While curfews are in place in several large cities in France, taxi and VTC companies fear a significant drop in daily activity, in particular due to the strict restriction of travel at night.

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They were just starting to stick their heads out of the water.

With the establishment of curfews in several large cities in France, taxis fear the consequences of these new restrictions against the coronavirus epidemic, which will strictly limit travel between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m.

For them, this will most likely be synonymous with a significant drop in activity. 

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This fear reaches even the biggest players in the sector, such as the G7 taxi company, which anticipates a daily drop in activity of 10% on weekdays and 20% per day on weekends.

"We had recovered 75% of the activity. But with this curfew, there is a new obstacle to the return to normal activity, in particular for drivers who are used to working at night," confirms to Europe 1 Yann Ricordel, Deputy CEO of the company.

And to add: "This represents one in five drivers."

"The night drivers will come during the day"

During the curfew, the company will therefore closely scrutinize changes in customer behavior in order to be able to recommend more attractive zones and schedules to drivers.

But that will not solve the problems, according to Sayah Baaroun, general secretary of the SCP-VTC union.

"Already we were in excess of drivers, we are going to have night drivers who will come and live during the day, and will further reduce the crumbs of the cake that remained," he regrets. 

Taxi and VTC drivers therefore hope to be part of the professions that will benefit from the new aid announced by the government.