«80 euros from Mestre to Padua»

MESTRE – Delirium at the station in Mestre due to the train strike, “exhausted” passengers forced to take a taxi: “It costs us 80 euros to get to Padua.” A day of passion for those who have decided to travel by train. Today, Sunday 16 June, the workers of Trenitalia, Trenitalia Tper and Trenord are crossing their arms for 24 hours. The agitation called by Uiltrasporti and Orsa will continue until 2am on June 17th. And there is chaos in the stations with a slew of canceled trains. In Mestre, at lunchtime, around forty people lined up at the Trenitalia ticket office to change tickets, ask for refunds and information on how to reach their long-awaited destination.

Chaos at the station

Many did not know about the 24-hour strike (only Italo trains travel normally) and were “fooled”. A university student had to go to Padua to take an exam. «I made an agreement with my father – she explains – he will accompany me. The taxi is too expensive. Eighty euros for the ride.”

The trip to Belluno was ruined for some kids: “We have to take the bus to Latisana and then have them pick us up.” Many complained: “No one warned us, we arrived at the station and found a nasty surprise.” Especially at lunch time, the peak time, we had to worry: on the scoreboards a long string of cancellations and delays of up to 80 minutes which did not bode well.

Taxi node

Around 2.30pm, a long queue of travelers was waiting for a taxi outside Mestre station. Today, there are around one hundred cars in circulation to deal with the emergency, including 75 taxi drivers on day shift, twenty at night and someone recalled from rest. Typically on the weekend there are around sixty of them. But the change of plan (from train to taxi) is not painless: a ride to Padua costs 80 euros. A nice expense compared to the regional ticket. In any case, at two in the morning the unrest will end and the situation should slowly return to normal.

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