The taxi sector in Barcelona threatens mobilizations if it does not receive aid
The Elite Taxi spokesman and Taxi Project 2.0 coordinator, Tito Álvarez, warns of the serious economic situation suffered by taxi drivers due to the reduction in customers that the coronavirus crisis has led to.
He assures that they are “desperate” and warns that, if they do not receive aid from the administrations, they will mobilize again.
Both main claims are: financial aid to face the end of the bank moratorium on credit payments and the regulation, by law, of the daily taxi fleet.
Since the pandemic began, the banks gave taxi drivers a six-month moratorium to pay the loans they had requested for the purchase of vehicles or licenses.
Now, this half-year of grace has ended and the taxi drivers ask the Government for some kind of help to get ahead.
Álvarez assures that, although there are some aids that can be requested, bureaucratic obstacles are making the majority of professionals unable to access.
Reduce the taxi fleet by law
The other great claim of taxi drivers is that the daily fleet of vehicles that can work is reduced by law.
They claim that reducing the number of taxis on the street is the only way to work and earn an income.
In August, this regulation was agreed by the same taxi drivers and since September it is only a recommendation.
According to Álvarez, for the measure to have legal force there are two ways. The fastest is for the Procicat to order local administrations, for health reasons, to limit the number of vehicles that can circulate.
The Elite Taxi spokesman assures that they have already asked the Generalitat, but that the Catalan government has not given them any response.
The other, slower way is to make a regulation change from the Metropolitan Taxi Institute, a solution that would have to go through the Municipal Plenary and that, according to Álvarez, could take between three and five months.
The taxi sector in Barcelona threatens mobilizations if it does not receive aid
