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Paris's taxi drivers are up in arms at a new breed of upstart minicabs who eschew the traditions of being rude and elusive. Taxi wars have erupted in Paris as the monopoly long enjoyed by the Frenchcapital's notoriously protectionist cabbies is being challenged by a new breed of bookable minicabs. Parisian taxi drivers get a bad press for being rude, playing loud music, almost never accepting credit cards and turning up for a booked ride with €10 already on the meter. They are also notoriously hard to find. Standing in a long queue at a taxi rank outside the Opera Garnier, one irate Parisian watched a string of cabs with the red "taken" light on their roof drive past, and exclaimed: "Taxis, taxis all around, but where's one when you need one." Martin Pietz, a German Paris-based photographer, said: "One or two drops of rain and there are no taxis at all. When you do stop one, they can be very rude and if it it's not on their way home or to lunch they often say: 'Take another one, I'm busy.' With just 18,000 vehicles, Paris' taxi fleet has remained virtually unchanged since the 1950s, while London's has swelled to around 23,000 black cabs and 40,000 minicabs. Despite the clear dearth, Paris' powerful taxi lobby has successfully fought off repeated attempts to deregulate the industry and bring in minicabs - usually by bringing the capital's main ring road to a total halt. Charles de Gaulle threw in the towel in 1958 after a two-day strike. Right-wing president Nicolas Sarkozy capitulated in 2008 after a drivers staged a three-day "operation escargot". Now, however, the undisputed reign of "le taxi parisien" is under threat due to a recent change to the law liberalising so-called "tourist vehicles with chauffeurs", or VTCs - the French equivalent of minicabs. Yan Hasco?t, the 29-year old CEO of www.chauffeur-prive.com, started with 20 cars 18 months ago and business is booming. He now has a fleet of 320 vehicles, a client base of 15,000 and is seeing 15 per cent week on week growth. "Our drivers are dressed in a suit and red tie, they open the door, make you feel at home in the car, doesn't blast their own music and don't talk unless talked to – just basic service which is hard to find in France," he told the Daily Telegraph. VTCs work on reservations and cannot be hailed in the street. But the advent of smart phone applications using global positioning means cars can turn up almost at once, enraging taxi unions which accuse them of bending the rules. "We have to pay 240,000 euros for a new taxi licence, and have a strict area where can work, while they pay just 100 euros to work where they want and can do what they like," said Jean-Michel Rebours, Defence of Paris Taxis Union, UDIP. To stop this, taxi unions are calling for on the government to impose a 15-minute delay between when a customer books a minicab and its arrival. Minicab companies say the 15 minute rule is an attempt to kill off competition. "How can we tell our customers to wait another eight minutes when their car has already arrived?" said Mr Hascoet. With a decision expected in the coming weeks, experts said the taxi lobby will pull out all the stops to get its way. "The French government is frightened of Paris' taxi drivers, and has a similar relationship with them as French farmers as they protect the big players," said Richard Derbera, author of "Where are taxis going?" and member of the City on the Move institute. "Almost 20 years ago I said to myself, this is ridiculous, there's no way we can go on like this in Paris. But we have," he added. "France will be the last to change." |
巴黎的出租車司機最近很惱火，原因是一種新型的微型出租車的出現(xiàn)。這種新型出租車司機一改傳統(tǒng)租車司機的粗魯和古怪的毛病。 巴黎的出租車大戰(zhàn)爆發(fā)了， 長期的貿(mào)易保護政策讓巴黎出租司機享有稱霸全城的壟斷地位，但現(xiàn)在這種壟斷地位卻受到了一種可預訂的新型出租車的挑戰(zhàn)。 巴黎的出租車司機有許多負面的新聞，行為粗魯，音樂震耳，幾乎從不接受信用卡，預訂10歐元的路程，計價表早已在跳動。而且他們也非常難以找到。 在卡尼爾歌劇院外，一個出租車站排起了長隊，一位憤怒的巴黎人看著一連串的出租車車頂亮著“有人”的紅燈呼嘯而過時，大聲抱怨道：“出租車，到處是出租車，但是你需要時卻一輛也沒有?！?/p> 馬丁·皮亞茨，一位在巴黎居住的德國攝影家說：“如果下了一兩滴雨的話，街上根本沒有一輛出租車。當你攔下一輛出租車時，司機可能很粗魯，而且如果跟要回家或者要吃飯的司機們不順路的話就會遭遇拒載，他們常說：‘打另外一輛，我很忙?！?/p> 自20世紀50年代以來，巴黎的出租車車輛已經(jīng)大致維持在18000輛不變，然而倫敦早已增至23000黑色出租車和40000微型出租車。 盡管出租車明顯缺乏，但巴黎強大的出租車說客已經(jīng)成功的擊退了一些多次試圖解除該行業(yè)管制和引進迷你出租車的謀劃-通常是讓首都主要環(huán)路的運行完全癱瘓。 1958年，查爾斯·戴高樂總統(tǒng)在出租車罷工兩天后表示認輸。2008年，右翼尼古拉科齊總統(tǒng)在出租車司機舉行了為期三天的名為“操作食用蝸?！钡牧T工后表示投降。 然而現(xiàn)在，“傳統(tǒng)出租車”的壟斷地位受到威脅，原因是由于最近所謂的“觀光車司機”，或VTCs——相當于法國的微型出租車自由化的法律變化。 Hasco?t是chauffeur-prive.com網(wǎng)站的CEO，18個月前，公司剛開始時，他只有20輛汽車，但生意興隆，現(xiàn)在，他有一個320輛車的車隊，15000個客戶群，而且每周業(yè)務量見漲15%。 “我們的司機都穿著西裝，系著紅色領帶，他們會為你打開車門，讓你感覺像坐在自家的車內(nèi)，他們不會把音樂放的震耳欲聾，也不會喋喋不休的說話，除非必要的談話——為了基本服務，這在法國是是很難找到的?！彼嬖V每日電訊報。 VCTs可以預定車輛，但不能在路上隨意載客，隨著使用全球定位系統(tǒng)的智能手機應用的出現(xiàn)，這就意味著車能很快出現(xiàn)。憤怒的出租車工會指責他們扭曲規(guī)則。 “我們必須為一個新的出租車牌照支付240000歐元，并且只能在規(guī)定的的區(qū)域工作，而他們只需付100歐元就可以在自己喜歡的地方工作，做自己喜歡做的事?！卑屠璩鲎廛嚬佬l(wèi)部的讓·米歇爾·勒布爾說道。 為了解決這種情況，出租車工會呼吁政府要實行一項政策，當一個客戶預定了一輛微型出租車和在這輛車到來之前要有一個15分鐘的延遲。 微型出租汽車公司說，這15分鐘的規(guī)則是一種試圖扼殺競爭的手段?！叭绻蛻舻能囈呀?jīng)到了，我們怎么能告訴客戶讓他再等八分鐘呢？”Hasco?t先生說。 預期在未來幾周內(nèi)就會有決定，專家說，出租車說客將全力以赴讓這項政策實行。 “法國政府害怕巴黎出租車司機，相類似的，法國農(nóng)民保護他們偉大的球員，”《出租車去哪里》的作者、城市移動研究所成員理查德·德伯拉說道。 “大約在20年前，我對自己說，這是荒謬的，我們不可以繼續(xù)像這樣的活在巴黎。但是我們依然這樣過下去了，”他補充說?！胺▏鴮⑹亲詈蟾淖兊囊粋€?！?/p> （譯者 肖美玲 編輯 丹妮） |
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