Taxi, more licenses or approval? Because in the end Ncc cars can win

The rebound in tourism, which has surpassed pre-pandemic levels, is making an old problem more visible: that of taxi supplies, at least in Milan and Rome.. The tug of war between the white cars and the authorities is a show of ammunition. Since the beginning of the 2000s, attempts have been made to expand the availability of taxis. The last mayors to issue new licenses in succession were Gabriele Albertini and Walter Veltroni. Proposals for (relative) liberalization of the sector at the national level They do not bring good luck to politicians: from the papers of Pierluigi Bersani to the initial attempt, in the last weeks of life, by the Draghi government.

opposing interests

A case of a regulated service (the municipalities decide who can provide it) where the interests of producers and consumers are clearly in conflict. The former wants to restrict supply, while the latter wants to provide cheap taxis in bulk. But the latter does not take a taxi to earn a living, no one is known as a consumer of this service and there is a serious doubt that a single voter chose this or that candidate because he promised more white cars. On the contrary, taxi drivers are well organized, they understand that they have more or less homogeneous interests, they are ready to go into battle and, moreover, by transporting many people, they are perceived by politics as a necessary interlocutor, a tuning fork for consensus. It cannot be done without it. Whether in Milan or Rome, finding a taxi today is difficult due to the high demand.

The growth of tourism relates to it but also the steps taken by the category, which in a few years has gone from rejecting technology and defending wireless taxis to using applications that allow you to use their services in real time, for the benefit of new generations and tourists. Until a few months ago municipal governments denied the problem, Find out how costly a war of positions with taxi drivers can be. Less likely class remedies were then attempted, such as the possibility of dual drives to increase the availability of cars by having them run longer. But membership rates were modest (in Milan we’re talking about 10%). So now we’re back to talking about the new licenses.

We bet that the reaction will not be long in coming, because the national government is friendly to taxis and considers them a valuable constituency. It should also be said that the thought of increasing the number of licenses today seems really outdated. In many countries of the world, not only in the United States but also in the Nordic countries or in Spain, taxis simply compete with other non-scheduled public bus services. From Uber and Lift to Spanish Cabify, technology has made it possible to overcome the difficulties that led to taxis as we know them: clearly recognizable machines (first yellow, then white), attached to a municipal license, driven by specialized personnel. Today, the desire to offer a paid elevator through an application, and even the fastest route, in the absence of experience in this field and with the advantage of an overview of traffic dynamics, can be indicated by another application. In recent years, carpooling has garnered attention as another sustainable mobility tool, aimed at eroding part of the demand for taxi transportation.

It is surprising, in this context, that after Covid, the supply of easily parkable cars (such as the Smart from which the Car-to-go adventure began) has declined in favor of larger cars, less suitable for the city. Addressing the problem of a shortage of taxis with new licenses means ignoring this scenario: a context in which those who come to Italy, as well as those who travel from Italy for business or pleasure elsewhere, have learned about alternatives. It is safe to imagine that the more he traveled again the more he demanded them in some way or blamed his absence before the local officials.

alternatives

It will not be easy for mayors to replace the absence of Uber with a few more licenses, because taxi drivers, understandably, think about the value of their license, which in their eyes is a kind of big severance pay.. Not even to say that it solves the problem, especially if the path is taken towards the increased stimulus of the individual vehicle. It does mean however that there must be alternatives. True, the Meloni government may not be inclined to reopen the Uber-Ncc file. Perhaps even the one who is in the best position to do so: he has legitimacy with taxi drivers, he can try to interpret their requests in a more creative way and think of compensatory tools for an overall modernization of the sector. NCC licenses could finally be given national value, allowing for-hire mobility with chauffeur service that is impossible today, which could naturally go to address the most glaring gaps in supply. Putting aside the political use of the matter, which has yielded so much in the past, it may require good faith and desire. Meanwhile, we are destined to continue not being able to find taxis when we need them. A situation not good for the reputation of any of the actors involved.