The regulation processes of income generating activities in the transport sector in the digital age

In Brussels, the taxi industry is part of the urban transportation system. This sector has received a lot of attention in the literature since it is one of the most affected by the digital revolution, and more particularly by the platform economy which challenges previous regulated systems. The companies, e.g. Uber, attract a lot of users because it offers many commercial advantages but also leads to claims from other stakeholders in the sector, e.g. taxi operators and companies, drivers, trade unions, collectives. Indeed, the sector suffers from an imbalance between a strict pre-existing legal framework and the emergence of new service offers with disruptive and highly competitive practices (Akbulaev, 2020; Dudley et al., 2017, Laurell & Sandström, 2016). Given a such controversy, the regulation is at the centre of discussion (Prassl & Risak, s. d.; Tzur, 2019). The taxi sector is currently the object of political reflection for a regulatory reform of the sector. Many years have passed without any decision being taken and we sought to understand the existing pressures within the sector. To do so, our research explores the following question: "How do the discourses of institutional stakeholders shape the emerging regulation of the taxi sector, beyond its formal structuration?", in a conventionalist perspective. First, three registers of convention, i.e. market, work and mobility consists of two opposing principles, each of which promote regulatory autonomy or heteronomy. This first stage of analysis gives a polarised vision of the content of the controversy. Furthermore, the second stage outlines a complexification of the conventions conveyed, through the processes of justification exposed