The Economics of the Single-Ticketing Regulation in Europe

In view of the upcoming Single Digital Booking and Ticketing Regulation (SDBTR) and Multimodal Digital Mobility Services (MDMS) of the European Commission, Carlo Cambini and Paolo Beria examine in this issue paper possible economic and regulatory challenges.

The authors analyse how regulation should govern access to rail ticketing and distribution systems, with particular emphasis on the application of Fair, Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory (FRAND) conditions. Drawing on input from our members in industry and regulation as well as a literature review, the paper reviews alternative output-based and input-based pricing approaches for FRAND implementation. It highlights the trade-offs involved in regulating ticketing markets and concludes with initial policy recommendations:

• Address and anticipate the possible rise of dominant positions in the ticketing market already in the ticketing regulation, for example, by allowing some forms of graduated regulation or even the explicit unbundling of the function from national incumbents;
• Combine flexible market interventions, such as voluntary commercial agreements, with fairness principles to ensure non‑discriminatory access to data and transparent conditions for all operators; and
• The European Commission should provide its own interpretation of the FRAND principle in the MDMS Regulation, as well as the methodological criteria for defining commission levels, or alternatively, delegate to national regulators the definition of the minimum regulatory framework to guarantee a level playing field.