Around a hundred taxis are still mobilized in Paris against the reform of the pricing conditions for transporting patients and competition from private hire vehicles.

Around a hundred taxis continued to block Boulevard Raspail on Tuesday, May 20, in Paris, near the Ministry of Transport, to protest the new pricing conditions for medical transport and competition from private hire vehicles, a journalist from Agence France-Presse (AFP) noted.

"I invite all taxi drivers in France who feel concerned, and you all should, to come to Paris and Pau," the city of Prime Minister François Bayrou, declared Emmanuelle Cordier, president of the National Taxi Federation (FNDT). "Only your strength will make the difference," she declared to the strikers, some of whom, from the Rhône, the Loire, Finistère and Oise, traveled several hundred kilometers to demonstrate in the capital. A call to continue the mobilization begun Monday to protest against a proposed new pricing by the Health Insurance for the transport of patients by licensed taxi drivers.

Many taxis are also protesting against competition from chauffeur-driven vehicles (VTCs), coordinated by platforms like Uber. They are calling for the enforcement of laws restricting VTC activity.

"We are demanding the withdrawal of the framework agreement [on medical transport] , the establishment of white zones [which would prevent VTCs and their customers from connecting near certain sites such as airports] and strict compliance with the law concerning electronic marauding and prior reservation on VTCs," Emmanuelle Cordier told AFP.

Union representatives have received an invitation to visit the Ministry of Transport, but they do not intend to back down from their demands. "We only want to be received if there is something new. There is nothing for the moment, so we are waiting," said ^Ms. Cordier.

However, the number of drivers was lower than on Monday, when nearly a thousand demonstrated in Paris, according to the police headquarters. "We ask you to show solidarity," pleaded the president of the FNDT in response to her colleagues' call, recalling that several drivers were taken into custody, with the police having made 46 arrests on Monday.