Taxi Driver Online

Low wages force taxi drivers to do overtime; shortfall of 1,000 drivers nationwide

Taxi driver in Häme completed year's worth of driving by early August. Low wages force taxi drivers to do overtime; shortfall of 1,000 drivers nationwide.

Low wage levels are forcing Finnish taxi drivers to do overtime. The small salary is also the main reason for the chronic shortage of drivers. According to managing director Lauri Säynäjoki of the Finnish Taxi Association, there would be enough work for an additional 1,000 drivers.

Fifteen-hour shifts are not uncommon for cab drivers. This translates into hundreds of hours of overtime per year. "Still, overly tired cab drivers have not proved a particular safety hazard", says inspector Heikki Koskimaa of the Traffic Police.

As a taxi driver's normal yearly workload is 1,696 hours, one zealous driver accumulated over 2,000 hours between January and August. Around Independence Day last year, he worked a 28-hour shift. "It is difficult to monitor individual taxi drivers' working hours", explains Ilmo Jaatinen from the Häme industrial safety district. A change in the law is in order.

At present, the law requires that employers keep driver's logs in their cars. However, one and the same driver can work for several different employers, in which case it is difficult for the authorities to keep track of the driver's total working hours. Jaatinen suggests a digital taxi driver's licence as one possible solution to the problem. Säynäjoki, for one, seconds Jaatinen's idea.

There are about 8,500 taxi entrepreneurs in Finland, with permits for around 9,500 cars. They employ over 10,000 drivers, but according to Säynäjoki there would be enough work for another 1,000 men and women behind the wheel. "Taxation for second-jobbers should be lightened", Säynäjoki suggests. For example, there is a call for "smart multi-lingual" students as substitute drivers.

One employer summarises the problem: "If a driver only works 8-hour shifts with normal lunch and coffee breaks, he or she won't make much more than a thousand euros per month." "Our drivers typically work 10 to 12-hour shifts, and even longer, truth be told. One has to pay the bills, you know."

_________________
IDFIMH

So the drivers can't earn whilst working long hours, but the answer from Finland's equivilant of the T&G/NTA is to employ more taxi drivers and make it easier for them to get licensed.

Very much reminds me of the 'too many cabs, not enough drivers' flawed rhetoric we hear time and time again over here.

_________________
IDFIMH

I've got my cake and I am going to eat it too.

So do I.


(over two nights)

Classic taxi trade moronic self-serving garbage.

So they want more drivers because the current ones aren't earning enough?

They want students and the like to be driving, and encourage this by exempting them from tax?

Sounds a bit like my manor in fact, but no worries here about lightening the tax burden - they just don't pay any.

_________________
Taxi Driver Online
www.taxi-driver.co.uk