Corona, increased petrol prices, Tegel closed, more and more rental cars (Uber and others). The taxis in the capital are becoming fewer and fewer. Only 5,800 ivory-colored cars are currently rolling over Berlin’s asphalt.
By Sabine Klier
“Up to two taxis are canceled every day,” warns Leszek Nadolski, chairman of the Berlin taxi guild. More than 2,000 vehicles have been abandoned since the start of the corona pandemic.
At the same time, the number of rental cars increased. There are now 4000 vehicles from Uber, Bolt, Free Now etc. “They took away the turnover of the taxis,” criticized Hermann Waldner, Vice President of the Federal Association of Taxi and Rental Cars and Managing Director of the Funkzentrale Taxi Berlin.
► One problem: there is a tariff for taxis, but not for rental cars. “The taxi driver makes 14 to 15 euros in sales per hour. That’s not enough,” says Nadolski. “A fixed route price would help us to get out of the crisis.” But this was rejected by the calibration office due to a lack of transparency.
The taxi guild has now developed a plan to implement the mobility transition: the use of electric vehicles and vehicles with exchangeable batteries and hydrogen technology.
The prototype of an express battery changing station (1.5 minutes) is currently being tested at the gas station at Westhafen.