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November 1998 saw a 10-day strike by taxi drivers in Rome in opposition to the municipal authorities' plans to deregulate the taxi service. The protest was to no avail and from 1 January 1999, Rome will be the first Italian city with a liberalised taxi service.
In Italy, taxi services are regulated by municipal authorities, which can decide the working hours, the daily shifts, the fare tariffs and how many licences to award. In Rome, taxi drivers' organisations have always opposed any increase in the number of licences, which are often considered something that can be handed down from generation to generation or sold by the owner to the highest bidder. In the past, the taxi drivers' organisations, considered to be very powerful lobbies even on the electoral level, have imposed on the local authorities significant fare increases, with the result that Rome's taxi service became one of the most expensive in Italy and indeed Europe. In fact, the service was widely considered to be too dear and inefficient by both national and international public opinion (see, for example, theNew York Times of 13 November 1998).
However, on 13-14 November 1998, the municipal council decided to deregulate, from 1 January 1999, taxi fares and working hours - the first Italian city to do so. Drivers will be able to decide the length of their shift and when to work during the day. They can decide whether or not to prolong their shift, which is currently fixed at seven and a half hours, by up to two hours. Fare tariffs should not exceed a maximum limit set by the municipality and drivers will have to negotiate with the client the amount of extra fees (for luggage, journey to airports etc).
The number of cabs has also been liberalised, and a new "taxi-bus" service has been created. Taxi-buses will be used to transport groups of people and their routes will be decided by the municipal administration. The provision of taxi services has also been deregulated: private citizens, associations and companies will be able to offer services without any kind of authorisation from the municipal authorities.
The municipal council has set up a consultative commission composed of representatives of taxi drivers and consumer associations. This body will be consulted by the municipal administration about important issues such as tariffs, working hours, rules, training and changes in licences.
The council's initiative divided both political and social circles. Prior to the adoption of the new rules, taxi drivers held a 10-day strike, and on 12 November 1998 about 10,000 taxi-drivers from all parts of Italy took part in a demonstration in Rome to show their solidarity with their Roman colleagues. The three main trade union confederations, Cgil, Cisl and Uil, which represent just a minority of the taxi drivers, supported their protest, while the employers' organisations, and particularly Confindustria, supported publicly the decision of the centre-left majority which leads the Rome municipal council. Confindustria was also against the positions adopted by the centre-right minority on the council, which opposed the liberalisation. Carlo Callieri, vice-president of Confindustria, stated that this liberalisation "does not only introduce competitiveness as far as tariffs are concerned but it cancels the obsolete mechanism of licences which has hindered the offer of efficient and low-cost services" (quoted in Corriere della Sera, 10 November 1998).
The councillors responsible for transport in the municipal administrations of Bologna, Florence, Genoa, Milan, Naples, Turin, Trieste and Venice believe that the initiative taken by the municipality of Rome is extremely useful and a model to be followed in order to liberalise the taxi service in other Italian cities.