French taxi drivers cause border jams

Border crossings into Geneva were brought to a crawl yesterday as French taxi drivers protested at what they see is unfair and overzealous implementation of the rules that determine how often they can carry passengers in Switzerland.

The French claim the Geneva authorities have been following the rules that drivers can’t operate more than 90 days a year vigorously for the past several months.

Some drivers say they’ve been stopped at the border and their passenger has had to switch to a Geneva taxi to continue their trip.

But negotiation between the two sides looks set to be tricky as Geneva says they haven’t changed the way they follow the rules.

The Geneva Department of Safety and Health, which administers the rules, says there’s been no change – the spokesman sounded mystified to the press.

Christian Dupressey, head of the French Geneva association says the rules have to be adapted to take into account the social realities of the border region. 

The taxi drivers say they may take further action if no progress is made. 
 

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