Passengers can check Collecto driver ID with app, following report of rape

The Brussels Mobility agency is planning more regulations for the shared taxi service Collecto following a report of sexual assault in November.

Collecto is a co-operation among Brussels official taxi service Taxi Verts, Brussels Mobility and Stib. Users who have a Mobib card go to one of 200 designated pick-up points between the hours of 23.00 and 6.00 to get a ride from a taxi for just €5. Users without a Mobib card pay only €6. Pick-up points are all at Stib bus stops.

Passengers share a ride with other Collecto users going in the same direction. The service was launched in 2008 to augment Stib's Noctis night bus service. Collecto now transports some 250,000 people a year.

A ULB student had requested a Collecto cab last November through the app and reported being raped by the driver. The man was soon arrested and is also suspected of other assaults and rapes in Brussels.

He was not a Collecto driver but only posing as one, cruising around Collecto stops looking for women on their own. He was in possession of a Stib uniform but was not driving a car with the Taxi Verts logo.

The regional government has now drawn up a number of measures to make the service safer. While the service is already only carried out by official Taxis Verts driver, with a logo on the car and an identification number, soon passengers will be able to check that ID number through the app. They will be able to determine if it is the same driver. All Collecto cars will also be tracked via GPS in case of any problems.

Photo courtesy Brussels Mobility