"The taxi driver profession is not opened. They said on the television in the morning that the draft has been signed, but if any one can open a clothing store, then not everyone can get a license for a taxi. I, personally, would not give my car to a company, because I paid so high a price for the license and will not let them pay me 800 euros a day. It will not happen," says a 37-year-old taxi driver, who is not well familiar with the recently adopted solution yet, which should become a presidential decree to take effect.
In the case of taxi drivers, the opening of the profession will not happen in the usual way, because new licenses are not issued in practice although the new law cancels the ban on issuing them. For precisely this reason the trade unionists of taxi drivers did not go to protest. The law provides the new licenses not to comply with the requirement that there should be 2.5 taxis per 1000 inhabitants of Athens and the rest of Greece. Since around 30,000 taxis are currently circulating in Greece, half of which are in Athens, this means that new licenses would hardly be issued.
"For the first time there are open procedures for obtaining a license and access to the occupation of taxi drivers and generally, for developing an activity in this branch. It is time to be able to reach a high level of services with respect to the rules that apply now in other European Union countries for the benefit of people who use these services. This is what the society needs, especially in a tourist country like Greece" said the Minister of Transport Dimitris Repas after signing the draft for the issuance of the presidential decree.
The necessary requirements drivers should meet are to know Greek language well and have a completed ninth grade in Greece or abroad. Furthermore, licenses will be transferred by deed or by electronic auction. Parents of large families, long-term unemployed and disabled people will have an advantage in obtaining licenses. Hence, the number of licenses based on population will be calculated by equations but also by the tourist flow in a given area. So far, only individual persons were entitled to obtaining licenses but from now on they will be issued to companies as well as to individuals. According to the Ministry of Transport, no monopolies would be formed, since a specific percentage of ownership of the overall number of licenses in a particular area is provided. It is 5 % for Athens and Thessaloniki, and 10% for the rest of Greece and the licenses will be valid throughout Greece.
Also, there will be taxis with 7-9 passenger seats and taxis, which are more discrete in appearance and have different rates per kilometre to cover different needs. The passengers will be able to use all ways to call a taxi - mobile phones, radio systems, TETRA and the Internet. The trade union of taxi drivers in the Attica region argues, in turn, that the opportunity that is given to individual persons to buy up to 5% of the licenses would lead to cartels and the fact that taxis with 7-9 seats will run is in favour of specific business interests.
Greek taxi drivers are not renowned as the most perfect, because they smoke in their cars, pick up new passengers once there is a customer in the taxi and do not give receipts for the service. "When I asked for a receipt, the taxi driver started insulting me and gave me another one that was to some other customer and for a different amount. I was really scared because he was very offensive," says the 33-year-old Mirto, who also said that she often uses the services of taxis to get to work and the drivers themselves rarely turn on the device to give her a receipt.
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