An excellent opportunity for healthcare carriers and taxi entrepreneurs and the chance to meet each other and their suppliers again. Despite the Taxi Expo and the National Congress Contract Transport should have been a special meeting place this year, after it was canceled last year due to corona, the taxi entrepreneurs still let it down a bit. Whether this had to do with the day program or the aftermath of the corona times was difficult to estimate. Exhibitors present might have hoped for more visitors and had done everything they could to arrange the appearance of their exhibition stand down to the last detail. Until the very last moment, a call was made in social media to travel to Houten.
Looking back
The conference was mainly characterized by looking back at the past and to a lesser extent at the future of the sector. Chairman of the day National Congress Contract Transport Bertho Eckhardt of the branch association KNV explained what happened in the time of corona among healthcare carriers. Program maker Elizabeth Santangelo He especially praised the resilience with which many entrepreneurs have deployed their employees and drivers during the corona crisis to support various projects in society, from delivering asparagus at Munckhof to the chat bus of A-Tax de Vries Personenvervoer.
Specialist in e-mobility Eric Henneken van Tribus, involved in many initiatives from the government, municipalities and manufacturers, both in the Netherlands and internationally, gave a clear insight into the developments in the field of hydrogen. Lisette de Thrush de Raadt, ambassador for the application of hydrogen in target group transport for a few months, talked about her plans and the results achieved so far. Henk van Gelderen On behalf of the Procurement Institute Mobility (AIM), the conference participants were fully informed about the sustainability findings in tenders of the past year.
(text continues below the image)
Parallel to Taxi Expo '21, Public Transport Expo '21 held. A trade fair that is the successor of BusVision and focuses on professionals in the public transport and coach sector and has many interfaces with the taxi industry. The exhibition floor in the same hall transitioned from one theme to another. Street taxi and target group transport are increasingly making the transition to electric vehicles. This was clearly visible on the exhibition floor, which was 80% filled with vehicles from various brand dealers and bus manufacturers.
organization
The fact that the fair and the congress was allowed to continue this year has everything to do with the way in which the organization would follow the current corona rules. To participate in the National Contract Transport Congress, a corona ticket was requested via the Corona Check App. This did not go smoothly because, depending on the registration desk chosen, a QR code was or was not requested to check whether the visitor was allowed to enter the conference room. But if that was the only flaw, one can say that the Taxi Expo, held on September 16, 2021 in Expo Houten, went well despite everything.
Also read: FNV wins: Uber must hire drivers
