
The Attali report came out in France, proposing a reform for the scandalous problem of not enough taxis in Paris. Predictably, the taxi drivers are demonstrating. This is a photo taken this morning at Porte Maillot. I understand why they are angry, even if I think Paris needs waaaaay more taxis. Of course, they got their way, as all strikers who block the roads do in France.
I don't understand, though, why the economics of taxi driving seem different in Paris. All the drivers are saying they can scarcely make a living as it is, much less with more taxis on the road.
In London, taxis are expensive, yet there are enough taxis. In Frankfurt, taxis are cheap, yet there are enough taxis. What is wrong with Paris?
I feel sure it has something to do with Mayor Bertrand Delanoë and his traffic-jamming methods. He has a lot of great ideas, like the Velib' [public bicycle] program (although hm, I wonder how many grocery bags and small children you can fit on them, and whether people are riding them to work in the rain). I'll like him better if he solves the taxi problem, so I can get home from a late night in the city without my car for a change. Solving it doesn't look too easy, from the photo, though.
I don't miss it.
Some comments from the pages of French news sites on the taxi strike:
At Libération:
--If the taxi drivers aren't happy, let them go work for the French train company, then they can go on strike regularly and annoy everyone all they want. If they're serious, they can go become plumbers, but it's more work. Ask a foreigner, the Paris taxis are among the worst on the planet.
--Unbearable....these taxi drivers who try to make weep about their working conditions. No work, no customers? Let them pick up their butts a bit on Saturday nights, when there are lines hundreds of meters long at every taxi station! If they really want to make a living, let them get going and stop whining. And especially let them learn to smile and say hello, that would be a change.
At Libération:
--I was a big customer of Paris taxis, but I ended up getting a scooter in 2001. I couldn't bear hearing them complain nonstop for trips they thought were too short, to have to pay an outrageously expensive subscription for a pseudo-priority with their dispatchers, to never find any....
--When I hear the taxis defend the quality of their service I snicker because the most often it's awful when you finally succeed in getting one which is frequently impossible or takes very long. The first quality of service ought to be that of being rapidly available like any public transportation.
--Hello to all, I'm a Paris taxi driver and I am as friendly and helpful as you could ask with my customers....I'm a young Maghrebin [of North African descent] 26 years old, I don't think all my colleagues are grouchy....but it really is a hard job. The problem in Paris is really that there's too much traffic, because believe me, outside of rush hour you are twiddling your thumbs at the taxi station. It's quite normal not to find a taxi at these famous rush hours because since traffic isn't moving, instead of three or four clients an hour there's only one, it's not hard to understand... good day to all
At Le Nouvel Observateur:
--If taxis are waiting at the airport at rush hour, it's not for fun, all you have to do is look at the truck traffic going back in to Paris, that's the real problem.
--Hundreds of cars waiting for hours at the airports, while a mother and her children can't even find a taxi to get around Paris, you find that normal?
--In London, in New York, all you have to do is lift your arm to get a taxi: cheap in NY, expensive in London... but London has a strong policy of public transportation, expensive also, but very good.
--How can the Interior Minister tolerate a blockade like this, especially toward the airports? This problem concerns Paris most of all where it is impossible to find a taxi at certain hours.
--What a mess! Yes, it's true that it's hard to get a taxi in Paris. Are there enough of them? YES. But where are they? They're hanging out or playing poker (or tarot) at the airports.
At Europe 1:
--Bravo ! one more time, a reform is proposed, down to the street, demonstrations in the street and it's withdrawn! What courage!
At Le Point:
--Always the same who pay: the customers. Traffic blocked, airplanes missed, damage of all kinds... and then the fundamental problem: taxis too expensive and too rare.
--Give us back the wish to get around with you in freedom in our big cities, don't forget that we are the first tourist destination in the world! And the behavior of some drivers, caused by the lack of taxis, hurts your image and is not in our customs....
--I take taxis all over Europe, and the only country where someone says to me every week, "I won't take you there" with various excuses, is Paris. And I'm not talking about the guys who arrive with the taxi meter already on 8 euros....We're one of the rare countries where people almost never take taxis. Maybe the drivers should blame themselves.... Do they really want to work? I often doubt it. Too bad, yet again the government is going to go backwards without even having begun a step forward. A break? No, a lack of courage from the government.
At Le Figaro:
--I'm so upset I can't tell you. Thanks, taxis, thanks to you I will be taking a makeup test for an exam that I worked for like a crazy person. My university is far from my house and not on public transportation so I have to go in my car. I knew about the taxi demonstration, so I left an hour and a half early. But no luck, it took me two hours and forty-five minutes to do a 25-minute trip, so I was turned away from the exam. I cried about it and I'm still crying. And I hate you, taxi drivers, not only have you won, but you also got me to lose lamentably. The worst was seeing the taxi drivers stopped in the middle of the Boulevards des Maréchaux in Paris eating their sandwiches (this is not a joke) together and laughing like jerks as they watched all the car drivers blocked and powerless. So much disgust....In fact it took me 2h45 to get to my college (for nothing) and 2h to come back... 4h45 in my car, plus a tank of gas at 50 euros and zero in my exam. Nice day.