[ig1]

Taxis are regulated in most countries, typically in exchange for a fee and following a set of regulation they'll get the exclusive right to pick up people on the street.

The precise regulations vary but generally the type of things they include are:

  * Criminal background check
  * Level of city knowledge
  * State of car
  * Prohibited to refuse to pick someone up
  * Prohibited to refuse short journeys
  * Regulated pricing
  * Rules on detours

[simias]

Most of those regulations don't work anymore though, being a cab driver in 2014 with the GPS and all the technology is not the same as it used to be. In paris I take the taxi mostly to go to the airport (it's too expensive for anything else) and most drivers have to use their GPS to get me there. I would expect a taxi driver to know how to get to the airport from Paris.

I'm not generally against regulation but being french and living in paris I cannot really defend the cab drivers. Riding a cab in Paris is pretty expensive and the drivers are often rude (even by french standards). Many of them try to "scam" you anyway by pretending that their card machine is broken so you have to pay cash or others. If you read french you can find a bunch of testimonies here[1]. The title is "why I don't want to take the taxi anymore".

That being said while I'm in favour of deregulation those people have paid upwards of 200 000 euros for their licenses so I understand that they fight for the status quo.

I wish they would fight by improving their services instead of harassing people though. I wonder how this'll turn out. Maybe the state can reimburse the cost of their licenses? That would seem fair but I really doubt the government would do that in the current economic situation...

[1] http://transports.blog.lemonde.fr/2014/01/12/pourquoi-je-nai...

[bertil]

I can certify that taxi drivers in Paris casually refuse more than half their rides, based on skin color alone — and openly confess that to anyone, no need to ask — and they have committed enough road infraction in any sitting to loose their driving license for good.

[brohee]

Not my experience, but seriously, report them, it's obviously illegal.

[bertil]

I generally use taxis when I'm late for a plane, so the only thing I could do was call:

- Police department say they see issues frequently, but clients are often foreigners, and unable to testify;

- the head office, G7 (because they need to be named and shamed) reaction was that hiring and paying road criminals was not their concern. After making that phone call several times, I support long prison sentences for the executives of that company.

[Sanddancer]

I'd argue that a system that tests on practical taxi driving, such as London's Knowledge would be a much more useful way of vetting taxi drivers than Paris' system of limiting it to whoever can pay a quarter million euros for a medallion.

[brohee]

There is an additional, pretty hard to pass exam.