Taxi drivers from all over the metropolitan area are jeopardizing the very lucrative business of pirate drivers who have been stationed at the Barcelona airport for a lifetime in search of clueless travelers. In groups of four or five taxi drivers, armed with a whistle, in just a couple of weeks of surveillance, informing users that the only taxi in Barcelona is the yellow and black one, they expelled fifty clandestines who had made the arrivals area of Terminal 1 their farmhouse and they cornered in Terminal 2 the few who still dare to hang around the airport.
And now the taxi drivers demand that the administrations, particularly the Generalitat and Aena, maintain this pressure on the clandestines so that they do not have the opportunity to recover. This Monday morning, in T1, the taxi drivers started a series of mobilizations that will take place this week and staged a service stoppage of approximately one hour in the area where their clients wait for them, and they also set up a very colorful assembly in the infrastructure hall. Shortly after, Aena informed the taxi drivers that Sonia Corrochano, the airport director, will meet with them this Wednesday. So the taxi drivers decided in principle to suspend the slow march scheduled precisely for tomorrow and keep these days a few puffs that in principle should not cause major alterations to the service.
“We want a new signaling of the taxi area –says Alberto Álvarez, alias Tito, from Élite Taxi–, and also its reorganization, because it is currently a disaster. We can't wait for next fall. These improvements must be immediate. We also want the Institut Metropolità del Taxi to have an information stand here as soon as possible. We are satisfied with the work of the agents of the Mossos d'Esquadra and the Urban Guard, but Aena and the Generalitat must become more involved in the fight against intrusions. After the meeting with the director of the airport, the taxi drivers will decide in assembly the next steps to take”.
It is really a tremendously lucrative business, that of pirate drivers, that of those who practice unfair competition at the airport. The taxi drivers themselves calculate that these fifty clandestine drivers could make around 600 trips a day, and charge at least thirty euros for each one of them. We are talking in total about 18,000 euros per day, 126,000 per week, about 504,000 per month...
In any case, according to the taxi drivers, among the clandestines there are various profiles, from those who go with their private vehicle and offer their services to travelers as soon as they cross the black arrivals door to others suspected of being in cahoots with suitcase thieves. to those who warn that they are approaching Barcelona. Others rent several vans with tinted windows and assemble a small fleet. Most are blacklisted by rental companies, but employ family and friends for the process. There are also many rental cars with drivers who could not regularize their situation with the new decree law for the sector and were left out of the norm.
