TAXIS

It’s not fare! Striking taxi drivers bring rush hour to a standstill in France’s two biggest cities as war with unlicensed cabs rages on

• Cabbies in Paris and Marseilles bring roads to cities’ airports to standstill
• They are angry over increased competition from unlicensed cabs in France
• It is 2nd such protest in two months and is proving thorn in Hollande’s side
  

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

PUBLISHED: 16:31 GMT, 10 February 2014 | UPDATED: 22:00 GMT, 10 February 2014

A one-day taxi strike snarled rush-hour traffic in France’s two largest cities on Monday with drivers protesting competition from unregulated cabs in a battle that underscores tension over efforts to liberalise protected French markets.

Taxi drivers in Paris blocked highways leading from Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports into the city centre, while traffic was paralysed on two main arteries leading into Marseille.

The protest marks the second such show of force in two months and is a challenge for the Socialist government of President Francois Hollande, as taxi drivers cry foul over what they call unfair competition from vehicles-for-hire that are often cheaper and not subject to the same regulation.

 

 

Television images showed taxis parked in highway lanes and angry drivers waving their licences which cost about 200,000 euros ($272,400), a cost their competitors do not pay.

‘Mr Hollande, we’re very determined,’ driver Ibrahima Sylla told BFM-TV. ‘We’re here, we’ve got all our colleagues here…we won’t let up. 

The general secretary of the Force Ouvriere-UNCP taxi union, Nordine Dahmane, said deregulation threatened ‘hundreds of thousands of families’ who depend on the taxi industry. ‘We’ve got to protect it,’ he said.

 

 

 

With 19,000 taxis, Paris has fewer today than it did in 1920. The limited supply is just one symptom of competition-killing rules and red tape that limit access to dozens of professions and which Hollande has so far been reluctant to tackle.

On Saturday, Interior Minister Manuel Valls said the government would create a committee soon to study the matter.

Monday’s strike was called to protest last week’s ruling by the Conseil d’Etat, France’s highest administrative court, that struck down a government provision requiring the unlicensed cars to wait 15 minutes between logging a reservation and picking up passengers.

The move angered taxi drivers, who say that even with the 15-minute delay consumers were gravitating to the competition. They call for an artificial delay of 30 minutes and a minimum fare of 60 euros.

 

 

Visitors to Paris frequently complain about a shortage of taxis during peak hours, a side effect of limits on the number of taxi licences that can be issued each year.

Competition from the vehicles-for-hire, whose drivers do not need to undergo the same training nor pay the hefty price for an official taxi licence, has infuriated taxi drivers.

‘I bought a licence a year ago because I was told if you want to be a taxi driver, you have to buy the licence,’ driver Axel Douard told BFM TV. ‘I bought it for 242,000 euros. I bought a car. I’m in 300,000 euros debt for the next 10 years.’

The European Commission has long pressed for France to open its many protected professions to greater variety and competition, citing excessively high barriers to entry for taxi drivers as one area especially ripe for deregulation.

Generations of French leaders have backed down from deregulation in the face of taxi strikes.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2555990/Its-not-fare-Taxi-drivers-bring-rush-hour-standstill-Frances-two-biggest-cities-battle-unlicensed-cabs-rages-on.html#ixzz2t0DuqZKE 

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RERB – The solution?

 

ENGLISH:

2014 starts very BADLY on the RER B with 68% of days with problems in January , the highest since the beginning of 2013, or put another way, 15 wasted days out of 21 days.

It has been particularly intense moments , including the day of January 15 , with a failure every day .

On the Menu RER B, we were privileged to taste :

 

2 hardware failures

3 failures catenary (overhead lines)

1 power failure
3 signal outages
2 smoke releases
1 traveler incident
2 technical problems
2 ” various incidents”
4 suspicious packages                                                                                              2 days of problems without warning or explanation                                                 1 alarm signal

71 % of problems due to the running of the line and 29% for travellers.

Can it get any worse? We’ll know in the next episode . February is actually brighter with its 15 days of school holidays , but we reserve judgement on March? Should we call the ” Super Tube ” to the rescue?

NB with all the taxis on strike, the RERB has to be feeling left out and will probably plan a trike so that the taxis can recover lost revenue due to their strike action

The only benefit is for @UBER who gets passengers at a higher price, more profit and phenomenal free publicity.

Ah la belle France

IN FRENCH

L’année 2014 commence très fort sur le RER B avec ses 68% de jours à problèmes en janvier, un record depuis la création de ce blog, soit 15 jours bien pourris sur 21 jours ouvrés.

On a connu des moments particulièrement intenses, notamment cette journée du 15 janvier, avec sa panne de caténaire (journée de galère), apogée d’une semainetotaly fail.

Au menu du RER B, nous avons dégusté :

• 2 pannes de matériel
• 3 pannes de caténaires
• 1 panne électrique
• 3 pannes de signalisation
• 2 dégagements de fumée
• 1 incident voyageur
• 2 incidents techniques
• 2 « divers incidents »
• 4 colis suspects
• 2 jours à problèmes sans annonce
• 1 voyageur malade (celui-là, on le maudit)
• 1 signal d’alarme

Soit 71% de problèmes imputables à la régie, et 29% aux voyageurs.

Comment pourront-ils faire pire ? On le saura au prochain épisode. Février est de fait plus prometteur avec ses 15 jours de vacances scolaires, mais que nous réserve Mars ? Faut-il appeler les « Super Métro » à la rescousse ?

EXPERIENCE IS THE NEW CURRENCY OF THE DIGITAL ECONOMY