After two tumultuous days during which taxi protests escalated, resulting in violence, vandalism, blocked airports and roads… calm has returned.
There’s no need to dwell on the inconveniences, disruptions, delays, missed flights, and other damage and disturbances for citizens, tourists, and especially workers who were unavoidably held hostage by the horde of protesters.
Christian Estrosi, faced with the severity of the situation and its excesses, made an appeal: “The taxi drivers’ demands are legitimate, but holding the people of Nice and our visitors hostage and damaging public property are unacceptable. It is necessary to find a fair balance to avoid being counterproductive and to prevent harming the image of our city.”
As a good Gaullist, as he likes to describe himself, the mayor of Nice is well aware of the difference between reform and chaos.
Xavier Garcia, federal secretary of PS 06, gets straight to the point: “We can understand that taxi drivers feel like they’ve bought a monopoly that is now collapsing due to the technological revolution. This trend is irreversible, and violence will not change anything.”
Incidentally, there was already conflict between the stonemasons who invented the square wheel (which had to be pushed) and those who later invented the round wheel (which could be pulled more easily).
Let us then be patient and allow the defenders of vested corporate interests to engage in this last stand; it will last for as long as it lasts, and then, one way or another, modernity and reason will prevail.
For reference, ask the horse-drawn carriage drivers: they too were against motor vehicles. Today, the few who still practice the noble profession give rides to tourists and royalty.
Americans, who are not too sentimental, call these defenders of lost causes “the walking dead.” They don’t know it yet, but the page has already turned.
In fact, the problem is simple: the licensing system is a very advantageous private monopoly, and it is the consumer-taxpayer who pays the price for it.
Between the rampant liberalism of UberPop and an unsustainable rent-based system, there must be fair regulations that allow for balanced fares.
In the meantime, it would be useful if the taxis considered that passengers are clients and not targets, and that pricing isn’t a tax: fewer and fewer people are willing to pay between €50 and €70 to travel a few kilometers…
To those willing to listen…
