Zurich Airport tightens rules for cross-border taxi rides
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – German and Austrian taxis have until July 2012 to freely drop off and pick up Swiss clients who call for them at Zurich Airport, but 1 July of next year new rules kick in.
The cross-border taxi business picked up once the Schengen Accord opened the borders, but Swiss federal authorities have been working since the start of 2011 with the canton, the city and the airport to put order into the taxi business.
Taxis, under the new rules, will be allowed to drop off and pick up fares for 90 days in any given year, after which they are free to drop off clients, but not to pick them up at Zurich Airport.
Taxis, Geneva Airport
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Several taxi drivers in Geneva are not working Monday morning 11 January in protest against a proposed change to the law, reports the Tribune de Genève, but not all companies have gone along with the strike. There are currently two proposals, and the group Mouvement citoyens genevois is preparing a third, according to the Geneva newspaper. One of the main issues is the current distinction between public taxis and private ones, with only the first group allowed to use taxi lanes and to benefit from other privileges. Taxis from France and from other Swiss cantons are also not accorded the same privileges as the public taxis.
Public debates in the past over the public/private taxis distinction have centred around complaints that there is too little competition and high prices.
Background, GenevaLunch
Not jolly, Roger.
Lucerne and Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A husband and wife taxi driver team in Kriens, canton Lucerne, have received a notice from Billag demanding that they pay the television and radio license fee for the car radio installed in their taxi, reports Blick newspaper, 22 October.
Normally, a car radio is covered by the fee paid per household, however many radios or tvs the household owns. Unless, that is, the radio is used commercially. Then the license costs from CHF223.6o per year. That is Billag’s argument in this case.
US space shuttles will be taken out of service in 2010 after the International Space Station, a multi-nation construction, is completed. At that point the US will be reliant on Russia for travel to and from the station. Nasa, which oversees the American space programme, is taking bids and expects to award $50 million, part of the government stimulus package, in seed money to encourage the development of commercial travel to and from the station, as well as eventually to the moon and other locations in space. The winners of the contract are likely to be announced in late September. Nasa, Reuters
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Tribune de Geneve 13 February carries a lengthy article about the problems passengers have with taxis at the airport, in particular the illegal refusal of some drivers to accept clients for short drives to nearby hotels.
