Thousands of VTC drivers “deprived of work” due to administrative delays

Six thousand VTC drivers who have just obtained their exam are “deprived of the possibility of working” due to the long delays in processing their file in the prefecture, the main VTC companies protest this Monday in a press release.

“Some key prefectures -departments 75, 93, 94, 13- do not respect the 3-month period established by the transport code between the request for a VTC card (once the exam has been passed) and its issuance”, the companies explain. from VTC, including Uber, Bolt, Marcel and FreeNow. “The normal term is one month and currently it is more like five or six months,” lamented in BFM Paris, Yves Weisselberger, president of the French Federation of Passenger Transport by Reservation (FFTPR).

6,000 drivers who passed their test would be in this situation. Consequence, according to the platforms: “one in four travel requests cannot be met.” The VTC companies sent a letter a few days before, on December 7, to the Ministers of the Interior and Transport to “alert” them of these “administrative bottlenecks”.

“Big mess”

To explain this situation, Yves Weisselberger “imagines that on the one hand there is congestion, an increase in the number of people who want to become drivers, and perhaps (…) there is not enough will for drivers to reach the market” .

The president of the French Federation of Passenger Transport by Reservation (FFTPR) calls on the prefectures in any case for “quick corrective measures” while Laureline Serieys, general director of Uber in France, laments “a huge mess”.

The simplification of the conditions of access to the profession of VTC driver is an antiphon of the platforms that criticize “the complex examination process” established in 2018. “Beyond the deadlines for the issuance of the VTC card, the relevance of the The content and format of the exam continue to be issues of great concern for the VTC sector”, they write, denouncing “a degraded environment”. 17,500 candidates sat for the exam in 2022, compared to 13,000 the previous year, a sign that “the profession as a VTC driver is more attractive than ever”, they argue.