Until recently, as one exited Rome's Termini station and peeped into the large and chaotic parking lot that is Piazza dei Cinquecento, the first thing one came across was a long line of people, most of them either impatient or too tired to be, perpetually waiting to catch a cab.
Since October this no longer happens, but only because the lane dedicated to white cars has been moved away from the entrance of the station because of the work to resurface the square for the 2025 Jubilee. The age-old problem of finding a cab in Rome, as well as in Milan and several other Italian cities, however, remains.
But what are the reasons?
Few licenses, few cabs
Buying a license to drive a cab is expensive – it can take several tens of thousands of euros – and their number has been limited for years. Perhaps too many. This is why there are few cabs on the road compared to actual needs.
In Rome, for example, according to 2022 figures there are just over 7800 active licenses when the official population is 2,8 million. That means about 2,8 licenses for every 1000 residents, not counting the thousands of commuters and tourists who pour into the Eternal City every day.
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Milan fares slightly better: its 4853 active licenses account for 3,5 per 1000 residents, while Naples enjoys 2364 licenses in use, 2,6 per 1000 residents. Paris, for comparison, has 10 for every 1000 inhabitants, Barcelona over 6.
Tourism recovery
Adding to the shortage is the recovery of tourism in Italy after two difficult half years due to the Covid-19 pandemic. With tourists starting to flock to Italy's major cities again, especially in the summer, the cab situation has become even more critical, including very long lines, blocked reservations and disruptions.
Not a great spot for our country, particularly in cities where the public transportation network cannot be said to be efficient.
What to do
To try to reverse the trend in November, the Antitrust Authority called for the unblocking of new licenses. The municipality of Rome agrees, which would like to award up to 1,000 this year in preparation for the Jubilee. They will cost 70 thousands euros each, according to news rumors, and the call for bids is expected to be published in the spring. These will be joined by another 500 seasonal ones. Proceeds from the sale, according to the law, are to be totally distributed among taxi drivers. Milan also plans to provide 450 additional licenses, while in Naples the administration has no plans to increase the number.
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The Antitrust Authority has also called for the regulation of double rides: the possibility for two taxi drivers to share the same car by splitting rides – a solution currently present in Rome and Milan, but not in Naples, and whose adoption is struggling to take off – as well as the spread of cab sharing and greater efficiency of shifts, so as to ensure an adequate and constant supply in larger cities.
Interests to be defended
Those with cab licenses, however, do not see eye to eye with the increase in their numbers in the face of higher costs for the service and competition from Nccs, the vehicles for hire with driver, which is deemed inadequately regulated.
According to Rome's professional unions, however, it is not the low number of cabs that is making the service deficient, but the traffic in the capital that makes rides longer than they should be. Whether this is true or not, the more than 1000 construction sites open simultaneously in the city looking ahead to 2025 do not bode well; and meanwhile, taxi drivers in the capital will go on strike January 23rd, demanding higher fares after nine years.
Citizens and tourists be warned.
Illustration by Gloria Dozio - Acrimònia Studios
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