VII.

CONCLUSION/ RECOMMENDATIONS

Over the last several decades, information and communication technologies have
enhanced the operation and use of transportation networks across the world, enabling
innovations ranging from real-time traffic and transit information, to real-time data for system
management, to new methods of transit fare payment. In recent year, the COVID-19 crisis
accelerated an expansion of e-commerce towards new firms, customers and types of products.
It has provided customers with access to a significant variety of products from the convenience
and safety of their homes, and has enabled firms to continue operation in spite of contact
restrictions and other confinement measures.

Food delivery is not a new concept — what’s changed is the way it’s now being done.
Previously, customers used to call restaurants directly to place their orders. Now, all of that is
carried out on a mobile app or online, with a variety of choices available. So goes the services
that our Adelante Express is providing. Innovative mobility services are already enhancing
mobility for millions and have the potential to yield even greater benefits while also serving
other societal goals. If the potential of these services is to be realized, the new role of e-
commerce for individuals and firms has heightened the need for policy action.

The proponents (our group) offers the following recommendations in the spirit of expanding
the promise of these services, and doing so with effective and appropriately scaled public
oversight.

RECOMMENDATION I:

For consumers, systemic challenges related to connectivity, financial inclusion, skills and
trust (e.g. digital security, privacy and consumer protection) have been brought into sharp
relief. To address this issue, governments should expand affordable and quality broadband to
rural and underserved areas, enhance financial inclusion, and foster trust and the acquisition
of skills to participate in e-commerce.

RECOMMENDATION II:

For firms, policy makers should reduce regulatory uncertainty to support the creation
of innovative business models, e.g. in the context of an increasingly complementary
relationship between offline and online sales strategies.

RECOMMENDATION III:

Ensuring sufficient competition in the retail sector and a well-functioning enabling

environment for e-commerce, including communication services, logistics or trade, is also
crucial. By that, governments also need to address the particular need of SMEs, including by
ensuring a fair playing field in the context of intermediated services.

RECOMMENDATION IV:

Policy makers and regulators should also examine public safety requirements covering
drivers and vehicles, which should be applied in similar fashion across competing industry
segments, ensuring consistency and a level playing field. Examples of these requirements
include driver's safety food handling, background checks, vehicle inspections, and automobile
liability insurance coverage. While the transparency enabled by new technologies can reduce
the need for service quality–focused regulations, it may not reduce the need for these critical
public safety requirements.

RECOMMENDATION V:

Policy makers, planners, and regulators should identify the information needed to set
policies on, plan for, and regulate mobility services, and require this information from all
regulated entities. Among the many innovations by mobility service providers is widespread
use of automated reporting systems and digital databases to measure and improve service. The
information needed by policy makers, planners, and regulators—largely information about
types and volumes of trips—can be culled from these databases and anonymized to protect
proprietary interests and individual privacy without requiring private companies to collect new
information.