COLLECTIVE PUNISHMENT
So how about the current situation, seven and a half years after the big
bang? Well, in Stockholm, which has been one of the most turbulent areas since the
industry was deregulated, there are today still over 2000 cabs which do not belong to any
dispatch and that still charge their own prices.
Then there are another 3000 cabs, divided in 21 different taxi companies, in
which Taxi Stockholm with its' 1600 cabs is still the biggest. This means there are still
5000 taxis in Sweden's capital; a city with a population of 1,4 million, most of them not
used to using such a wonderful way of transportation as the taxi is, but still take the
bus.
As the competitive situation and tight economical frames still are very much
of a reality for most of the drivers, more than a few feel forced to hide some money from
taxation to survive. "Thank God for the fixed prices", some of them say, meaning
that a fare that doesn't show on the meter and a passenger that doesn't require a receipt,
saves the whole day.
Unfortunately, many of the drivers are therefore disrespected by society and
pinpointed as dishonest and corrupt. Some of the spokesmen for the City Council even talk
about "some kind of collective punishment" to get hold of the situation.
Well, my own personal opinion is that this is a major problem that ought to be solved by the authorities as the deregulation was forced onto the drivers - against their will.
Controversially, an Order was made in October 1997 by the City Council which determined that only the three biggest taxi companies - including Taxi Stockholm - would be allowed to pick up at Stockholm Central train station following complaints against the ‘independent’ taxi drivers overcharging. Unfortunately, the situation led to rioting by the independent drivers. The police became involved and the situation ended with the independents having a sit-down strike before being carted off. The station now employs smartly dressed inspectors - known as yellow jackets - to ensure that only the correct taxi companies pick up at the station.
After speaking with cabbies around Stockholm during the last ten years, I can tell you Londoners on Dial a Cab that 95 per cent of your colleagues over here hate the present deregulated situation and most certainly do not want anything more than the possibility to survive in their occupation. Unfortunately, the City Council lost a grip on the taxi industry years ago and therefore - in pure panic - have forced new techniques onto the taxi owners in an attempt to stop the never ending tax fraud and the accelerated overpricing.
Just during the last four or five years, there have been over ten major updates of the computerised taximeters, mostly by demanding that the owners install new software into the cabs. This has, unfortunately, put
Independent driver held down by police
the taxi owners into even worse economic stress as they
have been forced to borrow even more money to pay for the unwanted goods.
As many taxi owners have now given up their jobs and sent their permits back
to the City Council, there are always newcomers who want to try to make some fast money.
By establishing a small company, which is easy and takes a week, they then run their
business without any dispatch services or book-keeping for the permitted 18 months and
then put the company into bankruptcy. The money they have made, without paying any taxes
or social welfare, is placed abroad on an account that isn't reachable for the taxation
authorities.
Is there then any salvation to the honest core of taxi drivers in Sweden? As
it looks right now - not really. As the authorities will not admit that they made a
terrible mistake when they chose to deregulate the industry at the beginning of an
economic recession, there will only be survivors among those who cheat and overprice. The
rest - the majority - are and will continue to be losers as long as nobody take their part
when discussing the problems with the politicians.
I feel sorry for the honest and hard working Swedish taxi driver who has to
live this kind of life. Or as a spokesman at the City Council, who perhaps understand the
problems better than most, said: "I think that a re-regulation is the only way to
solve this tragic mess that has been part of each taxi drivers life for more than seven
years".
