Taxi access to red zones eased after major unions request financial compensation

“Taxis and VTC vehicles can now access red perimeters,” announced the Minister of Transport, Patrice Vergiete, on X on Wednesday. Several taxi and VTC unions sent him a letter, they consider their profession “deeply hampered” by the Olympic Games.

Relaxation of the system. Taxis and VTCs will now be able to access the red perimeters around the 2024 Olympic sites, announced on X Wednesday, August 1, the Minister of Transport Patrice Vergriete. A decision, he writes, for “facilitate the installation and removal of spectators” and taken with the Paris police prefect, Laurent Nuñez.

A decision, a few hours after the revelation of a letter sent to the minister, from representatives of taxis and VTCs. “THE The Olympic Games have well and truly begun and for all taxis it is a great disappointment”write the main unions of the profession in a letter addressed to the Minister of Transport Patrice Vergriete, which franceinfo was able to consult on Thursday, August 1. Because if France must welcome 15 million tourists from all over the world for this major sporting event, the drivers do not find their account there. The unions want the “taxis are eligible for a financial compensation fund”, because their “activity is deeply hampered” by the Olympics for several months.

These compensations must cover a period of “from March to the end of October 2024”explain these taxi unions. They believe that the drivers “have suffered a significant loss of activity since spring”, due to traffic restrictions for the first assemblies for the Paris 2024 Games or because of the “privatization of many event venues in Île-de-France”, like the Stade de France or Paris La Défense Arena.

In Paris and the surrounding area, their activity is slowed down in “the most important areas for Parisian taxis, such as convention centers, concert and sports halls and the ‘golden triangle'” in the heart of the capital.

Taxis in the Paris region find themselves like this “deprived of a significant part of their business, monopolized for the Olympic and Paralympic Games” But they are not the only ones concerned, insist the signatories of the letter. They take the example of Marseille, deserted by cruise passengers “to avoid getting stuck in the city’s traffic jams”according to them.

These taxi unions accuse the government of having “encouraged city dwellers to go on vacation or work from home” and to have “deterred professional event organizers.” Since the start of the Olympic Games, security perimeters have been put in place and “many taxi ranks in red zones, and even blue zones” have been neutralized, which “drastically restricts the activity of taxis.”

Taxi drivers “have so far shown great resilience,” but they are found “now in a critical situation”, with revenue drops of “40% or even 50% in certain situations”explain the main taxi unions. For them, this “abnormal harm” is undeniably caused “directly” by the Olympic Games. They ask to be received at the Ministry of Transport “to determine the terms” of this compensation fund.