More than 60 cities and urban
regions throughout France are currently partnering with local taxi companies to provide
subsidized services to residents late at night or in sparsely populated areas without
regular bus service.
On the county level, almost half of all French
jurisdictions have organized call-in demand services, three quarters of which are
contracted out to local or regional taxicab companies. For the most part, these are used
by persons with disabilities or are made available to people in rural communities that are
not adequately served by the regular regional buses.
The French Union des Transports Publics, the counterpart
of APTA in this country, has signed a "Partnership Convention" with the French
National Federation of Taxicab Owners (FNAT) that affirms that both professions share the
common mission of providing public transport, have common interests, and complement one
another. The FNAT represents some 15,000 members who constitute about two thirds of all
taxicab operators in the country. The association has just published a "toolbox
brochure" for its membership in cooperation with the UTP, detailing model agreements
and highlighting case studies of effective cooperation.
One of these is the experience of Dijon, where both Sunday
morning and late night services were contracted out by STRD, the local authority, to a
taxi company that used eight-seat vans to perform the service. The vans are owned by the
authority, but are driven by cabbies.
The drivers are in radio contact with their dispatcher
and, if they find that the demand outstrips the supply of seats, they call for
reinforcements by conventional cabs. In the case of late night services, nightclubs share
in the cost of the operation and the STRD also provides microbuses.
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