Hundreds of taxis are parked in front of the National Assembly this Tuesday morning. Drivers demonstrate against the plan for a new health insurance agreement for the transport of patients, which must come into force in January 2025. This agreement, currently being negotiated, provides in particular a reduction in patient transport prices and an obligation to use “shared taxis”.
Several demonstrations have taken place in recent days, notably Monday in Lyon, Marseille and Toulonin Isère or even in the Deux-Sèvres. This Tuesday, several snail operations are underway.
Hundreds of taxis in front of the National Assembly
In Ile-de-Francetaxi drivers came from all over France, from Normandy, Savoie, Béarn, Lille and even Reims, to demonstrate in front of the National Assembly in Paris. Hundreds of taxis are parked behind the Palais Bourbon, in Invalides and in front of the National Assembly. However, they are not blocking the streets, describes a France Bleu Paris reporter on site. Firecrackers are set off as well as smoke bombs and fireworks mortars, under the gaze of numerous police officers.
The drivers announce that they want to camp this Tuesday evening in front of the Assembly. “And it’s not over”announces the National Union of Parisian Taxis, since “the Marseillais and Lyonnais are expected in the capital this afternoon”.
Other taxis are still in snail operation on the Ile-de-France motorways: demonstrations in progress on the A1 towards Paris, between Roissy and Porte de la Chapelle, but also on the A12 and the A13, towards Paris. At 9 a.m., the Sytadin site recorded nearly 500 km of cumulative traffic jams.
Maxime Glorieux
Operations near Lyon and Orléans
After their strong mobilization on Monday, taxi drivers mobilized again this Tuesday morning in Isère to carry out snail operations on the A7 and the A43, in order to slow down access to the metropolis of Lyon, causing major traffic jams. The Rhône prefecture called on the CRS to “release“blocked traffic access,” she announced on X.
On Monday, more than 1,500 taxis in the region had already participated in blockades around Lyon, according to the Federation of Independent Taxis of the Rhône (FTI69). The mobilization was less Tuesday morning, even in the opinion of taxi drivers.
In the Loiretin Orléans, taxi drivers have planned snail operations on several bridgesbefore going to Paris. “It is an aberration to want to transport five, six, seven, eight people at the same time in the same vehicle, to make them wait half an hour, 1 hour, 2 hours in a common waiting room, knowing that everyone has their own pathologies, each has its own problems”underlined Sandra Vialatte, president of the Loiret Taxis Federation on France Bleu Orléans this Tuesday morning. According to her, “the people who wrote this law do not know the profession, do not know the sick people. What they see is figures and they consider the sick as packages“.
In Héraulttarpaulins with writing “angry taxis“were asked for example in Sète (Hérault).”There is a mobilization but we have chosen not to block the entire population and policyholders for the moment“, explained Bernard Crebassa, president of Fnat (National Federation of Taxi Craftsmen), this Tuesday morning on France Bleu Hérault.
Fare reduction and taxi sharing in their sights
Drivers of approved taxis and shared light medical vehicles are protesting for the second consecutive day against the project of a new health insurance convention which is due to come into force in January 2025. It provides to reduce the price per kilometer from 1.50 euros to 1 euro, which will have an impact on their remuneration.
Another measure currently being negotiated by Health Insurance which outrages professionals: sharing a taxi by several patients. According to its new version, patients will also have to share their taxi or light medical vehicle (VSL) with other patients, with a detour of ten kilometers possible per passenger, within the limit of a total detour of thirty kilometers, and the Waiting time for shared medical transport, before and after treatment, must not exceed 45 minutes.
In 2023, more than 40,000 taxis were approved to transport sick people suffering from pathologies ranging from cancers to psychiatric illnesses, according to Health Insurance, or almost three quarters of taxis in France.
