Taxi Strike to Cause Snail-Paced Commute on Monday Morning

Taxi and light ambulance drivers are protesting against the plan for a new Health Insurance contract which is due to come into effect in January 2025.

Snail taxi operation to transport injured or sick people is planned from 5am, Monday, December 2, according to feedback from France Bleu network and several prefectures.

Drivers of licensed taxis and shared light medical vehicles are protesting against the plan for a new Health Insurance contract which is due to come into force in January 2025. It mainly reduces the prices of patient transport. According to its new version, patients must share their taxi or light medical vehicle (VSL) with other patients, with a trip of ten kilometers possible per passenger, within a total trip limit of thirty kilometers, and the final waiting time. for shared medical transport, before and after treatment, must not exceed 45 minutes.

According to feedback from the National Taxi Federation (FNDT), actions are planned in about thirty departments on Monday morning including Aude, Eure, Eure-et-Loire, Calvados, Gironde, Esonne, Hauts- de-Seine or even Seine-Saint-Denis. With information from the Radio France group, the first vice-president of the FNDT says that a taxi rally is planned for Tuesday morning in front of the National Assembly in Paris. On Facebook, the association “Teamtaxi” is launching a call for ” static collection“around the Bourbon Palace “and other adjoining streets”. The independent taxi union Eure announces that 50 taxi drivers from the sector will join the Parisian demonstration on Tuesday morning, reports France Bleu Normandie.

In Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur

In Bouches-du-Rhône, “Several taxi rallies are scheduled to take place on Monday from 6am.”, according to the provincial prefecture. The demonstrators plan to meet near the Valentine, Grand Littoral and Plan de Campagne shopping centers “to then reach the Lançon-de-Provence fee”, on the A7 motorway. Temptation is expected “both directions of traffic”.

The prefecture of Bouches-du-Rhône specifies that the convoy departs from Plan de Campagne “from 8am, it will join the A7 at Vitrolles via Pennes-Mirabeau”.

The one at the beginning of the “The Valentine, from 7am, will return to the A50 towards Marseille, then the L2 ring road and the A7 towards the Lancon toll.” Finally, the one “from Grand Littoral, from 7am, take the A55 towards Vitrolles, then the A7 towards Lyon”.

Prefect of the department “inviting users to anticipate or cancel their journeys, to avoid the sectors indicated above and to be careful when approaching congestion points”.

In Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes

Taxis from Puy-de-Dôme, Haute-Loire, Loire, Isère, Ain, Ardèche, Drôme and Rhône are planning to block access on Monday morning to the city of Lyon and its hospitals, France has learned Bleu Saint-Etienne Loire from the Loire Taxi Union, Benoît Galliou and from the president of the FNAT (Federation of national taxi artisans) in Haute-Loire.

The Rhône prefecture will expect from midnight on Sunday “Steps from the Palomar plan”traffic management plan. She warns the organizers about these actions: “Any permanent obstruction will not be tolerated.” By the way, “at least one traffic lane must be regular” left free and “State services will not accept any action to filter access to hospitals. “ The Rhône prefect warns that the police will intervene if that happens “Non-compliance with those promises made by the organizers”.

In Isère, filter dams are mentioned at the tollbooths of Saint-Quentin Fallavier on the A43 motorway and Reventin-Vaugris on the A7. The prefecture of Isère advises to avoid these areas on Monday morning. The demonstrators will then continue their journey with the aim of blocking the entrances to Lyon.

In the New Aquitaine

Activities are also being planned in Deux-Sevres. About fifty taxi drivers are planning to participate on Monday morning, announced Alexis Ferrier, president of the Deux-Sevres Taxi Trade Union for France Bleu Poitou. They specify that the demonstrators plan to go to Thouars around 8 am, to Parthenay around 8:30 am, to Niort around 10:30 am (the procession of vehicles must stop in front of the CPAM building). They are also planning a snail operation at the Bessines roundabout.