver's assessment score and the geolocation of the vehicle booked, race traceabilityThe VTC application also allows users to check the time of arrival at the pick-up address and destination, electronic transactions, quality assessments and reports that can be downloaded from the application. The development and upscaling of VTCs has increased the quality of services provided by all players in the sector.