Taxi drivers demonstrate against new rules on Friday in Vienna

The conditions for acquiring a driver’s license set by Transport Minister Leonore Gewessler (Greens) a month ago cost between 2,500 and 3,000 people their jobs, show organizer Slatko Petrovic, himself a driver from the APA, told APA. rental cars. 300 drivers had already agreed for Friday, originally I expected 150.

Drivers want to meet at Schmerlingplatz in central Vienna at 4:00 pm and then go around the ring at 4:30 pm. Speeches should take place around 5 pm, again at Schmerlingplatz. An affected person will speak who has had a taxi license in Vienna for ten years and now mainly drives rental cars.

Minister Gewessler simply “scrapped” the bill without speaking to those affected first, Petrovic charges. The merger of taxis and rental cars is going too fast. Many companies are in debt, have loans, and their businesses collapsed during the Corona period. “The government just looks the other way, although our work is legal. Every euro is declared,” said the driver of the rental car.

The new trade, which will come into effect next year, is called “Passenger Car Transport Business”. In the future, all drivers will need training and will then have to renew their driving license every five years. In addition, according to the regulation issued on September 23, 2020, an alcohol limit of 0.1 per thousand applies and drivers must be able to speak German at least at level A2. Furthermore, as before taxi drivers, they must demonstrate local knowledge and “knowledge that is important to tourism” as well as “knowledge of customer-oriented behavior”. For rental car drivers, like those at Uber, the regulations are much stricter than before.

There are transition rules for drivers who are already active. Taxi drivers who already have an unlimited license will not have to renew it for five years. Drivers of previous rental vehicles do not need to prove any training, they just have to pass the exam.

The federal capital Vienna will implement the new rules to standardize trade, as was last emphasized by the city hall. Therefore, a possible price release is not planned, the applicable rate regulations will be maintained. However, consideration is being given to stipulating in future state operating regulations that the price can be agreed as a lump sum prior to departure. According to the city council, it is possible to use an application that calculates the rate in advance.

Originally, the merger of the taxi and rental car companies should have occurred in September, but was postponed until 2021 due to Corona.