Neighboring country that ran out of taxis

There is a war of a psychological nature going on, where the “victims” are all Italians trying to obtain a taxi licence.

Whoever insists and searches for it in every way is required to pay countless amounts to obtain the license. Some say that buying a house in a big Italian city is cheaper than getting a taxi licence. We will explain.

Today, Rome has only 28.5 taxis per 10,000 citizens. Palermo in the same fraction, has the amazing number 5 in the numerator. In the Abruzzo region, which is inhabited by 1.3 million citizens, there are more taxis. Don't imagine a shocking number, just 97.

Why does this happen? But because there is a vertical refusal by municipal councils to issue permits. In Genoa, no new licenses have been issued since 1980. In Livorno, since 1977, and in Naples, which has been drowning in tourism, since 1997. Rome is facing a similar stagnation.

We can imagine this means one thing: If a subway passenger can't catch the trains on time and needs a taxi, what all the wise men say will happen, “Klafta Charalambi.”

This is confirmed by the fact that last June in Rome, 46% of calls to book a taxi were not answered. Accordingly, 42% in Milan. In Naples, the percentage rose to 49%.

The Italian Competition Commission has since tried to clarify the problem, but has hit a “wall.”

bad reputation

Italians don't like taxi drivers. Nightclub goers usually prefer to have a good time in their own company until the morning, and then, with the help of espresso, they leave behind the debauchery of the previous night, and go home.

When children leave their friends, they prefer to call their mom or dad to pick them up in the car. It would be fair to say that locals do not trust taxi drivers. There is a serious reason for this.

We are testing that here too, no driver wants to be paid by card, or share the cost of the trip with intermediaries. Of course the Italians also agree, whose cars by law have a POS device, whether they belong to an UBER-type company or not.

In a recent consumer survey, it was revealed that at least 18% of taxi drivers in Italy refused to pay for a trip with the card. There are also the most violent. For example, in August 2022, two tourists insisted on paying by card. The driver exploded, took the souvenirs from their hands and broke them.

What is the reason behind all this? But apparently, there is tax evasion, as a taxi driver in Rome earns only 12,817 euros a year. In cities like Palermo, the corresponding income is only 9,489. The amounts are very low.

Worse reputation

Perhaps Roberto Mandovani was being silly, perhaps wanting to play with the limits of the mental balance of his law-abiding colleagues, when last May, under the pseudonym Redsox, he announced on social media how much he earned every day. He put it all in: cash, card payments, declared and undeclared.

He earned between 500 and 600 euros every day. In the May-July quarter of 2023, he generated a total of €25,000. A few days later, just before he started his shift, he saw that all four of his car's tires were flat. He realized that the culprits were his colleagues, but he did not dare to say anything.

How do you get a taxi license?

Selling a taxi license after a driver resigns or retires is a rare phenomenon, but it does exist. Recently, an Italian TV reporter, for reporting purposes, witnessed the buying and selling of a license worth €285,000. Mandovani had bought it for 250,000 euros.

To date, no license is sold within the taxi drivers' union for amounts less than 200,000 euros. Companies like UBER can't compete if they can't provide sports cars (!) to passengers.

Today, whenever an Italian city council announces new taxi licences, strikes are almost automatically announced by taxi unions, and main streets are closed.

“Everyone is afraid of us. We are a lobby, an economic power, because we bought part of the Italian people. We are a military power, because we block the roads whenever we want.”

Today, the Georgia Meloni government is trying to show that it is listening to the cries of those in the country's tourist centers, where queues of locals and foreigners form, searching for taxis, often to no avail, and is trying to deal with the matter. With the lobby to no avail.

In August 2023, he tried to appease the union by proposing to offer new taxi licenses at a lower price, provided the driver has an electric or hybrid car. It seems that the problem still exists.

It has become artificially difficult to find taxi drivers, so that their license becomes more valuable, and if the state defines them more narrowly, they drive through city centers at 5 km/h.

At least they have stories to tell their customers more often.

(With data from Uninhabited And Wired)

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