At the end of a final gathering, Tuesday, December 3 in the early evening, Place Bellecour, in the center of Lyon, and after two days of strong and organized mobilization against the reduction in patient transport prices, the drivers taxi operators in the Lyon region have decided to stop their movement. “It is best to suspend our actions. We managed to attract attention and relaunch negotiations with the CNAM [Caisse nationale d’assurance-maladie]. We don't want to be in the news for the wrong reasons. We must avoid slippages”confides Pascal Wilder, regional representative of the National Federation of Independent Taxis.
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This outbreak of fever comes from the desire of the Barnier government, now on reprieve, to force taxis and medical transporters to negotiate savings measures with Health Insurance, under penalty of imposed price reductions. Furthermore, a decree implementing the “Secu” budget for 2024 provides that a patient can no longer refuse, except in exceptional circumstances, shared transport, under penalty of having to advance the costs and being reimbursed only on the basis of shared transportation.
Around a hundred vehicles parked at Place Bellecour in a last stand, while preparations for the Festival of Lights are in full swing in the streets of the capital of Gaul. “The colleagues came from most of the neighboring departments, Ain, Savoie, Haute-Savoie, Isère. We succeeded in the mobilization. If we stop in Lyon for the moment, several of us have decided to join Paris on Wednesday, in support of the movement which started in the capital”announces Flavien Pretet, president of the Maison des taxis du Rhône.
Tire fires
More than 1,500 taxi drivers participated in the Lyon blockade on Monday, December 2, according to the prefecture's estimate, 2,000 according to the organizers. The next day, there were still 400 according to the prefecture, 500 according to professionals, in the various processions which caused significant disruption.
Early in the morning, drivers gathered on the motorway interchange connecting the A7 and A450 motorways south of Lyon, while to the east another group blocked the A43 motorway towards Grenoble, and that to the west the blocking of the exit from the Valvert roundabout disrupted the M6 metropolitan road (ex-A6). The processions met at midday, occupying the Lyon ring road in both directions. Gatherings then took place in front of hospital entrances.
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