The 2016 Grandguillaume law, which regulates the private passenger transport sector (T3P), is finally fully applicable, 5 years later… Are you satisfied?

OUI bien sur. It has been a long time, and I would like to thank the deputy Grandguillaume, who fought, provided the “after-sales service” of his law, although he has not been a member since 2017. ‘a very important part of the text were published in the Official Journal on November 5. This is a capital step, because this text will oblige Uber-type platforms, such as taxi companies, to publish certain data: number of trips, drivers, position when ordering the trip, etc.

How will this constrain the platforms?

This will bring to light certain outlawed practices: a VTC driver must return to his head office after a course. He cannot stay on the public road while waiting for a race. Only professional taxis can do this. This recalls the fundamental difference between a taxi, trained throughout his career, controlled, who pays social charges, taxes, and a VTC driver, who must certainly have a professional card today, but who suffers much less constraints than a taxi, and pays far less charges.

Are your members, the taxi companies, ready to be checked?

Transparency has always been part of our business. We have no problem with that.

are the main drifts of the platforms?

The application of the law will make it possible to take a close look at the process of subordination, which clearly exists between the platform and the driver. Some industrial tribunals have already pronounced reclassifications in employment contracts, for certain drivers, who carried out hundreds of courses each week, on behalf of a platform.

Now that the decrees are published, what do you expect from the public authorities?

We will clarify the pressure on the areas concerned – Interior, Transport, Work – so that the controls take place. We want things to happen by the end of the year. Elections or not elections in spring 2022, we will not give up. And we will call on our members to mobilize, to go through protest actions, if nothing changes. Some ministers, like Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, were reassuring, saying that competition between taxis and VTC should be healthy and fair.

Taxis have suffered greatly from the health crisis. How is the sector doing in Toulouse?

The rebound is clear in certain sectors, in particular medical transport. But at the airport, for example, things start again very slowly. Taxis are dependent on air traffic. Fortunately, the aid system is there to compensate, and I would like to thank Minister Alain Griset, who worked to integrate the taxi profession into the aid system, from the start of the crisis.