The bulk of the procession arrived from Concorde around 12:30 pm to the sounds of the horns. Several lines of VTC (transport car with driver) had already found place in front of the main square of the Town Hall.
In Paris, the VTC are angry at the closure of certain streets and nearly 350 came to express their dissatisfaction this Monday under the windows of the mayor PS Anne Hidalgo. The event organized at the call of the Association of VTC of France accompanied by the Collective VTC Rivoli received the reinforcement of a fleet of Paris-Shuttle shuttles.
"It's clientelism towards taxis"
Since Monday, May 11, the date of the start of the deconfinement, the rue de Rivoli in particular is forbidden to them when buses, taxis, ambulances or even delivery vehicles circulate. VTCs, excluded from the scheme, denounce unfair competition and have already attacked the town hall before the administrative court.
"Like any vehicle transporting people, we have rights and Mrs. Hidalgo has decided to flout them, gets annoyed Mickaël, independent driver and member of the VTC Rivoli collective. We are craftsmen just like taxis. "We must say stop discrimination," insists Sabrine, who has arrived behind a coffin marked "VTC Parisien from 1700 to 2020 RIP".
“It's clientelism towards taxis, gets carried away José, driver for 6 years. We are not thugs because many people associate us directly with Uber. But Uber is a platform and a VTC driver is a job. I also pay a state license and I don't have the right to travel! OK, we don't have a meter, but we do the same job as our taxi friends. And currently, we are all staying in the same boat after the Covid-19 crisis. "
"We don't ask for the moon"
VTCs ask to use the prohibited arteries “even if it means paying the tax in order to be able to use them. "I transport 30,000 tourists a month between hotels, airports, museums and we don't ask for the moon or money," continues Martin Eteki, patron of Paris-Shuttle shuttles. How do I drop a client off at a hotel in the middle of rue de Rivoli? We are therefore fined 90 euros for using the bus lane. We just want to work and be able to use these direct routes. "
Just over 30,000 VTCs work in Paris and its suburbs for nearly 20,000 taxis. This Monday afternoon, some taxi drivers, like Oscar, watched the rally from afar with a serious face. "Me, I work over the counter, they don't, I have been paying my taxes for 25 years, them not, while they stop making all that noise ..."
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Around 5 p.m., a delegation of demonstrators was expected at the town hall to make their demands heard.
