More than 500 taxi drivers are protesting on Wednesday, between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m., in Constituţiei Square and Victoriei Square, requesting a series of legislative changes regarding taxi transport and alternative transport, the president of the Association for Rights of Independent Taxi Drivers (ADTI), Radu Viorel.
According to him, the taxi drivers will remain on the street indefinitely, if the legislative changes are not made.
“We assume that there will be between 500 and 800 taxis in the Constitution Square. At 12:30 we go again to the Government, where we will have a new round of discussions about the regulation of alternative transport and the amendment of Law 38 on the transport of persons under the regime taxi and rental. At the same time, we will request an increase in the age of taxi cars, from 10 to 15 years, because transport operators can no longer buy new cars, coming after an economic crisis. If the legislative changes are not made, we do not have other option than to remain on the streets indefinitely. Besides the changes that transporters are asking for transport services, the biggest problem of taxi drivers and transport operators in general is the number. There are unlimited and I want to tell you that they are both phase and grass. There is no control, it’s something unreal. Behind these applications are some investment funds that can afford anything. These investment funds have billions in their portfolio. They can afford to do anything, anytime, anywhere. The local market is under siege. So, it is no longer the case that someone has something to do with the multinational, with corporatism. The local market will fall, if the Government and legislators do not take measures”, claimed Radu Viorel.
According to him, the politician did not take into account that there is a law on the transport of people, public transport and gave a parallel law that does the same thing, but with conditions, “much more relaxed and much freer than taxis”.
“We, being local public transport, are under the local authority. We must ensure a real way of life, in the sense of recovering our investment, of carrying out the transport of people under legal conditions. Or, we have a competitor in the market that he is free and he can bring cars from all over Romania. The matter is very, very serious. The Dăncilă government was wrong when it legislated something like this. Be careful, don’t give us a gift. We are providers and executors of this service. We are operators of transport which, under the protection of a law, I made some investments. At the wheel of a taxi sits a driver. The driver has a wife, children, school, maintenance behind him. I mean, it’s not a gift he gives, it’s a social problem. All these people remain without services”, added the president of ADTI.
The representatives of the Association of Taxi Drivers Bucharest – Ilfov request compliance with art. 6 of Law 204/2019 regarding the taxation of rides and commissions through a fiscal entity registered at the ONRC with the suspension of the technical approval until it enters into law, as well as the limitation of compliant copies, based on criteria similar to those applied to the taxi service, resulting protecting the quality of life and air, traffic congestion and pollution in big cities.
Also, the taxi drivers demand the removal of the possibility of issuing a certified copy for cars owned by operators with a loan or rental contract, raising the authorization threshold to the age of the car, minimum E6, prohibiting hanging or applying local regulations regarding advertisements, on passenger cars at the platforms digital services, as well as the elimination of the “dynamic tariff”, according to the recommendations of the Competition Council regarding deceptive practices.
Good luck