Dr. Henrike Schulte and Dr. Maximilian Gerhold of OPPENLÄNDER successfully secured a stay of a general administrative act issued by the City of Essen regarding minimum fares for ride-hailing services before the Administrative Court of Gelsenkirchen, acting on behalf of the European mobility platform BOLT and a Dortmund-based ride-hailing company.
The City of Essen had issued a general administrative act, effective as of 1 January 2026, mandating minimum fares for ride-hailing services — typically booked via app — set at seven percent below the local taxi fare. Such rides in rental vehicles are regularly arranged through the apps of mobility platforms such as BOLT or UBER and are particularly popular among younger users. The taxi industry has long advocated for the introduction of minimum fares for these ride-hailing services. The Administrative Court of Gelsenkirchen accepted the arguments presented by OPPENLÄNDER and held, already at the preliminary injunction stage, that the City of Essen’s general administrative act was “manifestly unlawful” and could no longer be enforced against the petitioners. The decisive factor was that the provision governing the calculation of the minimum fare was insufficiently precise. Should the City of Essen make another attempt to impose minimum fares, any such measures — as the court expressly noted — would have to be assessed against the applicable freedom of establishment under EU law. This clarifies that municipalities cannot simply proceed on the assumption that EU law does not apply.
The decision is significant because a growing number of municipalities are announcing plans to introduce minimum fares for ride-hailing services. The ruling clarifies for the first time that mobility platforms are entitled to challenge such pricing regulations in their own right, as their own legal positions are directly affected. This question had previously remained unresolved.
OPPENLÄNDER advises in regulated industries, with a particular focus on the transportation sector as well as matters of constitutional and European law.
See the decision of the Administrative Court of Gelsenkirchen (in German only)
See the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung report “Two plaintiffs successful: Court overturns minimum price for taxis in Essen,” April 1, 2026 (in Germany only)
See the Beck-Aktuell report “General ruling unclear: Minimum prices for transportation must be transparent,” April 1, 2026 (in Germany only)
