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"For a year, I have not paid myself a salary": the VTC drivers are in the hard

2021-04-12T04:47:03.480Z


Some are at a complete standstill due to the pandemic and the absence of tourists. However, not all benefit from the solidarity fund


Almost customerless days.

Hours spent waiting for a hypothetical race.

Cristel Bazot, driver of a transport car with driver (VTC) continues the depressing days in the Paris region.

“It's simple, for three weeks, even before the reconfinement announcements, I haven't transported anyone.

"Health crisis, curfew, stop tourism and systematization of teleworking, so many circumstances which explain why Cristel and a large part of his VTC colleagues are at a standstill.

The Eurecab platform, which highlights its ethical and eco-responsible operation, surveyed 260 of its drivers throughout France between March 31 to April 6, 2021 to find out the extent of the damage and especially the state of their finances.

The results are not rosy.

“They are 64% to note a drop of more than 80% of their turnover, in particular related to the implementation of the curfew at 6 pm.

And the fact that it has been shifted by one hour since March 20, had virtually no effect, since nearly 90% said that this new schedule did not allow for increase cash flow ”, indicates Théodore Monziès, President of Eurecab.

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The sample of the questionnaire remains small, but Ben Ali Brahim, secretary general of the Intersyndicale nationale des VTC, also confirms the trend.

"Colleagues even recorded a drop of 87% of their turnover," said the man who had questioned for his part 3,860 drivers a few months ago.

"A fifteen-hour day, for 30 euros in revenue"

Conditions which inevitably weigh on the morale of the troops.

"A fifteen-hour day without possible disconnection, for 30 euros of revenue, it impacts and it discourages", continues Ben Ali Brahim, who recognizes that many colleagues stay at home leaving their cellphones connected to avoid waiting for hypothetical customers all day in their vehicle.

One way to limit the financial damage.

Others more radical, cooled by the absence of customers and the risks associated with Covid, have quite simply decided to leave the car in the garage, preferring only to receive the aid put in place by the government in particular under the solidarity fund.

"I touch 1,800 euros per month, which allows me to cover my fixed costs

(Editor's note: reimbursement of the car and insurance),

but, for a year, I have not paid myself a salary," says Cristel Bazot.

The Eurecab survey also shows that a majority of drivers (52%) have recourse to aid, which, since the start of the Covid-19 crisis, amounts to 1.5 billion euros for the sector. "Transport and storage"

,

including VTC drivers.

However, the payment of the compensation calculated on the 2019 turnover still leaves "many partner drivers of the platforms on the floor", deplores Ben Ali Brahim.

According to the representative, "the excellent work" carried out with the cabinet of Alain Griset, the minister for small and medium-sized enterprises, made it possible to include some of those who had been excluded from aid beforehand.

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VIDEO.

Taxi during confinement: "I have a race every two hours"

20% already have a second job

What follows inevitably worries this fragile and atypical sector which impatiently awaits the first effects of the vaccination campaign on economic activity and the return of tourists.

To compensate for operating losses, some have already turned to a second complementary profession.

In this regard, the Eurecab study is eloquent.

"More than 40% think very strongly about taking a professional activity in parallel to get by and nearly 20% already have another", underlines Théodore Monziès.

For his part, Ben Ali Brahim is also worried "for the drivers already in place, for those who started in 2020 and do not benefit from any revenue, and also for those who continue to be trained at the rate of five sessions per year ”.

“What prospects do we offer them?

", he asks.

The future ordinance organizing future professional elections in the sector, promulgated on April 21, should perhaps propose a few.

Source: leparis

All business articles on 2021-04-12

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