巴黎的出租车大战

Paris's taxi drivers are up in arms at a new breed of upstart minicabs who eschew the traditions of being rude and elusive.

Taxi wars have erupted in Paris as the monopoly long enjoyed by the Frenchcapital's notoriously protectionist cabbies is being challenged by a new breed of bookable minicabs.

Parisian taxi drivers get a bad press for being rude, playing loud music, almost never accepting credit cards and turning up for a booked ride with €10 already on the meter. They are also notoriously hard to find.

Standing in a long queue at a taxi rank outside the Opera Garnier, one irate Parisian watched a string of cabs with the red "taken" light on their roof drive past, and exclaimed: "Taxis, taxis all around, but where's one when you need one."

Martin Pietz, a German Paris-based photographer, said: "One or two drops of rain and there are no taxis at all. When you do stop one, they can be very rude and if it it's not on their way home or to lunch they often say: 'Take another one, I'm busy.'

With just 18,000 vehicles, Paris' taxi fleet has remained virtually unchanged since the 1950s, while London's has swelled to around 23,000 black cabs and 40,000 minicabs.

Despite the clear dearth, Paris' powerful taxi lobby has successfully fought off repeated attempts to deregulate the industry and bring in minicabs - usually by bringing the capital's main ring road to a total halt.

Charles de Gaulle threw in the towel in 1958 after a two-day strike. Right-wing president Nicolas Sarkozy capitulated in 2008 after a drivers staged a three-day "operation escargot".

Now, however, the undisputed reign of "le taxi parisien" is under threat due to a recent change to the law liberalising so-called "tourist vehicles with chauffeurs", or VTCs - the French equivalent of minicabs.

Yan Hascoët, the 29-year old CEO of www.chauffeur-prive.com, started with 20 cars 18 months ago and business is booming. He now has a fleet of 320 vehicles, a client base of 15,000 and is seeing 15 per cent week on week growth.

"Our drivers are dressed in a suit and red tie, they open the door, make you feel at home in the car, doesn't blast their own music and don't talk unless talked to – just basic service which is hard to find in France," he told the Daily Telegraph.

VTCs work on reservations and cannot be hailed in the street. But the advent of smart phone applications using global positioning means cars can turn up almost at once, enraging taxi unions which accuse them of bending the rules.

"We have to pay 240,000 euros for a new taxi licence, and have a strict area where can work, while they pay just 100 euros to work where they want and can do what they like," said Jean-Michel Rebours, Defence of Paris Taxis Union, UDIP.

To stop this, taxi unions are calling for on the government to impose a 15-minute delay between when a customer books a minicab and its arrival.

Minicab companies say the 15 minute rule is an attempt to kill off competition. "How can we tell our customers to wait another eight minutes when their car has already arrived?" said Mr Hascoet.

With a decision expected in the coming weeks, experts said the taxi lobby will pull out all the stops to get its way.

"The French government is frightened of Paris' taxi drivers, and has a similar relationship with them as French farmers as they protect the big players," said Richard Derbera, author of "Where are taxis going?" and member of the City on the Move institute.

"Almost 20 years ago I said to myself, this is ridiculous, there's no way we can go on like this in Paris. But we have," he added. "France will be the last to change."

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巴黎的出租车司机最近很恼火，原因是一种新型的微型出租车的出现。这种新型出租车司机一改传统租车司机的粗鲁和古怪的毛病。

巴黎的出租车大战爆发了， 长期的贸易保护政策让巴黎出租司机享有称霸全城的垄断地位，但现在这种垄断地位却受到了一种可预订的新型出租车的挑战。

巴黎的出租车司机有许多负面的资讯，行为粗鲁，音乐震耳，几乎从不接受信用卡，预订10欧元的路程，计价表早已在跳动。而且他们也非常难以找到。

在卡尼尔歌剧院外，一个出租车站排起了长队，一位愤怒的巴黎人看着一连串的出租车车顶亮着“有人”的红灯呼啸而过时，大声抱怨道：“出租车，到处是出租车，但是你需要时却一辆也没有。”

马丁·皮亚茨，一位在巴黎居住的德国摄影家说：“如果下了一两滴雨的话，街上根本没有一辆出租车。当你拦下一辆出租车时，司机可能很粗鲁，而且如果跟要回家或者要吃饭的司机们不顺路的话就会遭遇拒载，他们常说：‘打另外一辆，我很忙。’”

自20世纪50年代以来，巴黎的出租车车辆已经大致维持在18000辆不变，然而伦敦早已增至23000黑色出租车和40000微型出租车。

尽管出租车明显缺乏，但巴黎强大的出租车说客已经成功的击退了一些多次试图解除该行业管制和引进迷你出租车的谋划-通常是让首都主要环路的运行完全瘫痪。

1958年，查尔斯·戴高乐总统在出租车罢工两天后表示认输。2008年，右翼尼古拉科齐总统在出租车司机举行了为期三天的名为“操作食用蜗牛”的罢工后表示投降。

然而现在，“传统出租车”的垄断地位受到威胁，原因是由于最近所谓的“观光车司机”，或VTCs——相当于法国的微型出租车自由化的法律变化。

Hascoët是chauffeur-prive.com网站的CEO，18个月前，公司刚开始时，他只有20辆汽车，但生意兴隆，现在，他有一个320辆车的车队，15000个客户群，而且每周业务量见涨15%。

“我们的司机都穿着西装，系着红色领带，他们会为你打开车门，让你感觉像坐在自家的车内，他们不会把音乐放的震耳欲聋，也不会喋喋不休的说话，除非必要的谈话——为了基本服务，这在法国是是很难找到的。”他告诉每日电讯报。

VCTs可以预定车辆，但不能在路上随意载客，随着使用全球定位系统的智能手机应用的出现，这就意味着车能很快出现。愤怒的出租车工会指责他们扭曲规则。

“我们必须为一个新的出租车牌照支付240000欧元，并且只能在规定的的区域工作，而他们只需付100欧元就可以在自己喜欢的地方工作，做自己喜欢做的事。”巴黎出租车工会防卫部的让·米歇尔·勒布尔说道。

为了解决这种情况，出租车工会呼吁政府要实行一项政策，当一个客户预定了一辆微型出租车和在这辆车到来之前要有一个15分钟的延迟。

微型出租汽车公司说，这15分钟的规则是一种试图扼杀竞争的手段。“如果客户的车已经到了，我们怎么能告诉客户让他再等八分钟呢？”Hascoët先生说。

预期在未来几周内就会有决定，专家说，出租车说客将全力以赴让这项政策实行。

“法国政府害怕巴黎出租车司机，相类似的，法国农民保护他们伟大的球员，”《出租车去哪里》的作者、城市移动研究所成员理查德·德伯拉说道。

“大约在20年前，我对自己说，这是荒谬的，我们不可以继续像这样的活在巴黎。但是我们依然这样过下去了，”他补充说。“法国将是最后改变的一个。”