Bologna, 4 June 2024 – It flows the taxi protest in the heart of Bologna To protest against the cost of licenses (considered too low, a fire sale, according to taxi drivers). This morning dozens of taxis they marched downtown honking and blocking traffic, just as, in Piazza Malpighi, the Mobility Councillor, Valentina Orioli, presented the new electric bus line that will connect the airport to the city center. Bolognese taxi drivers, in fact, they called a sit-in promoted by Uiltrasporti and Uritaxi under the Municipality headquarters in Piazza Liber Paradisus, complete with stationary vehicles parked in double rows on Via Fioravanti, on the occasion of the national strike.
The taxi protest of June 4th in Bologna (photo Dire)
Taxi drivers: “The cost of licenses devalues the business”
Among the reasons for the complaint about the white cars to the Municipality is cost of licenses (which goes from 150,000 to 90,000 euros). In fact the Municipality has decided to grant 72 new ones. The issue of new licenses has sent the category into a rage, both because the number is “without explanation, and among other things in June 2023 in the first draft of the memorandum of understanding the Municipality spoke of 20 licenses”, both because the cost, which can reach up to 90,000 euros, “devalues the business of those who, with many sacrifices, only purchased it in 2018 for 175,000 euros”. According to the unions, then, the management of the matter took place with the silence of the Municipality, which they will meet Friday 7 June. “We had the last surprise which was the announcement of new licenses with methods that conflict with everything the asset decree says”, he explains Michele CervellatiUiltrasporti provincial delegate – we believe the time has come for the Municipality give it a shot and that you do not continue to travel undaunted your own way without listening to anyone”. However, if the meeting “were to continue to see the Municipality firm in its positions – warns the trade unionist – it is normal that we will adopt all possible measures to protect the category”.
Orioli: “The cost of licenses indicated by the national authority”
“We are putting the licenses out for tender at a contribution cost which is what has been indicated by the national authority of transport regulation and it is in any case superior to what has been done by the City of Milan. I would also like to mention that the contribution will be shared among active taxi drivers and not collected by the Municipality as happened with the previous legislation”, recalls Orioli.
“The need to change the taxi roster system it definitely is there and I think we all recognize this. We have agreed on the issue of 72 new licenseshalf of what the current regulations allow us to do, also thanks to the app which allows us to monitor the service”, explains the councillor.
“The taxi drivers already have a summons. There is a permanent table and there is already a date. Taxi drivers need not fear that they will not be listened to and they know it perfectly”, concludes Orioli.
