The right European "taxi-feeling" is missing

Even at the crossroads of Europe, where only 30 kilometres separate Aachen (250.000 inhabitants), Liège (240.000) and Maastricht (98.000), taxi-operators remain as far apart as the two taxi operators we featured in the last European Taxi Fair programme in 2006: Manfred Dickmann from Voerde, Germany and Hans van der Wielen from Malden, The Netherlands – separated by only 84 kilometres.
This time all interviewees from Aachen (Klaus Konrad, chairman of the radio-circuit Taxi-Ruf, 130 taxis), Liège (Abdel Belghazi, president of the radio-circuit Unitax, 33 cabs) and Maastricht (Tessa Vallinga of City Tax Kerkrade, 80 cabs, and Michel Brull of Automotive Group South, 60 taxis, minibuses and coaches) hope a panel discussion at the European Taxi Fair 2010 will help to bridge the gap. They would all love to meet the colleagues from the other side of the border – with some linguistic help; Brull is willing to invite them and Belghazi even hopes for more cooperation

A local trade
The professional curiosity is there but not the European taxi-feeling. Contacts are not only hindered by language problems but by the taxi trade which is a very local activity where one hardly ever meets one’s neighbours on either side of the border. Sometimes drivers and operators meet and talk on a rank, in English or with gestures – about meters, fares and cabs. Material for comparison is scarce, although many problems (e.g. the steep rise of petrol prices) and solutions (e.g. rate increases) are very similar. And when it comes to European rules, there are few in the taxi trade – they have mostly to do with cross-border transportation and driving times.
Popular destinations for the three cities are the airports in the other countries or special fairs and events. Most customers prefer to take their local cabs. Dutch taxis tend to be the most expensive, then the Belgian ones. In comparison the German taxis are relatively cheap. Real competition is limited - with one exception: during the last three years Dutch taxi operators near the German border are having to cope with German “colleagues“ doing local taxi trips on their side of the border, ordered by Dutch pubs or private customers.

German competition
These cabs tend to concentrate on providing local taxi services to pubs and discos on the Dutch side, running the risk of the cab being impounded and the operator fined up to 2.500 Euro. Dutch operators – with little support from their police or licensing enforcement officials – don’t think these fines are a proper deterrent. Similar problems have been reported from other border areas in and officials of both countries are to meet to find a workable solution for this problem.
Though supposedly deregulated, Dutch operators would prefer less and more workable rules. Less red tape, when it comes to driver exams for contract work for instance, and more freedom to set fares. Brull thinks it is maybe easier to start and operate a taxi company in Belgium or Germany and would love to compare with his colleagues. However there is one large difference: in Brull and Vallinga’s case the drivers are employees – in Aachen and Liège they are independent contractors. The Dutch would very much like to switch to a similar situation.

A variety of acivities
The Maastricht/Kerkrade-colleagues boast the widest variety of transportation activities (carrying school children, out-patients and people with disabilities on a contract basis). This is the core activity of the Dutch trade – used to European tendering and operating taxis, minibuses and coaches in one fleet – which it would like to extend abroad.
In his own company in Aachen Konrad runs cabs and a VW minibus for school runs; the circuit has several Vito-minibuses. For additional capacity Konrad turns to bus operators. Liège sticks to the more traditional taxi work, with ordinary cabs only. Not only petrol prices, but also the environment counts as a communal theme: Maastricht is orienting itself on environ mentally-friendly cabs, Liège has one Toyota Prius hybrid-cab and Aachen boasts ten natural gas taxis.

Wim Faber