The latest famous person to complain about taxis in Rome on social media was Nancy Brilli. A photo on Instagram, in slippers, holding pink heels and the unmistakable cry: “Taxi, where are you?”. The witty photo of the actress – together with the protests of many colleagues from the entertainment industry in the past weeks, from Alba Parietti a Luca Argentero – however, it gives voice to a concern that is not only experienced by the so-called ‘VIPs’: it is still easy to find queues of customers waiting at the stalls. Nor does trying to call to call a driver seem to help any more: you risk waiting in line – tune in the background – even dozens and dozens of minutes.
In Rome, this is the administration’s belief, white cars are too few and the intention is to increase the number of licenses. But this week the main suspect for the shortage of taxis in the capital seems to be the Ryder Cup, the prestigious golf tournament taking place in Marco Simone, in the municipality of Guidonia, on Tiburtina. The unions, for example, are convinced of this: “The 250 thousand presences in Rome for the Ryder Cup now absorb part of the service already in difficulty due to the 120 construction sites for the Jubilee, a public mobility that presents disruptions every day and an unprecedented tourist boom” says the secretary of Ugl Taxi Alessandro Genovese.
That the Ryder Cup could be behind the ‘meager’ number of taxis is a hypothesis that is not ruled out even by the Roman Mobility Department, which only a few days ago approved together with the council a series of special tariffs for the week of the tournament, including on 25 September and 1 October, precisely for the purpose of “guaranteeing a correct and efficient mobility strategy through the taxi service”. The taxi driver receives 75 euros for the journey to and from the Aurelian Walls in Marco Simone; taximeter rate, but with a guaranteed minimum of 35 euros, instead for trips from outside the Walls to Marco Simone and vice versa.
In short, it could be a phenomenon similar to what usually happens to and from Fiumicino airport: the driver chooses to focus on a more profitable and safe route compared to the city micro-journeys. The result, however, is that it becomes more difficult to find a car in the city.
One of the solutions, the Gualtieri administration has already announced, will be to increase licenses especially in view of the Jubilee when the influx of pilgrims to the capital will be massive. A decisive assist came yesterday from Parliament: “With the rules approved yesterday by the Senate in the Asset decree, unprecedented favorable conditions are created for the issuing of new licenses by Municipalities – the Minister for Business and Made in Italy recalled today Adolfo Urso – We have simplified every procedure also to improve the work of taxi drivers: it will be easier to access the second driving and the issuing of temporary licenses”. In particular, he further said, “we have created a fast track with extraordinary competitions for up to 20% more licenses, which the Municipalities will be able to implement without the need to ask for further opinions, except for the congruity of the price to the Transport Authority with the principle of silent consent, in just 15 days”.
In Rome there are around 7,800 white cars: 20% are around 1500 cars. “The average speed of a taxi in Rome is 12 kilometers per hour – recalls the secretary Ugl Taxi Genovese – which does not allow us to carry out the work as we would like and as would be right for our customers. In Rome they would like more taxis yes, but ‘flying’ ones”.
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2023-09-29 21:19:00
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