"They're going to make us working poor": the reasons for taxi drivers' anger across France this Monday

In Paris, several hundred people blocked Boulevard Raspail near the Ministry of Transport, blaring horns and setting off smoke bombs.

"This is where the biggest decisions are made, we have to show ourselves," said Claude Voltzenlogel, 48.

This taxi driver from Bas-Rhin left Strasbourg around midnight in a convoy with around twenty colleagues. "We'll stay for several days if necessary. We'd rather lose a week's turnover than lose our businesses," he stressed.

A health insurance project, which still needs to be approved by the government, aims to establish a single model across the country from October 1st for the transport of patients by licensed taxi drivers , to replace the current "gas factory" , explained Marguerite Cazeneuve, the number 2 at the Cnam, on Thursday.

The objective is to control the growth in health transport spending, which reached 6.74 billion euros in 2024, including 3.07 billion for licensed taxis (a jump of 45% since 2019).

Taxis will be paid based on a 13 euro pick-up fee and a mileage charge.

After a series of demonstrations, drivers are being called to mobilize again on Monday by an inter-union group.

In Lorient (Morbihan), taxis blocked the city entrances, according to Le Télégramme. And slow-moving operations were carried out on the Nantes ring road (Loire-Atlantique), according to Presse Océan. In Bastia (Haute-Corse), the exit from the commercial port was blocked, according to the police.

"We will not leave until we have obtained the withdrawal of this agreement," declared Emmanuelle Cordier, president of the National Taxi Federation (FNDT), on Monday morning in Paris.

"We've been warning Matignon for weeks (...). We're asking to be received by the supervisory ministers (Transport, Interior, Health, etc.) and not by their cup holders," she stressed.

Today, around 85% of taxis provide conventional patient transport, according to the FNDT.

"Working poor"

"The new pricing will be favorable to licensed taxis in two-thirds of departments, particularly rural ones," assured Marguerite Cazeneuve.

In the remaining third, the CNAM wants to avoid taxis providing costly empty transport by coordinating with hospitals to group patients on nearby routes.

In Pau, the hometown of Prime Minister François Bayrou, around 200 taxis set up a roadblock near the train station, an AFP journalist observed.

For Tony Bordenave, 51, president of a departmental taxi union, the generalization of simultaneous transport "is not possible" , even if he already practices it when he can .

Mélanie, 42, arrived in her taxi on Sunday evening from Saintes (Charente-Maritime), more than three hours north of Pau.

"We understand that the social climate is complicated. We have made a lot of efforts, but the State has not," she explained. "The costs are becoming increasingly high, and the rates are falling more and more."

" The agreement imposed on us by the CNAM would make us lose 25 to 30% of our turnover (...) We will become working poor," said Yves Rubicondo, 64, a taxi driver in Pithiviers (Loiret) with three employees, who says he makes 95% of his turnover from transporting patients.

Uberization

The sector says it is ready to discuss, in particular, shared transport and "cost optimization" .

But he is calling for the current project to be frozen, as he believes it was defined unilaterally and does not take into account, for example, variations in travel times.

Many taxis are also protesting against competition from chauffeur-driven vehicles (VTC), coordinated by platforms like Uber.

"We are demanding the enforcement of the law and court decisions" limiting the work of VTCs, explained Gehad Rejim, 36, one of the leaders of the revolt in Savoie, in Paris. "We are demanding an immaterial white zone that prevents drivers from connecting," particularly around train stations and airports, he added.