Larnaca taxi drivers call strike off
Taxi drivers in Larnaca on Monday called off an indefinite strike following “contacts with competent bodies” after expressing fury at what they described as “uncontrolled action by passenger transport applications” undercutting them.
The Pancyprian federation of urban taxis said that it had held a meeting with officials from the road transport department and that it had arranged meetings with members of the House transport committee, and that as such, it had decided to cancel the strike “as a gesture of goodwill until the dialogue is concluded”.
It added that after the conclusion of those meetings, taxi drivers will once again decide on their next steps.
Earlier this month, the federation had said that the use of ride-hailing applications in and around Larnaca airport and drivers registered further afield were infringing on their custom, driving down incomes for taxi drivers based in the town.
It had described the issue as “a matter of professional survival” and demanded both the “immediate and complete disconnection of the signal and activity of all applications from Larnaca airport” for vehicles registered outside the Larnaca district, and “the strict and universal observance” of the location in which taxis are registered by those applications.
Meanwhile, Larnaca district taxi committee spokesman Giorgos Makris told the Cyprus News Agency that “the existing electronic applications operate illegally by using private cars”.
On this matter, he said that at present, Larnaca airport “has become a centre of lawlessness”.