Taxi drivers protest downtown Bucharest, in other large cities. Traffic restricted in Victoriei Square

Taxi drivers have started a protest in Victoriei Square in Bucharest Wednesday morning against the applications like Uber. The protest started at 9.00h in front of the Government, as hundreds of taxis blocked the traffic since 6.30h. Similar protests are taking place in Arad, Timisoara, Iasi, Bacau, Brasov, Zalau, Slatina and Targu Mures.

The protest is organized by the Confederation of Authorized Operators and Carriers in Romania (COTAR), which says the Government has had no reaction to the authorized transporters demands. The rally is scheduled to last until 15.00h.

“We are in the street again to draw attention to the Government, one more time, it should have issued the taxi bill promoted in 2015 by former MP Lucian Sova, later Transport Minister and recently dismissed. We have asked countless times for the elimination of one sentence from the law, which was introduced to prevent the authorities to put an end to piracy in transports. We are here because the decision of the European Court of Justice is not observed, which decided that the transport applications for passengers are in fact carriers, not online services providers,” COTAR leader Vasile Stefanescu said.

He argues that over 100,000 unauthorized persons are active in Romania, with Uber, Taxi Fly, Bla Bla Car and Clever Go in traffic, they collect money defying the legal framework in transports and taxi business.

COTAR calls on the Government to solve the situation and to “exclude the fake carriers from the roads, the same way fake doctors or fake lawyers are excluded, because the taxi drivers without license and authorization are also fake transporters.”

The carriers warn that if the Government fails to solve the demands, they will organize a large rally on February 27-28 and block Bucharest with buses, vans and taxis from al over the country.

Photo: TVR 1 public television capture