The VTC market - France

The term VTC stands for "Voiture de Transport avec Chauffeur" and refers to " operators who make one or more chauffeur-driven transport vehicles available to their customers, under conditions agreed in advance between the parties " (Article L 3122-1 of the French Transport Code). Previously, the profession was called "Exploitation de voitures de tourisme avec chauffeur", but it changed its name following the Thévenoud law in 2014. It is part of the "Transport public particulier de personnes" (TPPP or T3P) segment. VTCs offer services similar to those of cabs, enabling customers to travel from point A to point B in a car driven by a driver ; the differences between the two services lie in the status of the driver, the pricing of journeys, comfort or even the conditions under which the customer is picked up. The VTC sector is very recent in France: the first mobile applications to put VTC drivers in contact with customers appeared in December 2011, notably with Uber France, the French subsidiary of the American company Uber. The arrival of these platforms in France has completely disrupted the transport market, particularly in major cities where cabs previously had a monopoly on T3P. On a global scale, the average annual growth rate is +13.3%, with VTC sales expected to exceed US$160 billion by 2024. [Market Insights] France saw growth in its VTC business between 2016 and 2021. While the Covid19 crisis impacted this growth in 2020 and 2021, household consumption of cabs and VTCs has recovered and exceeded its pre-crisis level since 2022, and has been growing ever since, with growth of 57% between 2021 and 2024. There are two areas of concern in the sector, which could lead to changes in the future: the difference in status between cabs and VTCs (which regulations are gradually attempting to regulate) and the social protection of self-employed workers on collaborative platforms. Last but not least, the trend in VTC offerings is towards multimodality (with the recent integration of Taxi services and the rental of scooters and bicycles) and greener vehicles.