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From the acronyms ‘Igp, Doc and Dop’ of food and wine products to the question about the ‘typical wine of Modena’. These are some of the questions in the quiz that taxi driver candidates would have had to face in the latest public competition for taxi licenses announced by the Municipality of Modena: 11 new licenses assigned.
Competition which also aimed to deepen the ‘knowledge of the elements of local toponymy’ and ‘the places with tourist and promotional value of the city’ as stated in the competition announcement; but with questions ‘unsuitable for a test for taxi drivers’ and ‘excessively territorial, consequently penalizing those candidates who came from outside Modena’ according to some Modena taxi drivers already in service.
The new licenses assigned are 11 in total: 5 of 50 thousand euros for the transport of people with disabilities; and 6 of 60 thousand euros for transport on vehicles with 6 seats ‘electric only or full hybrid powered by LPG or petrol and electric system’ or ‘with at least 7 useful seats, equipped with latest generation fuel systems (with low environmental impact’; alternatively, the issuing of the remaining licenses will be subject to the payment of 80 thousand euros to the municipal administration.
Under the Ghirlandina there will be an increase from 85 to 96 taxis, also to adapt ‘the service to the new needs of Modena characterized by strong growth in tourism, in terms of numbers of presences and overnight stays’, stated Ludovica Carla Ferrari, former councilor for tourism and tourism promotion city.
A competition organized in two phases with a quiz and an oral test, with aspiring taxi drivers having to juggle between technical questions relating to the job of drivers, and questions from local tourist guides such as the Modena Bologna rivalry on ‘where is the bucket kidnapped’, ‘which street was the day hotel on’ or ‘where is the Duomo museum’.
Marco Amendola
