Respuestas recibidas sin formulario I - II- III

will also be influenced by the quality of the data science deployed. As such, the economies of scale
change and take on a regional, and often global, dimension, and create new opportunities for
Spanish firms.
The ‘sharing economy’ phenomenon
Uber contends that the essence of the ‘sharing economy’ is that a large number of providers of
access to under-used resources (car, and their own time) can now be aggregated (by an
intermediary) to an extent that makes it comparable, in the eyes of the consumer, to a service
traditionally provided by a corporate entity. Moreover, the quality of the resulting service is high
enough to command price levels that can be a meaningful contribution to a driver’s standard of
living. For Uber, the sharing economy does not entail necessarily and only a cost sharing. A driver
that use the Uber platform to share his car, can do it to share costs, driving only two to three hours
per day; but can also do it as an important source of income.
The provision of such capacity on a peer-to-peer basis promises the potential of massively
increased supply in due course. However, supply is nothing without demand and it is here that the
most significant market changes are taking place, in particular with regards to urban mobility. The
CNMC alludes to ‘access’ vs ‘ownership’ opportunities, but considers this primarily in the context of
the ‘economic crisis’. Uber believes that this understates shifts in consumer demand - for
example, there are increasing signs that younger generations in Nordic countries 1 are significantly
delaying the purchase of their first car because they prefer to rely on ‘access’ to mobility services
rather than vehicle ‘ownership’.
Cities such as Helsinki are moving quickly to implement the beginnings of what will ultimately
become ‘mobility-as-a-service’ (MaaS). They see significant congestion and environmental benefits
from this shift, and the taxi representatives are reported also seeing an opportunity for them. This
is easy to understand when you consider that MaaS involves switching from driving yourself
everywhere, to taking public transport, a taxi or a TNC. Indeed, it is reasonable to imagine that the
taxi and urban transport industries stand at the dawn of the greatest expansion in its
history if policy is set correctly.
Although Uber is primarily focused on cities, we do see huge opportunities for technology and the
sharing economy to have a beneficial impact on rural areas too, with the benefits accruing to
isolated and underserved citizens as well as to hard-pressed local government finances.
Do you agree with the effects indicated of the new models on the market in general, and on
the two selected sectors in particular? What other effects could there be? (max. 4000 chars)
Uber would like to offer the following comments on the effects CNMC discusses:
●
Uber believes that reputation systems are fundamental to TNCs, and other sharing
economy services, and are vital in our own operations. Consumers appreciate that we ask
their opinion of drivers, and they frequently contrast our App with the arcane processes
needed to register a complaint against a traditional taxi driver. By contrast, we can, and do,
quickly identify people that do not provide a high quality of service and exclude them from
the platform.
1
http://www.hel.fi/static/public/hela/Kaupunkisuunnittelulautakunta/Suomi/Esitys/2014/Ksv_2014-06-
03_Kslk_17_El/4612BA69-A916-4377-BA22-B9E1D340618C/Liite.pdf