Taxi strike: a meeting organized this Saturday with François Bayrou and the Ministry of Transport

The Ministry of Transport is holding a meeting this Saturday on the taxi strike, which will be attended by Prime Minister François Bayrou, the Prime Minister's entourage told BFMTV on Thursday, May 22, confirming a report from France Info.

This Thursday, hundreds of "angry" taxi drivers continued their protests in Paris, Pau, and Marseille against the new conditions for medical transport and competition from private hire vehicles.

A roadblock was set up at the entrance to Paris's Charles-de-Gaulle airport this Thursday. In the capital, taxis also blocked Boulevard Raspail, near the Ministry of Transport. In Pau, the city of François Bayrou, hundreds of taxis were still mobilized, on the fourth day of protests.

Taxi drivers consider the proposals of Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot and the new pricing presented by the Health Insurance Fund to be insufficient.

"If the law passes, my business will have to close," Angéline, a taxi driver, told BFMTV.

"The rates they're going to offer us per kilometer will reduce my turnover by more than half, so I won't be able to cover my expenses," she believes, affirming that she "will not give up."

These journeys to hospitals or doctors' offices represent a significant portion of the revenue of professionals in the sector, who are calling for the current plan to be frozen. However, the government has shown no signs of doing so so far.

For its part, the Uber platform called for calm on Wednesday, deploring the fact that four drivers were attacked with "threats using a firearm, a taser, and even tear gas."