After 18 Years Of Waiting, Roma Finally Get Thousands Of New Taxis To Overcome The Transportation Crisis

Taxi In Rome, Italy/ILLUSTRATION UNSPLASH/James Hose Jr

JAKARTA - After 18 years of waiting, Roma will finally get thousands of new taxis.

The mayor called the arrival of the new fleet an attempt to end the shortage of taxis that often make tourists and local residents 'bathe' in the sun or on the streets in soaking wet conditions.

Roma and other cities in Italy have far fewer taxis than other European cities. Strong action lobbyies rejected attempts to increase the number of taxis or fully accept the arrival of ride-hailing service competitors such as Uber.

But Roma Mayor Roberto Gualtieri told Reuters his office next month will issue tenders for 1,000 new taxi permits and 2,000 new Uber permits that will be active in December when Rome's Catholic Holy Year begins.

The Vatican estimates more than 30 million pilgrims will visit the Italian capital next year, threatening to burden the already limited service.

"We have been paralyzed by the bureaucracy, but things are finally getting better. The situation will be much better in November," Gualtieri said.

Currently, Roma only has 7,800 taxis, without new permits issued since 2006, and an additional 1,000 executive private rental cars, which also serve as high-end Uber vehicles.

In contrast, London has about 19,000 taxis plus 96,000 private rental vehicles, according to 2020 data, while Paris has 18,500 taxis and at least 30,000 private vehicle permits.

Social media sites are often flooded with horror stories about people queuing for an hour or more at Roma's main train station, while taxi apps during rush hours struggle to find taxis and calls to taxi delivery numbers continue.

The taxi driver cooperative said the real problem was that the public transportation system in Rome was uneven, so they had to overcome these challenges.

They also said outside the season there would be no job enough if the city council issued more permits.

Gualtieri said his office would continue to issue new permits despite protests from taxi drivers. "We can't wait any longer," he said.