Taxi and for-hire markets have traditionally been heavily regulated and public policymakers have been quite imaginative in regulating these markets, discriminating among market segments (hail, rank, and pre-booked), using different types of instruments (quantitative, qualitative, economic), and targeting different subjects (company, driver, vehicle). Cities and countries have experimented with the deregulation of taxi and for-hire services since the 1970s, aiming at raising the efficiency and competition in the service supply, lowering the prices, or both. Analyses of deregulated markets have often focused on the broad effects of deregulation at national level and paid limited attention to comparisons between regulated and deregulated markets. This paper discusses the effects of taxi deregulation in Stockholm (in relation to market size and structure, as well as pricing of services) in light of two contrasted case studies of regulated taxi markets in Helsinki (Finland) and Lyon (France). Original findings include observations as to some counterintuitive effects of deregulation, including high prices in both absolute (i.e., for the local context) and relative terms (i.e., compared with other cities).

Mobility systems in metropolitan areas in both the Global North and the Global South have entered an era of rapid change since the early 2010s under the influence of mobile information and communication technologies (ICTs). Mobile ICT-based shared mobility platforms have been filling some of the gaps in transport supply left by historical modes of transport (i.e., private cars, public transit, and for-hire services). Shared mobility digital platforms are a subcategory of mobility applications that give individual customers direct and full access to one or several shared mobility services. Based on a worldwide systematic census, this paper documents the diversity of services provided by such platforms, then analyzes the trends in geographic distribution and competition among platforms across the world’s metropolises. It proposes a new classification of shared mobility services. Since innovations in shared mobility are also taking a leading place in the Global South, future research avenues in this field are discussed in an effort to break away from the prior focus of the scientific literature on the Global North. The census brings out four original findings. First, the rise of shared mobility digital platforms is a worldwide metropolitan phenomenon transcending the traditional distinction between the Global North and the Global South. Second, emerging countries have become clusters for innovation and competition among platforms. Third, three types of shared mobility digital platforms are identified based on geographic reach (local, regional, or global). Fourth, shared mobility digital platforms providing for-hire services are the most widespread in the world.