In the wake of a viral video showing an unlicensed driver ripping off an arriving couple at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport for a €247 fare, new steps are being taken to direct visitors to legitimate cabs.
A legal cab fare to or from the airport is capped at €55 to or from the Left Bank and €50 for the Right Bank. But those rates only apply to the legitimate cabs with the Taxi Parisien sign on the roof and a registered meter. A new plan is in place, with easily-identified taxi ranks marked Taxi Officiel Aéroport and drivers wearing numbered blue bibs.
But hundreds of warnings and tickets, 918 last year alone, have been issued to drivers trying to cut in on the business. The driver in the video was eventually sentenced to eight months in jail for fraud and extortion involving threats. Paris police prefect Michel Delpuech told reporters that “The hunt for illegal taxi drivers is a public service priority.”
