The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Taxis and VTC collateral victims of the closing of bars at 10 p.m.

2020-09-29T17:59:45.778Z


The compulsory closure of bars from 10 p.m. in several cities further worsens the situation of drivers, already severely affected by the health and economic crisis.


Contamination is on the rise and, with it, measures to contain the spread of the virus are strengthening.

Since Monday September 28 and until October 11 inclusive, bars in Paris and ten other cities placed on "

heightened alert

" will have to close at 10 pm.

This measure, unveiled Friday, strikes the cash registers of establishments that do not offer food, but also, in turn, those of VTCs and taxis, already severely affected by the pandemic.

It will be a dead city for all taxis that have chosen night time slots

,” laments Didier Hogrel, president of the National Taxi Federation (FNDT).

Read also: Taxis, planes, hotels ... in small steps, lack of tourists

Night drivers will not be the only ones affected by this measure.

I work in the morning, very early, but I will also suffer the consequences of this measure because those who work at night will fall back on other schedules.

Of the 17,000 Parisian taxis, about half work at night,

”said Mouhssine Berrada, president of the National Union of Paris taxis (UNT).

Fewer customers, more taxis and therefore less revenue.

This decision will splash all taxis,

”says Didier Hogrel.

"

Taxis that only have night permits will simply no longer have work,

" adds the president of the federation.

The so-called "

dubbing

" licenses, issued on administrative authorization, allow two drivers to share working time on a single license.

VTC and taxis in neutral

For Sayah Baaroun, general secretary of the VTC drivers union, SCP VTC, this measure is actually just a drop of water in an already damaged sector.

Since the start of the pandemic, we have already lost around 90% of our activity in Île-de-France,

” he laments.

Tourism, events (congresses, seminars, fairs, conferences, etc.) and business travel respectively represent around 30% of our activity.

The remaining 10% include individuals - especially at night - and events such as weddings,

”explains the union representative.

Since the start of the health crisis, “

there has been a drop in activity of 40 to 60% depending on the location.

The large metropolises are the most affected.

Intermediate cities are doing better,

”observes Didier Hogrel.

The observation is the same for Mouhssine Berrada and Sayah Baaroun: the races are no longer enough to pay the charges.

"

To be profitable, you have to earn more than 250 euros per day, provided you work 7 days a week. Today, we earn between 50 and 100 euros on average for VTC

", indicates the VTC driver.

Mouhssine Berrada, he struggles to reach 50 euros, when he touched the triple before the health crisis.

“Charges

can be from 75 to 150 euros per day,

” estimates the taxi driver.

For their part, the G7 taxis believe that it is still too early to assess the consequences of the early closure of the bars.

Read also: Still authorized, taxis and VTCs hardly have any more customers

“Our activity is based on an ecosystem.

Certainly, with this measure, there will be fewer crumbs to share with us, but the reopening of the bars will not save us.

It is the recovery of the economy

”, concludes Sayah Baaroun.

To compensate for his losses, the VTC driver began to work for weddings.

But the ban on festive gatherings of more than 30 people is a further blow.

Source: lefigaro

All business articles on 2020-09-29

You may like

News/Politics 2024-02-23T14:22:14.739Z

Trends 24h

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.