Report
Rise in fuel prices: in Paris, VTC drivers who "can't make it anymore" demonstrate
Audio 01:16
Drivers of VTC (Véhicule de tourisme avec chauffeur) ask for help in the face of rising fuel prices and the increase in their prices on Place de la Nation in Paris on March 28, 2022. AFP - GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
The liter of gasoline exceeded 2 euros in France.
Consequence: road professionals find it increasingly difficult to work.
This is the case of VTC drivers for platforms like Uber.
More than a hundred of them gathered in Paris to show their anger at the companies that make them work without an increase in income despite the petrol surge.
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They have developed a phobia of gas stations.
For Moustapha, driver for platforms like Uber or Bolt, it is no longer profitable to work.
“
It represents about 8% of my turnover, there currently I must be at 15%.
Between the VAT, the platform and the gasoline, you remove the maintenance of the vehicle, the insurances, the employers' charges.
On a race of 10 euros for example, well we receive 3 euros net.
»
Hakim Kanour, driver for 5 years, thinks he will have to stop his job.
“
We work hard, we can't get by anymore, we have to work 13 to 14 hours a day.
I just got married, it's been a year and my wife I don't even see her anymore.
I swear to you, I don't have the words anymore, I'm talking to you and it touches me so much, I'm going to lie to you if I tell you "
yes I'm taking out a salary",
that's not the case at all.
»
Tax free fuel
Since 2016, drivers have been calling for fuel tax exemption.
They are still not entitled to it.
Brahim Ben Ali, secretary general of the National Intersyndicale des VTC, denounces: “
During this five-year term, we have reinforced the positions of digital platforms, I ask myself the question, namely, what are we going to do ?
Are we going to be helped or not?
Today there is no question of asking this current government to do anything, it is a question of asking the candidates for the presidential election to make commitments for the future of these platforms.
»
Some platforms have taken action.
Uber, for example, will distribute an energy check of 100 euros this Thursday to drivers who make more than 50 trips per week.
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To read also: Nigeria: gas cans offered at the end of a chic evening cause a scandal
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consumption
Oil
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