Le Figaro Nantes
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If I had known that it was so hard, I would not have resigned from my old job": this Tuesday morning, Tanguy Manga, 35, participated in a protest movement of VTC (passenger vehicle with driver) organized throughout France. His recent professional retraining is turning into disillusionment. "When I work 50 hours a week and my turnover is 4000 € per month, I still have 200 to 300 euros in my pocket after paying 1000 € of fuel, insurance, the credit of my car, the 25% of costs of connecting the platform, the credit of my house ...", regrets the former employee who became a driver a year ago.
After participating in a snail operation on the ring road of Nantes from 7:30 am, he demonstrated with a hundred colleagues in front of the prefecture of Loire-Atlantique and then in front of the town hall between 12 pm and 13 pm. Symbolic places to denounce degraded working conditions. "We demand access to the Limited Traffic Zone (ZTL) freely and not with an order form," explains David Tan, spokesman TPN (digital platform workers) by INV (the national inter-union of VTC). Currently, professionals have the possibility to access the ZTL reserved for pedestrians, bicycles, public transport or other rights holders, only to drop off or pick up a customer from this area. "If a hotel is located just outside the ZTL, the driver must make a detour and will take 20 minutes instead of 5," says Hélène Catz, director of Wacabi, a taxi and VTC booking platform. "The mayonnaise is rising," says the one who sees this restriction of access as an injustice compared to taxis who would have the right.
Read alsoWhy the price of a ride in VTC should soon increase
Too many drivers
But this inequality is not the only demand. Received Wednesday at 11am in the prefecture, the VTC Nantes, who had already demonstrated at the beginning of the month before meeting the deputy mayor Pascal Bolo, will ask for the establishment of a numerus clausus to limit the number of arrivals in the profession. "There are more offers than demands," says Tanguy, the converted driver. "Sometimes a driver connected to an app waits 1-2 hours. Before it was 10 minutes, "abounds Antonin Akpo, driver for 6 years in Nantes. One of his colleagues talks about his sawtooth schedules: he works from 5:30 a.m. to 12 p.m., then from 15 p.m. to 18 p.m., and from 20 p.m. to 2 a.m. In addition, the price of groceries tends to fall with this competition.
Drivers gathered in front of the town hall on Tuesday. LT/Le Figaro
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We also want a place at the station where we can drop off our customers safely, "continues the leader David Tan, former yellow vest and big mouth assumed, before complaining about the many police controls that VTC drivers face. Among other concerns, the price of groceries that decreases or the 25% commission that digital platforms take for the connection: "we are the turkeys of the stuffing". Thus, Alan, a 27-year-old driver, decided to go private and give up using the big platforms because he was no longer coping.
Problems of insecurity
Another problem mentioned is that of insecurity. Youcef retrained a year ago. "I wanted more freedom, not to depend on my boss," he justifies himself. "At first, I was happy. I was told about the animosity towards VTCs," he recalls. On the ground, he was really confronted with it. A few months ago, called by customers using nicknames on an application, he came to pick them up. While parking, he was thrown eggs for free. Another received cans on his windshield and was stoned.
The drivers also deplore the fact of having to transport anyone with the platforms that have become accessible to all: "sometimes, they are people who have drugs," says one of them. With customers who have lost the value of things and customers who sometimes lack etiquette and recognition. Conversely, however, they sometimes come across atypical profiles. Recently, Martine, a 71-year-old driver who drives about twenty hours a week to complete her €700 pension, has led many actors during the filming of the police series Mademoiselle Holmes.
The drivers parked for 1 hour in front of the prefecture in Nantes. LT/Le Figaro