site.btaTaxi Drivers Call New Two-day Strike to Protest Electric Transition Timelines

Taxi drivers in Greece will hold a two-day strike starting February 3 to protest electric transition timelines, the online edition of Kathimerini said Friday.

The Attica taxi drivers’ union (SATA), which includes the Greater Athens region, said members would stage a protest march to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ office in central Athens on February 3. A union statement said previous compromise talks with the Transport Ministry failed to deliver. It appealed to Mitsotakis to "provide a solution to the just demands made by taxi drivers who are fighting for their survival".

Taxi drivers in Thessaloniki, the second largest Greek city, are also expected to join the strike.

The union expressed dissatisfaction because as of January 1, all new taxis granted an operating license must be electricity-powered as part of the country’s green transition. It wants the deadline extended by several years, Kathimerini said.

SATA also wants permission for taxis carrying clients to use public transport lanes in the heavily congested streets of Athens.

Earlier in January, the union held a 48-hour strike in Athens and other cities, and stopped providing taxi services over the same issues.