from Japan
WORLDWIDE TAXI FOCUS from France
JAPAN LAUNCHES FIRST RIDE-HAILING SERVICES IN TOKYO
Private drivers with their own vehicles can now be hailed for rides in Tokyo, marking the first time in Japan that ride-hailing has been put into practice after the system was introduced on April 1. Unlike in other countries, however, private drivers need to be employed as part-timers at taxi companies, which are in charge of managing and training the drivers. Ichiro Kawanabe, who heads the Tokyo Hire-Taxi Association, said: “Today, the system of ride-hailing that has been imported from overseas will start as Japan’s version of a newly developed ride-hailing service with a high level of safety,” he said. During a ceremony to mark the introduction of private drivers, Kawanabe demonstrated how the ride-hailing app Go can be used to hail private cars, with transport minister Tetsuo Saito and digital minister Taro Kono riding in one in a demonstration. In Tokyo, the apps Go, Uber, S.Ride and Didi can be used to hail private drivers alongside taxis during specific times of the day that the transport ministry has identified as having a shortage of taxis. During these times, users looking to find a ride on the app will see the option of hailing a private driver, with the price being the same as that of a taxi. As for drivers, although anyone with a Japanese driver’s licence - including foreign nationals - can apply to become one, not just anyone can hit the road. Candidates are required to apply to a taxi company and go through several rounds of interviews. Those who pass the interview stage are required to participate in ten hours of training, and only then can the drivers sign up for shifts on the apps. Drivers are then paid an hourly wage, which varies from company to company. To ensure safety, drivers are required to conduct a self- check of their car, health and alcohol level before each shift and report it on the app. Interest in becoming a private driver has been higher than expected, Kawanabe said, with at least 10,000 people having applied in Tokyo in the first month since applications opened with many taxi companies having a backlog of applicants.
PHTM MAY 2024
HYDROGEN TAXI FIRM RAISES €200M TO EXPAND REFUELING NETWORK
HysetCo SAS, a startup that rents hydrogen-power- ed EVs to hun- dreds of Paris cabbies, raised nearly €200m to expand its operations beyond the French capital. The funding came from three investors led by Hy24, which specialises in hydrogen infrastructure. Raise Impact and Eiffel Investment Group also participated, the companies said in a joint statement. The bet on clean-hydrogen mobility, still a tiny market, comes amid signs of weak sales of battery- powered EVs in some markets after governments rolled back subsidies. While hydrogen fuel-cell cars are more expensive than battery EVs - and charging stations scarce - proponents argue that they offer longer driving ranges and are quicker to refuel. HysetCo, which rents more than 500 hydrogen vehicles and operates four hydrogen refueling stations around Paris, plans to build another ten in the area by the end of 2025, company President Loic Voisin said in an interview. “The aim is to densify our network in the greater Paris region, structure the company, and to go into other geographies in France and in Europe,” he said. “We’re addressing the needs of clients who want to decarbonise their mobility and make intensive use of their vehicles, such as taxi drivers and professional users of vans.” Fuel cells work by converting compressed hydrogen gas in a car’s tank into electricity that powers the vehicle’s engine. But there’s still debate over whether the technology is more viable than battery EVs, largely because of the lack of a refueling network for hydrogen. “The decarbonization of transport won’t happen solely with battery electric vehicles,” Hy24 Chief Executive Officer Pierre-Etienne Franc told Bloomberg. Constraints over raw materials needed to build battery cell packs, along with the shortfall in performance of EVs, may boost the need for hydrogen-powered mobility, he said.
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