Italy’s taxi drivers staged a sixth day of protests in major cities yesterday and blocked central Rome to try to force the government to crack down on limousine businesses and the app-based Uber service.
The taxi revolt broke out last week when the ruling Democratic Party (PD) said it would delay yet again introducing norms aimed at regulating car-hire and car-share schemes.
Taxi drivers operate under rigid regulation and say they are being penalised by the growth of little-monitored app-based services like Uber, which connect users to the nearest drivers via smartphone, and increasingly popular chauffeured limousines.
“We don’t mind competition, but there isn’t a level playing field. These companies don’t have the same constraints as us,” said Paolo Ricci, a taxi driver protesting outside the prime minister’s office in the heart of Rome.
“We are a public service. We have fixed fares, fixed shifts and have to take any customer, even if it is only a short ride that makes no money. The competition doesn’t have any of these problems and the government must act,” he said.
The protest coincided with a demonstration by market and stallholders, who are up in arms over plans to implement the European Union “Bolkestine” directive aimed at opening up competition within the services sector.
While one group of protesters closed roads around the prime minister’s office, another crowded around the entrance to the nearby PD headquarters.
Taxi drivers gather with street vendors to protest in front of the House of Deputies during discussions on amendments that, according to the taxi drivers, deregulates the sector of transport, enabling a wider use of Uber.
