All over Europe urban mobility services are subject to specialized regulatory regimes. In the last decade, new technologies have upended the sector, making possible new ways of organizing the industry. Platforms like Uber and Lyft have been among the first to seize these possibilities. However, they have often done so without regard for national and local laws.

In response to these changes many EU jurisdictions have amended their sectoral regulations, revisiting issues such as licensing, background checks and insurance. The result has been a vast landscape of legal, commercial, and political conflict where local administrators, private operators and citizens are obliged to act within a normative chaos.

Sharing mobility is facing a major challenge in Europe. In its landmark judgment in December 2017, the European Court of Justice concluded that platforms such as Uber is ‘a service in the field of transport’ that are excluded from the scope of the Freedom to provide services, the Directive on services and the Directive on e-commerce. It follows that it is for the Member States and local authorities to regulate the conditions under which such services are to be provided (Case C-434/15).

Yet, EU law is deeply involved in the regulation of such services. The surrounding legal framework for sharing mobility includes not only competition, labor law and consumer protection, but it also deeply affects social inclusion, environmental sustainability and urban planning, among others. For these reasons, the central question for the European Union regards the appropriate site of authority in multi-level systems.

RIDER is proposed as an innovative project. The aim is to offer real support to the public administrator in the creation of new policies and rules for sharing mobility and in following those good practices that will be developed during the lifetime of the project, taking into account the many dimensions involved: urban impact, social inclusion, environment, and so on.

Other RIDER objectives are:

• • to contribute to the development of interdisciplinary studies on sharing mobility;

• • to inform citizens of new forms of services, opportunities, and social solidarity initiatives in the field;

• • to collaborate with the Representatives of consumer associations and workers’ unions involved in the ongoing changes.