The International Association of Transportation Regulators (IATR) is a non-profit, professional association of government transportation officials. Founded in 1989, the IATR is primarily an educational organization that shares information and best practices among a wide variety of government agencies that license, regulate and/or contract with for-hire ground transportation services. These regulated industries include: taxicabs; micro-transit; micro-mobility; buses & motor coaches; black cars & limousines; paratransit & non-emergency medical transport; and Transportation Network Companies (TNCs).
The IATR’s 36th Annual Conference will be held in Scottsdale, Arizona, a welcoming environment and regulatory paradigm for mobility technology innovation and experimentation.
The dry heat of the desert will warm our attendees’ minds, to facilitate the exploration of new approaches to planning for, deploying, and regulating mobility technology solutions.
This future forward conference will focus primarily on automation and electrification – two areas of rapid advancement. Autonomous vehicles (AVs) are already picking-up passengers in Arizona and elsewhere, while electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure is being built everywhere with both innovations providing backbone and muscle for our future transportation ecosystem.
The International Association of Transportation Regulators (IATR) has endeavored to develop principles that would form a framework for best practices to support mobility policy-making for federal, state/provincial, and local governments to achieve efficient, affordable, sustainable, resilient, and equitable multi-modal passenger transportation, while mitigating negative impacts such as congestion in the post-pandemic world.
This project includes the development of principles and best practices in the United States, Europe, and other relevant jurisdictions. Data-gathering techniques that were used for this project include, but are not limited to, the following: literature review, legislation and regulation review, workshops, focus groups, and interviews. The goal of this project was to develop a “community of practice” – or regulatory “do’s” and “don’ts” – through collaboration by and between regulators, the regulated entities, and other stakeholders. The project culminated in the issuance of “guiding principles” following two IATR workshops and a survey.
Do not implement blanket caps on TNCs, taxis and for-hire vehicles, but always provide for the ability for sound competitive growth of mobility companies with proper incentives to promote equity, accessibility and sustainability goals.
Do not over-regulate fares or reverse-engineer congestion policy through TNCs, taxicab or for-hire vehicle utilization rates that are overly complex, and which serve as a source of driver compensation as opposed to other incentives or disincentives
Do not implement such policies without exploring exemptions that would promote the above guiding principles and to promote equity, accessibility and sustainability goals.
Do consider establishing zones within cities accessible to shared modes, including public transit, taxis, and TNC vehicles. Don't reduce access by picking favorites among shared modes.