“In everyone’s eyes it is necessary to improve the service.” And for this reason, by June, a tender will be published to unlock 72 new licenses for taxis, 31 of which for vehicles equipped for the transport of disabled people with wheelchairs. But to see the white cars circulating, we will have to wait until autumn. The Municipality, meanwhile, presents the project, which “will allow us to expand the city’s fleet” and is the result “of a long work carried out together with taxi drivers – explains the councilor for New Mobility, Valentina Orioli –, which aims to improve the service”. A comparison that will have to be reopened to discuss tariffs. “The national authority has given two very clear opinions – specifies Orioli – and we have remodulated the cost of the contribution. We will have to sit down with the taxi drivers again to see how to remodulate the tariff”. We are talking about a contribution, which the category would have liked to be higher, of a maximum of 150 thousand euros and which could go down to 90 thousand euros, thanks to a series of discounts and rewards.
The three key objectives of the tender aim to increase the number of vehicles suitable for the transport of disabled people with wheelchairs, which will be added to the 31 already in operation; increase low-emission vehicles and expand the service offering during weekend night shifts. Extra points will be given to participants if they are women, under 35 or unemployed. “Also in light of the demand linked to the growth of tourism – explains the councilor –, the objective is to improve the public service, which must correspond to transparency and efficiency”. And “we all agree on the points of change in the service in terms of quality”, assures the councilor.
The taxi drivers, who revolted in light of the press conference, do not share the same opinion. Cna Fita Taxi begins: “These agreements, the result of long mediations with the associations representing the category, have been ignored in an unacceptable way”, says the association, which expresses “disappointment at the failure to respect the previously established agreements”. Also because “our problem has never been the strengthening of the service itself – continues the note -, but the working conditions, safety at work, traffic and the methods for issuing licenses, with particular attention to the users of the vulnerable groups including those with serious disabilities”. Therefore “if this were to be the practice adopted by the administration – concludes the association -, we will be forced to evaluate legal action against the unilateral choice”. “The administration has once again preferred to proceed in an arbitrary manner, disregarding the agreements made – thunders Ascom Taxi –. If relations do not return to those of the confrontation, we believe we will be forced to consider legal action for the protection of taxi drivers”.
Cotabo’s comment was immediate. “We are astonished to learn of the convening of a press conference on a topic for which the local representative associations had requested an urgent meeting to obtain information, given that there had been no news for over a month – explains the president Riccardo Carboni –. Both in the various meetings that took place with the representatives and in the request for the issuance of an opinion in the Consultative Commission, different hypotheses had been represented, which had raised doubts, because they were misaligned in the valorization with respect to the provisions of the Asset decree different from those discussed there would be a serious problem of coherence, trust and respect, which until now had always characterized the relations between the parties”. Speaking of cooperatives, “this work can also be done outside the cooperative platform”, says Orioli. And in the case of Red Sox, “we are helping the person in this passage – he concludes –, but we do not comment on the civil matters that pit the taxi driver against his former cooperative”.
Mariateresa Mastromarino
