Member in the Spotlight: Brussels invests in the Sharing Economy

Therefore, the reduction of car-ownership is urgently needed along with a more efficiently use of the existing car fleet in the city. For putting this target into practice, investments in public transport, car-sharing, collective taxis and the allowance of peer-2-peer services such as Uber or Djump is needed.

Pascal Smet, Brussels Regional Minister for Mobility and Public Works, set out a plan for private transport in the Brussels Capital Region on 5 March 2015. By introducing a legal framework for ridesharing systems in this context, he aims to modernise the taxi-sector. From this action, Pascal Smet expects an easy to use, transparent taxi service and an overall viable mobility sector.

There is further thinking about establishing a legal framework for new categories of private transport in order to regulate new mobility services. According to Pascal Smet, only by creating a clear legal framework with conditions that exclude unfair competitions, such as not respecting social and tax rules, risks like low wages or little social protection can be removed.

Read more about the concept for sharing economy in Brussels

This insight has been published in the 'Thinking Cities' magazine, a joint publication of Polis and H3B Media. Issue 4, May/2015, page 8