EU in danger of ‘missing the train’ on MDMS
Travel industry groups have called for the European Commission to “seize the opportunity” to push ahead with its Multimodal Digital Mobility Services (MDMS) regulation as a way of making travel “easier and greener” across Europe.
The call from seven leading travel groups, including BT4Europe and the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), comes as progress on MDMS, which is designed to make it easier to buy tickets for multi-modal travel across the EU, seems to have stalled at the commission.
During an event in Brussels to discuss MDMS on Tuesday (10 October), hosting MEP Jan-Christoph Oetjen, from Germany, admitted that the commission had “not yet put a proposal on the table” for MDMS, despite setting a deadline for adoption of a proposal by the first quarter of 2023.
“That’s already half a year ago,” added Oetjen. “There are discussions but there’s not a clear answer on where this proposal will go. What can we do to give MDMS a further push to deliver for consumers in the EU?
“We’re still hoping to see white smoke at some point in order to get things done. But it’s probably not going to make it by the end of the mandate [for the commission].”
MDMS is intended to be an EU regulation that makes it easier for travellers to plan, compare and buy tickets digitally for journeys combining different modes of transport in the EU, particularly cross-border rail. Although some rail companies have claimed that it could force up ticket prices.
Business travel groups are already worried that the eventual proposal will be watered down to protect major transport companies and it also faces further delay – possibly until the end of the current commission’s term of office at the end of October 2024.
The seven travel associations, known as Friends of MDMS, said in statement: “Despite past promises, the von der Leyen European Commission risks missing the train on this topic.
“The opportunity to make travel easier and greener must be seized now. An ambitious proposal for an MDMS regulation must be proposed by the commission without further delay.
“We call on EU policymakers of all institutions to continue supporting the MDMS regulation as an urgently needed solution and to make the MDMS proposal a key priority in EU transport policy.”
Advito’s David Frangeul, who represented the GBTA and the wider business travel industry at the event in Brussels, said that MDMS was needed as a “harmonised framework” to measure greenhouse gas emissions for business trips.
“Business travellers are looking to shift to more sustainable ways of transportation,” he told the event. “But the lack of transparent emissions data is really something of a barrier to client action. The goal of MDMS should be to display emissions at the point of sale.”
Frangeul said that while there were “no major concerns on the technology side” to meeting the aims of MDMS, he questioned the “willingness” of some transport suppliers to work with travel resellers.
He added that some suppliers were “more interested” in selling directly to customers through more personalised content than working with third-party sellers, which was “a major hurdle in the development of MDMS”.
Christian Moeller, from European travel agents’ association ECTAA, also part of Friends of MDMS, agreed that the plans for the regulation had already been “watered down” and may not create a “transparent marketplace” for multi-modal travel around the EU.
“It will keep the status quo and we think that is not a good one,” he added. “Resellers play a very important role and need to be able to play their role.”