Taxi snail operations have been organized since 5 a.m. Monday, December 2 in the morning to protest against the reduction in mileage rates for patient transport, included in the new Health Insurance convention. Drivers are paid around 1.50 euros per kilometer for medical transport. With the new agreement, the price will increase to 1 euro per kilometer. Medical transport can represent up to 90% of the activity of certain taxis. According to feedback from the National Taxi Federation (FNDT), actions are planned in around thirty departments, including Aude, Eure-et-Loire, Calvados, Gironde, Esonne, Hauts -de-Seine or even Seine-Saint-Denis.
Update on mobilizations with the France Bleu network, the Radio France office in Lyon and the prefectures.
Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
In the region, the objective of professionals is to paralyze Lyon. Taxis from Puy-de-Dôme, Haute-Loire, Loire, Isère, Ain, Ardèche, Drôme and Rhône intend to block access on Monday morning to the city of Lyon and its hospitals, France Bleu Saint-Etienne Loire learned from the Loire Taxi Union, Benoît Galliou and from the president of the FNAT (Federation national taxi artisans) in Haute-Loire.
In the Rhône, in Lyon, around twenty taxis were at 6 a.m. in front of the Édouard Herriot hospital in Lyon, noted a franceinfo reporter in Lyon. The new agreement could lead to a loss of turnover of “30 to 40%”, Flavien Prétet, president of the Rhône taxi house, said Monday on franceinfo. Taxi companies “will necessarily lay off people”, he warns. The taxis are determined to stay all day in Lyon in front of the Édouard Herriot hospital to express their anger. “We want to live from our work”, can we read on a banner. They have agreed with the prefecture not to filter access to the hospital, but taxis will position themselves on the large roundabout in front of the building, to distribute leaflets.
In Isère, traffic is becoming complicated with a filter barrier on the A43 in the Grenoble-Lyon direction, at the Saint-Quentin-Fallavier tollbooth, France Bleu Isère noted on site. Drivers hand leaflets to motorists at the toll gate to explain to them the reasons for the demonstration.
Around a hundred Drômois and Ardéchois are also participating in a snail operation on the A7 motorway. 118 taxis are present according to the prefecture. They are blocking the Reventin-Vaugris toll (Isère), reports France Bleu Drôme Ardèche. The Isère prefecture advises avoiding these areas on Monday morning.
The Rhône prefecture has been planning since Sunday midnight “measures of the Palomar plan”, a traffic management plan. She warns the organizers of these actions: “no lasting blockage will be accepted”. Furthermore, “at least one lane of traffic must be systematically” left free and “no action of filtering access to hospitals will be tolerated by the State services”. The prefect of Rhône warns that the forces of the order will intervene in the event of “non-compliance with these commitments made by the organizers”.
Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur
In Bouches-du-Rhône, in Marseille, at least 200 taxis gathered Monday morning at the Valentine shopping center. Major disruptions are expected, warns France Bleu Provence.
Protesters also plan to meet near the Grand Littoral and Plan de Campagne shopping centers “to then reach the Lançon-de-Provence toll”, on the A7 motorway, alerts the prefecture. Disruptions are expected “in both directions of traffic”.
The Bouches-du-Rhône prefecture specifies that the convoy departing from Plan de Campagne “from 8 a.m., join the A7 at Vitrolles via Pennes-Mirabeau”, chim at the start of “The Valentine, from 7 a.m., will return to the A50 towards Marseille, then the L2 ring road and the A7 towards the Lançon toll.” Finally, the one “from Grand Littoral, from 7 a.m., will take the A55 towards Vitrolles, then the A7 towards Lyon”. The prefect of the department “invites users to anticipate or postpone their trips, to avoid the sectors indicated above and to remain cautious when approaching congestion points”.
In New Aquitaine
Actions are also planned in Deux-Sèvres. Around fifty taxi drivers plan to participate Monday morning, announces Alexis Ferrier, president of the Union of Taxi Craftsmen of Deux-Sèvres to France Bleu Poitou. They specify that the demonstrators intend to go to Thouars around 8 a.m., to Parthenay around 8:30 a.m., to Niort around 10:30 a.m. (the procession of vehicles must stop in front of the CPAM premises). They also plan to carry out a snail operation at the Bessines roundabout.
Île-de-France
In Paris, the Team Taxi association is calling for a “gathering of taxi drivers around the National Assembly, but for next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. “Drivers will come from all over France”announces Walid Hanida, president of the association to Agence Radio France, specifying that this movement is renewable. The independent taxi union of Eure announces that 50 taxi drivers from the department will join the Parisian demonstration, from Tuesday morning, reports France Bleu Normandie.
