possible government interventions to stem the crisis – Corriere.it

To solve the scarce availability of taxis in the big Italian cities – conditioned by summer tourism which reaches record numbers – the hypothesis of providing more temporary licenses is also coming forward. To have the greatest difficulty Rome, where there are 7,703 white cars in circulation, the highest number in the whole territory but it is also the capital that encounters the greatest problems, with long waiting lines and very high fares. The deputy prime minister and transport minister, Matteo Salvini, revealed last July 19, speaking with about 23 taxi driver unions and 26 of Ncc (rental with driver), that he wants to implement a summer reform of the market. There are several possible solutions on the table.

Temporary licenses

The most recent, in fact, would be that of temporary licenses. As explained by Il Sole 24 Ore, this would be the simplest and most timely way to solve the problems associated with the summer period without arousing the disapproval of the entire category of taxi drivers. At the same time, however, it could be seen as a kind of testing ground, before investing money in a car, for those who are considering entering the market. Meanwhile, the leader of the League plans to convene a new table by August 15 to take stock of the situation again and discuss the proposals received from the categories.

Increase in taxis

The number of white cars in Italy stopped for over ten years. The work of Mir to increase the number of licenses, aimed at coping with the tourism boom, was also confirmed by the mayor of the capital, Roberto Gualtieri, who spoke about it on the stage of the Unit party. The latest tenders in Rome were published during the Veltroni junta (2001-2008) and led to the assignment of 2,000 permits. Although the option does not find the consensus of the category, we are working to increase them on taxis – explained Gualtieri -. TOe started with dual driving. Salvini and Urso want to open a table and we are ready to sit down with the government. We know exactly what it takes. We are also working with the Ztl gates to find out how many cars there are in the area. We will increase the licenses of taxis and NCCs – he concluded – we will increase the double guides, we will do a job on the minimum rates.

The request of the municipality of Milan

The request to increase requests also comes from the municipality of Milan, which currently has around 4,800. The Lombardy region, which has the right to assign them, has been asked for an increase of a further thousand. The goal is not just to avoid great inconvenience to citizens and tourists during the summer period, but to find long-term solutions that can prove useful even during major events that often block cities. In the case of Milan, the most eagerly awaited games are the 2026 Winter Olympics, while for Rome there is talk of the Jubilee in 2025 and even Expo 2030. Meanwhile, the Antitrust has launched a new preliminary investigation against the Radiotaxi 3570 cooperative: the authority disputes the non-compliance with a previous provision of 2018, with which the antitrust illegality of the clauses contained in the cooperative’s statute and regulation had been ascertained tiva, which prevent the members from allocating a portion of their production capacity to intermediation platforms competing with the cooperative to provide taxi demand collection and sorting services in the municipality of Rome.

The double guide

There is also the possibility of appointing another driver thus carrying out a second shift, the so-called double driving. In practice, the same car could carry out the service up to 20 hours a day. In Milan, this experiment has already been attempted by Mayor Beppe Sala and the mayor of Rome would also like to test it on his territory. However, there would be a natural limit to sharing the same car with another driver, explains Il Sole 24 Ore: a measure – explains Oliviero Baccelli, economist at Bocconi University Certet – which could have a limited impact on the car owner’s family members, as natural as it is in sharing the use of an asset such as that of a car.