Faced with the expectation of 30 million visitors next year because of the Catholic Church’s Holy Year, Roman officials are ready to get 3,000 more cabs and ride-share cars on the streets by December.
Mayor Roberto Gualtieri said the city will be licensing 1,000 more taxis and 2,000 new permits for Uber and similar services, the first new licenses of any kind since 2006. At present there are 7,800 taxis in Rome and about a thousand private hire cars which sometimes serve as Ubers.
The city has long been known for its small taxi fleet, kept that way by taxi industry influence, resulting in relatively high fares. By contrast, London has 19,000 taxis and 96,000 private hire cars and Paris has 18,500 and 30,000.
