A coalition of representatives from Europe's mobility ecosystem, including consumers, passengers, environmental groups, independent rail operators, and ticket intermediaries, have issued an open letter to Executive Vice-President Timmermans concerning the upcoming Regulation on Multimodal Digital Mobility Services (MDMS).
The letter urges the European Commission to maintain a high level of ambition in the regulation to support the European Green Deal objectives.
The coalition emphasizes the importance of enabling convenient combination and booking of transport options to facilitate the transition towards a more sustainable mobility system.
From the beginning, the coalition has advocated for the EU to streamline the booking process for multimodal transport journeys involving different modes and operators, allowing travelers to book all relevant offers in one place.
This integrated approach has the potential to play a vital role in encouraging a modal shift towards rail and aligning with the EU's climate goals.
However, the coalition has recently become aware of the Commission's consideration to reduce the ambition of the MDMS proposal by discarding the central aim of integrated booking. In response, the coalition strongly urges EVP Timmermans to ensure that the Commission maintains a high level of ambition for the regulation, with the interests of European travelers and the EU's climate goals at the forefront.
The coalition argues that if the MDMS Regulation fails to provide passengers with access to integrated booking and ticketing options, it would not achieve its fundamental objectives of simplifying consumer lives, promoting competition, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions through modal shift. Neglecting the convenience of booking all relevant offers in one place would perpetuate anti-competitive practices of dominant operators, hindering comparison and combination across operators and modes. This approach would offer low added-value and maintain the status quo, limiting the ability of travelers to search, book, and combine their travel in Europe.
The coalition highlights the growing number of ongoing ticketing cases against state-owned incumbents, emphasizing the need to address these issues.
The coalition asserts that European business and leisure passengers desire the ability to combine and book various transportation offers, including trains, planes, and coaches, in a hassle-free manner.
To encourage sustainable travel and foster competition, the EU should leverage the potential of MDMS as a modal shift facilitator by mandating booking and ticketing through third-party channels based on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory conditions.
Read Open Letter on Multimodal Digital Mobility Services (MDMS)
Contact BT4Europe: Patrick Diemer
patrickdiemer@bt4europe.com
