12 Mar Italian taxis earn high marks from users: outperforming the European average
Customer satisfaction reaches 85%, with Southern Italy showing the strongest improvement
Rome, March 12, 2026 – Italy’s taxi service continues to rank among the most efficient and highly appreciated in Europe. This is the key finding of two surveys presented at the Press Room of the Chamber of Deputies in Rome by Uritaxi, appTaxi, and Taxi Move: the 7th Report “Taxis in Italy” and the 2nd Report “Taxis in Europe. Europe vs. Italy 2026”. Conducted by Lab21, the research involved more than 140,000 respondents across over 30 cities in Italy and Europe during January 2026.
The findings, presented by Professor Roberto Baldassari, General Director of Lab21, show an overall customer satisfaction rate of 85.1%, stable over recent years and higher than the European average of 82.8%. Italy scores particularly well in key performance indicators, including vehicle comfort (92.6%), ride safety (86.8%), and travel speed (82.6%).
Waiting times are also among the fastest in Europe: 89% of Italian users receive a taxi within six minutes of booking, compared with 82% across Europe. This confirms the efficiency of Italy’s radio taxi dispatch system and the overall organization of taxi services in Italian cities.
Southern Italy narrows the gap
The national survey also highlights significant regional progress. Northern Italy continues to record the highest satisfaction levels, reaching 89.7% in 2026, while Central Italy remains stable at 86.2%.
The most remarkable improvement comes from Southern Italy, which shows the strongest growth of all regions and significantly reduces its historical gap with the rest of the country. Comfort ratings increased by more than 15 percentage points, rising from 72.8% to 88.2%. Ride safety improved from 78.7% to 85.6%, while the percentage of users receiving a taxi within six minutes rose from 77.3% to 84.7%.
Fare transparency also improved, increasing from 57.2% to 65.6%, while driver courtesy and professionalism rose from 72.0% to 76.3%. Overall satisfaction in Southern Italy increased from 77.3% to 79.5%, reflecting a substantial improvement in the perceived quality of taxi services.
Italy outperforms Europe
Compared with the European average, Italian taxi services are perceived as:
- Faster (82.6% vs. 75.1%, +7.5 points)
- More comfortable (92.6% vs. 84.1%, +8.5 points)
- Safer (86.8% vs. 77.9%, +8.9 points)
Driver courtesy is another strong point: Italy achieves an 80.2% satisfaction rate, more than five percentage points higher than the European average (75.1%).
Nearly 75% of Italian users believe taxi services in Italy are better than those abroad, compared with just over half of European respondents.
Italy and Europe: two different mobility models
The surveys also reveal two distinct approaches to urban mobility.
In Italy, the regulated public taxi model remains the preferred option, chosen by 61.5% of users, while only 16.6% would opt for private app-based ride services with dynamic pricing.
This is reflected in public opinion toward multinational mobility platforms: 72.3% of Italians oppose expanding their role in the market, compared with 61% across Europe.
Looking ahead, Italians continue to favor locally managed radio taxi services (50.3%), whereas European respondents more often support a regulated coexistence of different operators (42.8%).
Booking habits also differ significantly. In Italy, 69.1% of customers still book a taxi by telephone, while only 25.6% primarily use mobile apps. Across Europe the trend is reversed, with more than half of bookings made through apps. This confirms that local radio taxi organizations remain a cornerstone of the Italian taxi system.
Taxis as a safety service for young people
The surveys highlight the important social role of taxis, especially among younger users.
Nearly 84% of Italians under 35 consider taxis essential for getting home safely at night, a figure only slightly below the European average (85.2%). This shows that taxis are viewed not only as a means of transport but also as an important element of urban safety and responsible mobility.
The challenge of fares
The only area where satisfaction remains below 50% is pricing. Customer satisfaction with fares stands at 48.1% in Italy and 48.9% across Europe, demonstrating that affordability remains a common challenge throughout the sector. In Italy, this represents a slight decline from 49.3% recorded in 2024.
Looking ahead: users still want a human driver
The research also reveals widespread skepticism toward autonomous taxis.
71.9% of Italians and 64% of Europeans say they would not use a driverless taxi. Concerns are even stronger regarding safety: only 21.4% of Italians would feel safe riding in an autonomous taxi, compared with 37.9% of European respondents.
The presentation featured Claudio Giudici, National President of Uritaxi; Stefano Salzani, President of the appTaxi Consortium; and Mirco Venturelli, Vice President of the Taxi Move Consortium.
“These results demonstrate that the Italian taxi model works and is recognized by users as one of the most efficient in Europe,” said Claudio Giudici, National President of Uritaxi. “Service quality, safety and speed are the result of years of investment by taxi drivers and of a regulated system that protects both workers and citizens. The progress recorded in Southern Italy also shows that investing in service quality and organization produces tangible results. Our goal is to continue innovating while preserving a model that guarantees professionalism, safety and a strong local presence.”
“The fact that nearly 70% of Italian users still book taxis through local radio taxi services,” said Stefano Salzani, President of appTaxi, “demonstrates how deeply rooted and trusted this local model remains. Apps such as appTaxi are designed to support digital innovation while keeping control of the service in the hands of taxi drivers and local cooperatives. Innovation should strengthen public taxi services, not hand the market over to multinational platforms.”
“Technology is a fundamental tool for improving taxi services,” added Mirco Venturelli, Vice President of Taxi Move, “but it should serve taxi drivers and passengers—not large international platforms focused solely on market dominance. Taxi Move was created with exactly this vision: providing modern digital tools developed by taxi drivers themselves while maintaining transparent fares, high-quality service and strong local roots. The creation of the Italian Taxi Network—the first national network connecting the three Italian taxi apps appTaxi, bTaxi and Taxi Move through a roaming agreement—allows users to request a taxi in more than 50 Italian cities without downloading additional apps or creating new accounts.”
The full presentation can be viewed at webtv.camera.it (Press Conferences section). The complete reports are available at www.uritaxi.it.