Romanian Taxi Drivers To Protest New Legislation In Bucharest, Brussels

The Taxi and Rental Transporters' Professional Association (APTI) and the Romanian Transport Operators' Federation (FORT) are complaining that the Bucharest City Hall Transport Department refuses to extend the taxi authorizations which expired at the end of February.

Furthermore, the recently approved Government Emergency Ordinance 234, devised to fight transportation piracy, has done away with temporary authorizations. This puts taxi companies whose licenses expired in February essentially outside the law, as the City will not issue new five-year authorizations until September, according to APTI officials.

The associations also object to an article in the above-mentioned ordinance, which prohibits taxi cabs from waiting in places other than the area for which they have authorization. This means Bucharest-registered cabs are banned from picking up passengers at Otopeni Airport or commercial centers located in Ilfov County.

APTI vice-president Cristian Lazarescu said 8,500 of Bucharest's 10,200 taxis will lose their license.

The transporters will hold protests in Bucharest's Victoriei Plaza and major streets. Twenty cars will travel to Brussels and picket the European Commission's headquarters.

The Ordinance approved on Monday was developed on the request of another transporters' association, COTAR. Lazarescu said APTI and FORT tried to amend the ordinance and prevent the "chaos," but failed because of the ordinance's authors' "lack of professionalism" and "COTAR's personal interests."

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