Paris 2024 without VTC drivers? The unions of chauffeur-driven transport car (VTC) drivers and applications challenged the Minister for Transport, Clément Beaune, in a letter on Friday about the “discrimination” that they say they suffer in relation to taxis, regretting in particular ‘be excluded from Olympic pathways. After a first letter this summer remained unanswered, the coalition asked the minister for a meeting to discuss this subject.
These actors, united within a coalition called Paris Mobilité VTC, regretted “differentiated treatment” between VTC drivers and taxi drivers. “Most strategic urban planning and development projects partially and most often completely exclude VTCs while giving full access to taxis,” is written in the letter consulted by AFP.
No Olympic routes for VTCs
“This is particularly the case for systems specific to the Olympic and Paralympic Games (JOP),” they emphasize in the letter. VTCs therefore regret being excluded from 185 km of Olympic lanes reserved for taxis during the competition and after, as well as from the subsidy for vehicles adapted for people with reduced mobility.
A decree published in the Official Journal on July 31 establishes from July 1 to September 15, 2024, lanes reserved “for vehicles of people accredited by the organizing committee of the games”, “for taxis, public transport vehicles, vehicles intended to promote the transport of people with reduced mobility”, as well as emergency vehicles on the A1, A4, A12, A13, A86, A104 and the N13. This text does not mention VTCs.
Paris Mobilité VTC invokes in its letter the “deep concerns” that this “differentiated treatment” generates, “while the profession is heavily regulated and has made significant efforts in order to be in compliance [conformité] with the environmental objectives set by the public authorities.