4.797
Fewer customers, more sick leave: the situation is difficult for taxi services
–
By Uwe Bluemel
Dresden – High sick leave, colleagues in quarantine: Berliner Taxi drivers have already raised the alarm about sick leave due to the pandemic. Customers would have to wait longer for their taxi. how does it look inside Saxony the end?
–
There are around 600 taxi drivers in Dresden. © imago images / xcitepress
Until now, it has been difficult to get a taxi, especially at Christmas and New Year’s Eve. Now the increasing sick leave could be to blame for long waiting times – and also because more and more colleagues have to go into corona quarantine.
This would also affect the sick and people who would like to be vaccinated, because a large part of the taxi business has long been making trips to transport patients to medical facilities or, more recently, to vaccination centers and doctors.
At Taxi Dresden, some drivers were recently reported sick. “But we don’t have problems like in Berlin, rather too few driving orders,” says Jan Kepper (45), board member of the Dresden taxi cooperative with around 600 drivers.
–
Mayor Hilbert issues an ultimatum: Take away the Dresden medal from Putin
–
–
“The night business alone fell by 70 percent, mainly because of the shorter opening hours of the restaurants.”
There are also drivers on short-time work who could step in. From mid-November to early December, however, there was already an increase in sick leave. Kepper: “In the taxi office alone, ten out of 20 employees had called in sick.”
–
Prioritize in favor of ambulance transport
The Corona lull does not stop at the taxi business either. © Steffen Fussel
“With us, the sick leave is currently not dramatic,” says Wolfgang Oertel (54), chairman of the Chemnitz taxi cooperative with 156 taxis in the city. The low capacity utilization during the night hours is more of a problem for him.
Oertel: “On certain days of the week after 10 p.m. we record between 40 and 50 percent fewer trips.”
Funktaxi 4884 in Leipzig coordinates 108 contractors with 270 vehicles and 430 drivers. “We are currently registering an increasing number of sick leave from drivers. Some colleagues are still on short-time work. But we are assuming that there will be failures in the future,” says Thomas Voigt (56), managing partner of the oldest radio tax center in Leipzig.
–
Corona virus in Dresden: Novavax vaccine released for all people in Saxony
–
–
“We treat all customers the same. But then we would have to prioritize, for example, in favor of ambulance transport.”
–
Customers currently have to wait a long time for taxis. © Steffen Fussel
The taxi headquarters in Leipzig is already preparing for increasing sick leave. © Ralf Seegers
Jan Kepper (43), head of the taxi cooperative. © Ove Landgraf
Most recently, after the lockdown and the opening of indoor catering last year, there were bottlenecks. Leipzig customers have had to wait 25 minutes for their taxi. Utilization has now fallen by 40 percent compared to 2019, especially at night.
–
Title photo: Editing: Ove Landgraf, Steffen Füssel
–
